I just read about this guy called Stan Kroenke. He is buying land has just got his hands on another ranch.
This last ranch that he bought is located in Texas and has some more than 1,000 operating oil wells. It’s about 30 000 acres (12 200 hektar) and became his for some 700 000 000 million USD. Kroenke is one of the largest private landowners in the US and owns ranches in Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, British Columbia and now Texas. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
The most expensive ranch ever sold in the United States so far is Trinchera Ranch in Colorado. It is owned by the Forbes family.
So, is buying land any good? Well, here is where I’m at.
The land is safe and as had a steady appreciation for decades. Almost all people who have been able to hold on to land has made good money from it. But land is also expensive and the yield is not very good at all. As a result of the low yield you will need external money to fund your purchase and ownership. This divides landowners into two different categories.
Nr 1. Rich people who are putting their money some place safe. If you have millions of dollars in your bank account, putting them in the land is according to history very safe.
Nr 2. Hard working people who doesn’t mind working hard their whole life, putting every penny they make into the land and then sell it all to die rich.
The rich people can get even better returns elsewhere, so there are other more attractive options for them. That said, I am fascinated by the idea of owning a ton of land, giving that has been the ultimate proof of wealth for decades.
Someone said: “You should buy land because they don’t make that anymore“.
The hard working people are facing a lot of struggle for many years. My father in Sweden and my friends past grandfather here in Florida are good examples of this. It’s a lot of work over several decades. I admire them, but I’m torn.
I’m thinking, if you really want to be a landowner, become an entrepreneur or investor, do real estate deals are found a profitable company, then start buying up land and ranches with that money. You can get wealthy enough to buy a descent size farm in 10 years do so without the pressure of loosing it all if you don’t work hard enough.
What are your thoughts on this? Would you want to own a ranch, farm or a few thousand acres of forest?