Buying Land in the Hill Country for Retirement or Investment

June 4, 2010

The Texas Hill Country has long been considered a desirable place to live and/or retire. With the baby boomer generation coming of age, the pace of development and construction has picked up considerably. One of the first and still largest groups to find the Hill Country has been the residents of east Texas-more specifically the Houston area. Seeking lower humidity, cleaner air, pristine water and big views, Houstonites have flocked to the Texas Hill Country.

There are other groups as well; Dallas/Ft. Worth, the Rio Grande Valley, California, and the East Coast residents of the USA have discovered the Texas Hill Country. With all the demand for homes and property, prices have risen over the past decade but the increase has been moderate, ranging from 4-8% annually. This has helped prevent a real estate “bubble” that has been so prevalent in other “Sun Belt” locations like Las Vegas, Phoenix & southern California.

There are a tremendous number of people that want to find a desirable spot to build a home when they retire. It is not unusual to find people that are 10+ years away from retirement that invest in their retirement property now, so they can be assured of that “perfect spot” to build their home when the time is right. The benefit of investing in your retirement property pre-retirement has its advantages:

1. You have reserved a special place-yes it’s true that the “good” sites go first. “Average” properties will always be available but the really “prime” properties & acreage will be scooped up first & can get extremely expensive down the road.
2. You can use & enjoy your property or the community amenities in the meantime.
3. Plenty of time to plan & change & plan & change your house plans!
4. Land ownership doesn’t have to be “forever”. If your plans change and you find another location you like better, sell your property & invest in the new location.
5. You have the time to pay it off! If you finance the property it can be a “forced” savings account. You have committed to your future!

Real Estate prices can go up & down (just like a good stock) but if you buy in a good location you can’t keep it down. Hopefully when you sell your property you can make a little money or at the very minimum break even. I have never seen property values at “zero”. In my 33 years of business I have never had anyone say “I wish I hadn’t bought that property” but I have had too many to count say with regret “I could have bought that property for practically nothing-I wish I had bought it then”.

Give me a call-you won’t regret it!