Can be hard to tell if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
I’m an old guy. One of the first movies I remember seeing was Smokey and the Bandit. Late 70s, back when Burt Reynolds was on his first hairpiece.
There’s a scene where the Burdettes walk up on the Bandit sleeping in a hammock. Little Enos looks at him and says, “Seems like a legend and an out-of-work bum look a lot alike, daddy.”
It’s a funny line, but there’s a lot of truth in it. A lot of things in life look almost identical from the outside if you don’t know what you’re looking at.
A legend and a bum. A disciplined person and someone who just got lucky. A successful business owner and someone who “doesn’t seem to work very much.”
Land can be the same way.
Two tracts can look almost identical driving down the road. Same pasture. Same fence. Same trees. But one might be sitting in the path of development while the other isn’t.
One might have access to a nearby sewer line that actually works for the property. Sewer flows downhill, as they say. The other might technically be “near sewer,” but at the wrong elevation to connect without a lift station.
Or they may be served by different water providers, only one of which has the capacity to add new connections.
From the road they look the same.
Until you understand what’s actually going on.
That’s one reason land prices can surprise people. They’re looking at the grass. Someone else is looking at the context.
Sometimes a legend and an out-of-work bum really do look the same.
The difference is knowing what you’re looking at.
PS – Land markets can be a lot like that scene in the movie.
Two properties can look identical from the road, but the context around them can make a big difference in value.
That’s what the MBR Land Reality Check looks at. Actual nearby sales, current listings, development pressure, utilities, and the other details that aren’t obvious just driving by.
It’s still free this month. No obligation and never any pressure to list.
Sometimes it helps to know what you’re really looking at.
PPS – If you’re not ready for a Reality Check but enjoy reading about land, markets, and negotiation, you can sign up below and get these posts in your inbox.
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