"Moral of the story: buy land you'd be happy with even if nothing else ever pops up around you...plans have a funny way of changing."
Couldn't agree more. I've seen plenty of "guaranteed" developments stall out or vanish completely. Learned early on to treat zoning and development plans as possibilities, not promises. Still, your client lucked out with the wildlife photography angle—nice silver lining there. Always smart to have a backup plan or at least genuinely like the land itself, because you never know...
Good points all around. I've seen zoning boards flip-flop enough times to know nothing's set in stone. Had a project once where the city promised infrastructure upgrades within two years—five years later, still waiting. Ended up pivoting to a smaller-scale build that didn't rely on their timeline. Curious if anyone here's had to drastically change their original plans due to unexpected zoning or infrastructure delays...
Had a similar experience a few years back—bought some land expecting city water hookup within a year or two. Turned out the city kept pushing back the timeline, citing budget issues and other vague reasons. Ended up having to drill a well instead, which wasn't cheap...but at least it gave me independence from their unpredictable scheduling. Anyone else find that sometimes it's better to just bite the bullet and handle infrastructure yourself rather than relying on city promises?
Had a buddy go through something similar, and it got me thinking about this whole city vs. self-managed infrastructure thing:
- He bought land expecting power lines within months. City kept dragging their feet—same vague excuses: "budget constraints," "planning delays," yada yada.
- Eventually, he just gave up waiting and installed solar panels and batteries. Cost him a pretty penny upfront, but now he's off-grid and loving the independence.
- Makes me wonder if cities intentionally overpromise to attract buyers and boost property taxes. Cynical, maybe...but not impossible, right?
- On the flip side, handling your own infrastructure isn't always smooth sailing either. Maintenance costs, unexpected repairs, permits...it can add up fast.
- But I get the appeal of not having to rely on bureaucratic timelines. There's something satisfying about knowing you control your own utilities.
I'm curious though—did drilling the well significantly boost your property's value? Seems like having your own water source could be a nice selling point down the road, even if it was a pain initially.
We drilled a well about five years back, and honestly, it did help our appraisal a bit. Not a massive jump, but buyers definitely liked the independence factor. Still, maintenance isn't always cheap...pump went out last year—ouch.
