Why We Chose Uncleared Land
Why choose uncleared, wooded acreage over cleared land? When we were looking at various properties, we looked at both cleared and uncleared land, and also some small farms. Why we chose uncleared land came down to cost and how much land we wanted to buy. Cleared land costs about twice as much as uncleared land. If we weren’t looking at clearing all of the land, it would be cheaper to buy the uncleared land. We also wanted some wooded spaces on the property. Then we can clear the land as we needed to. See this post on how and why we decided on areas to clear.
When we were looking at various rural properties, we looked at both small farms with a house, cleared land only, and uncleared land only. We found a 75-acre property next to a nice highway, 9 miles from the parish seat, and it had both electric and parish water. The long side of the property had a small road with only one farm on it. The parish maintains this road and there is electric and parish water available. The price for this piece of land was approximately half per acre over completely cleared land which in our case was nearly $4,000 per acre.
The price for cleared land, depending upon the size of the property, runs anywhere from $7,000 and up. We looked at a 40-acre farm property with a house, outbuildings, and an unfinished guest house with a price of $390,000. The owner had cleared most of this farm property over the years. We didn’t care for the house, and it would have needed lots of work and the location was a bit further north than we were looking at.
The 75-acre parcel had been logged several years ago and is filled with loblolly pine trees. The pines and various assorted hardwood trees have grown back extremely overcrowded. We will eventually need to thin out the tees and undergrowth to make a healthy forested plot. The land is not in a flood zone, sandy and drains well, and fairly flat except for a low corner which has a mature bit of forest on it. The price was high, mainly because of the large number of acres, but we really loved the land.
Additionally, the acreage is a little over 9 miles from the parish seat. The parish seat is a good-sized town with all the amenities. There are restaurants, grocery stores, and a large hardware store. Also in the area where the property is located, there is an equipment rental, a garden store, a catfish farm, and several farm-stands during the summer. We won’t need to spend half a day going to the store. Also, there is a small city, Lake Charles, about an hour away.
This piece of land met our requirements for land that we can use. The land is not cleared. We can take our time with clearing the parts that we need, as we need it. Right now, that means that we only have to worry about the 3-4 acres for our immediate yard and house site. We will be transitioning to living on our property full-time in a few months. There is a mobile home (the camp) and a metal shop building on the property now. We are currently looking at house plans and contractors to compare what the builders can offer us.