Tycoon step 1, TV tweaker

Over the weekend Alison and I were up in Lehigh Acres looking for more land as an investment. Lehigh Acres is in Lee county and is an area very similar to Golden Gate Estates, where we live. The big difference is the lots in Lehigh Acres are much smaller, typically 1/4 to 1/2 acre parcels. Their smaller size makes them much more affordable. We looked at a number of places, more than a half dozen. Some were literally in the middle of nowhere with access only by a one lane “road” consisting of little more than 2 tire tracks. But we found 2 that appealed to us. One was a for-sale-by-owner lot that was right off a major road and the other was another nice lot that was backed by an orange grove close to another major road. We put in offers on both of these lots, got counter offered and we accepted the counter. So we are well on our way to being real estate investors. The woman that was selling the lot privately offered me much advice about the entire process as she has been buying and selling land in Florida for a few years. I was suprised we could complete the entire sale process for a few hundred dollars and without stepping foot in a title company. It can all be handled by mail. The other lot was a realtor listing and was less money but still a good deal. The process of getting bank checks and having to overnight them here and there is a bit of a pain but by the end of the month I expect it to be all finished up. I have an itch to go buy some more but to invest much more would be too much of a financial hardship on us. My hope is to hold onto these lots a couple years and then have enough money to pay off the entire home equity line with money to spare, then repeat the process.

I don’t know why, but owning one of these is an appealing idea to me.