value of land in florida?????????? please read, need advise.

[IBsmokin]

Hello, a fello some kinf of charger member Steve told me tonight that land along the gulf of mexico is worth a million dollars an acrea.
Anyways heres my story, back in 1991 my brother and I went to orlando to work on the orange bowl, we got the drywall contract, anyways we worked in orlando for 9 months, and I save most of the cahs we made.   so close to the end of our work we took a trip to the gulf of mexico, and we found this town called st. petersburg.   anyways on the outskirts of town heading south along the gulf coast we found this road with a bunch of beach front lots, they were 2 acrea lots being sold for $8,000 bucks per lot; these lots were all just a bunch of trees shrubs and those saw palmeto bushes, so being that i was always told land is a great investment I bought a lot, then I moved back to canada and attended university, spent 8 years going to university and then been busy living life, so i havent been able to visit my property in a long time.   anyways i pay taxes on my land on a yearly basis and although the taxes have increased over the years they havent really increased by much.   So he tells me today that land on the gulf of mexico is selling for a million dollars per acrea, i am having a hard time believeing this right now because I cant see how something that only cost me 4 thousand per acrea now be worth a million dollars per acrea.   anyways i just emailed three different realitors to verify this information for me and ask them to give me a value on my land.   Can you imagine if my land is worth that much now, it would be like winning the lottery.
Would you sell it if you was in my shoes??
I bought the land years ago when I was 21 years old, it was always my dream to build a little cottage on the land and go down there every winter and twiggle my toas in the white sandy beaches while everyone else up here in Canada is freezing their arses off.
I could always picture myself waking up and looking out into the gulf of mexico.
if its true, should i sell my dream.   i bought the land because when I first see the land, even though it looked a wreck with all the under bush and weeds growing rampid on the lot, it was on the gulf of mexico and there was a stretch of 50 feet from the tree line to the water of white beautiful sand.   I would love to have the money, man it would change my whole life, but i wouldnt even have known that the land was worth that much if Steve never told me tonight. and I would still have my dream of building a cottage someday on my lot.
well i will wait and see what these realitors have to say.   But now i wish i didnt even know that the land value increased that much because if I sell the land out of greed for money, and then start spending it, what if someday i want a piece of land on the gulf of mexico and then realize i cant because now its even worth twice as much as what i sold it for, I mean it increased that much since 1991, how much more is it going to increase by 2010???

[CFMopar]

If its your dream to build a cottage their then do it. You probaly wont find land like that again.

[694spdRT]

My parents are on the Atlantic side in St. Augustine.

They bought a new house in a gated sub division three years ago and 1/2 acre vacant lots were bringing $45,000.  Now the lots are at least $150,000 so the land has definately increased. These are about a mile inland.

If you have an acre of beachfront property I would believe your are looking at a really good return provided it is in a prime location.

I would think about selling if that is the true value....buy low/sell high. I think we are on the high side of the real estate bubble.

[IBsmokin]

your right, its like my comic book collection I had since I was a kid its worth thousands of dollars, I have over 20,000 comic books,   i even have the superman comic where superman dies, and its worth like $15,000 and even during my most desperate times i never sold one single comic, I also have a huge coin collection and stamp collection that is collectively worth close to $500,000 and have never sold none of them, whats the sense of collecting something and then holding onto them for years if you are going to sell them.

[IBsmokin]

694  its a 2 acrea lot, long and skinny, well that how it looks.. but its beach front property.  it makes sense to sel but then it doesnt make sense because if I didnt even realize the value only in the past few hours i wouldnt even be pondering the thought.

[694spdRT]

Comes down to what you want I guess. If you don't need the money then the money probably won't make you as happy as the land.

I would consider selling with a $8,000 investment and a $992,000 profit less commisions of course. 

I know it sure would make my retirement planning easier with that kind of money around.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[CFMopar]

your right, its like my comic book collection I had since I was a kid its worth thousands of dollars, I have over 20,000 comic books,  i even have the superman comic where superman dies, and its worth like $15,000 and even during my most desperate times i never sold one single comic, I also have a huge coin collection and stamp collection that is collectively worth close to $500,000 and have never sold none of them, whats the sense of collecting something and then holding onto them for years if you are going to sell them

Where do you live? 

[Brock Samson]

I know a gal who went to mexico and bought primo beachfront property, and duly paid her taxes for several years, she later found out the parcel she bought was washed out to sea... 
Now she owns 4 acres in grass valley calif... lucky her,  ;)she 'n her hubby built a one room cabin and are curently adding rooms to all four sides..

[Vainglory, Esq.]

Not all parcels of land on the gulf coast are worth a million dollars.   Trust me, I'm within spitting distance of the gulf right now (back from Paris), and I ain't no millionaire....

[4402tuff4u]

You are talking $ 2,000,000? right? you said 1 million per acre. If you are allowed by the county, I would consider subdividing it into 1 acre lots, sell one and keep one for your self. That's if you have enough waterfront to split.

[IBsmokin]

The lot is half an acrea wide and 4 acreas long, its long and skinny, LOL
I still havent heard back from the realitors yet.  it dont matter, I dont think I will sell, I slept over it and yah i think i will keep my lot and build my cottage like I originally wanted too, stick with my dream. 
besides it could be like as Vainglory says, not all land is worth that much and maybe my beach front isnt worth much more then I paid for it in 1991

[BigBlockSam]

hey
i would Davide it and sell half.  if the money will change your life now take advantage of it, you could die tomorrow. enjoy it now . and you can still build your dream cottage later or now with the money you get .
i bought several lots in Sarasota county on the west coast of Florida. i bought them off of ebay for $7000. 4 years ago there on a fresh water canal. 1/4 acre apiece. there offering me $90000 each. i am gonna sell 2 and keep 1. the market goes up and down. take advantage of it now. it will have a correction in the future. Rene

[MoparYoungGun]

Personally, I would keep the land. I go down to the Sarasota and Fort Myers/Cape Coral areas quite often to visit family. Prices just keep going up. Plus it doesn't hurt that I love it down there .

Here are a few examples. My aunt owns a condo with a boat slip on a canal in Cape Coral. I believe she bought it for around $190k 5-6 years ago. Now it is worth around $300k.

Another example. An uncle of mine lives in Sarasota. Bought a one story house in maybe 94 or 95 for about $80k. Given he has done alot to the house landscaping wise but now it is worth around $225k.

One last example. Friends of my uncle lived in Sarasota. Nice one story house with a pool. They have since moved to another location in Sarasota but haven't sold there previous house because each month it goes up almost $5k in value while their mortgage is much less.

Prices down there are insane, if you have land keep it. Prices will only go up. This is just my .

[BigBlockSam]

real estate  dosen't go up for ever. it goes through cycles. it's a sellers market rite now.

[mustanghater]

I lve on the water here in ohio and the farther you go houses on the water get more expensive and only 2% of the population live on the water so I would build a house and live init If I were you

[MichaelRW]

If the property taxes haven't risen much I would guess the land hasn't either. I used to own a lot on North Captiva Island and the property taxes were adjusted each year based on the land value. Unless the taxes are calculated differently now which is entirely possible.

[Vainglory, Esq.]

If the property taxes haven't risen much I would guess the land hasn't either. I used to own a lot on North Captiva Island and the property taxes were adjusted each year based on the land value. Unless the taxes are calculated differently now which is entirely possible.

That's a very good point.  If the taxes haven't been adjusted up you can bet the value hasn't gone up as much as you might think.  After all, Florida has no state income tax and has to "make it up" elsewhere (or so it thinks).

Either way, the least you have is some oceanfront property.  Not too shabby, eh?

[CFMopar]

Why don't you go find out how much its worth. It would be interesting to know for yourself. plus like someone said earlier. Divided it into to 1 acre lots and keep one and sell one to build you cottage or something. Even if its long and thin you would want more beach than forest anyways.

[Brock Samson]

intill the next hurricane anyways, maybe you should look into building it up high to avoid being flooded, or perhaps just build an ark.