How much can you pay

[Ryder]

>>Your retirement plan from work will still take care of you. <<

Don't count on it.

I am self employed. I have no pension plan. Just a little IRA money.

I'm plenty sure of my own analysis to decided what to do and when to do it. I was just wanting to see what some other people's thoughts were. There are a few thought out opinions here, but most seem to rely on the adage "land always goes up", "they ain't making no more land", 'Grand Pappy bought his land for 50 cents an acre'

Just curious as to the thoughts of those in and around ag.

The U.S. is in a state of flux right now and although I believe that inflation (and therefor land will be a decent investment) will prevail, nothing is set in stone and there is the very real chance we hit a patch of disinflation if not down right deflation. (See what land values (of all stripes) has done in Japan over the last 20+ years).

Good points. There is a saying as to investments., "no tree grows to the sky". Nothing goes up forever. If land were to go up forever then all the money would be in land and people would be rich in land and dying because of no money for anything else.

The old philosophy of "they are not making anymore land" means nothing. Land price and every thing else in a free market system is determined by the market. Buyers and sellers agreeing on the price for a transaction.
Timing is everything. When "it" goes up to a certain point, "it" WILL come down.
I remember when apartments were the hot item. You couldn't lose because people always had to have a place to live. Seemed logical (?). A friend of mine bought into that and started building apartments. I knew several others who were building or buying apartments. His paper assets were going up everyday--until prices crashed and he lost everything, including the family home.
People still had to have a place to live but that didn't hold up the market.

You could not lose investing in the stockmarket, until the top in '29.
Gold and silver were going to go up forever. Gold was real money,(probably true), and silver in particular was also needed as an industrial metal. These were good arguments , until some high rollers failed to meet a margn call and the prices came tumbling dwn..

You can see this in any and everything. There are no sure investments.
A friend recently asked my opinon as to where she could put some money to make a profit and "have something to fall back on in the future if needed". I was thinking, "That's what we all want to know".

Timing is everything.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

one thing the economy has done is slow down the big augers ,,,and let the little man come up for air ..aound here anyway the ones that run the prices up ''' the developers'' are kinda scared.. and the true gamblers >>FARMERS<< are starting to invest

 

[Thinbluelinetx]

Back to the original question, most of the land near me (SE Tx about 60 mi N of Houston) is going for around 10,000/ acre., maybe a bit less. Starting from scratch, I don't see how anyone could turn a profit with cattle. My dad has about 1500 acres in west central Texas, but he has a non ranching job and was fortunate enough to pay cash. Depending on improvements, land out there goes for about $1300/ acre, but more acres per animal than southeast Texas.

 

[Brandonm22]

Back to the original question, most of the land near me (SE Tx about 60 mi N of Houston) is going for around 10,000/ acre., maybe a bit less. Starting from scratch, I don't see how anyone could turn a profit with cattle. My dad has about 1500 acres in west central Texas, but he has a non ranching job and was fortunate enough to pay cash. Depending on improvements, land out there goes for about $1300/ acre, but more acres per animal than southeast Texas.

You are right. Cows probably will not pay for either place. That does NOT necessarily mean that either are BAD investments at those prices.