Le sigh
http://www.landandfarm.com/property/56_Acre_Farm_Near_Albany_Ny-509832/
would really like this. :yes:
Yes, but it is Upstate New York, although while absolutely beautiful, equates with long, cold, depressing winter! LOL!
That does look like a great deal though!
As cutter99 has said – winters in that part of NY State are long, cold, icy and snowy. A lot of those old converted dairy barns have very low ceilings and are DARK DARK DARK inside. I’d also be concerned with the basic infrastructure of the home … especially given the extremely cold temps in the winter. There’s probably a reason the property has been on the market for 180 days …
Do some research on upstate NY and Fracking before you buy. Although based on news released as recent as last week, it appears there is now legislation to ban.
http://nyagainstfracking.org/
[QUOTE=cutter99;8170625]
Yes, but it is Upstate New York, although while absolutely beautiful, equates with long, cold, depressing winter! LOL!
That does look like a great deal though![/QUOTE]
I miss upstate NY so much… but yes… these are not really deals so much as they are deals of folly 
you are looking @ high land tax, horrible brutal winters, and next to no cell phone service, internet coverage, and not the greatest/quickest plowing response team…
I lived in Oneonta for over a year… it was beautiful and I miss it but I sure don’t miss the winter.
The last few winters have been tough tough for the whole NE, but those that live here have learned to build for and cope with it. There are great situations there for those that winter South, and head North for the summer competition months.
Any new gas drilling in NY would happen in a small geographic area, as that’s the only place where the appropriate shale exists. Even then, it is amazing, how land values, and the economy just south of there in PA have done exceedingly well as a result of said fracking. So carry on with your misinfo on the so called dangers of fracking.
I love upstate NY, but the main reason I moved (besides the brutal winters) is the high taxes. Sure I could have afforded the mortgage, but not taxes that were just as much as said mortgage.
Find me a 45 acre non-wooded, non-hillside property within a 1/2 hr of a city even the size of Oneonta in central NY with a barn (or without) with taxes of ~$500/yr. That’s what I pay here in KY.
[QUOTE=shakeytails;8172176]
I love upstate NY, but the main reason I moved (besides the brutal winters) is the high taxes. Sure I could have afforded the mortgage, but not taxes that were just as much as said mortgage.
Find me a 45 acre non-wooded, non-hillside property within a 1/2 hr of a city even the size of Oneonta in central NY with a barn (or without) with taxes of ~$500/yr. That’s what I pay here in KY.[/QUOTE]
THAT is one of the reasons we didn’t stay in NY… we really loved it… the countryside is beautiful but the taxes CRAZY. Oneonta is one of the prettiest towns I have EVER seen… but try finding a place that has acreage that isn’t on the side of a mountain, or doesn’t have a 2 mile driveway through winding dirt roads… in the winter it’s terrifying driving on those roads and the plows are next to useless.
Wow. What are taxes there?
Seriously. I could sell my house here with the mortgage left on it, buy that outright, and still have a lot of money left over. My taxes are $4,000 a year in the bay area,CA on a 1,000 sf house.
The cold could be an issue, but . . . can’t you build inside arenas and such since it’s so cheap?
Yeesh that’s cheap. You can’t get into a three/four bedroom house with NO property for that price here :no:.
And a 5 acre farmette went on the market here for more than $100k above that price. I wish!
Well, yes and no. For that area, that price is certainly not cheap. And I’d question the “easy 45 minute drive” to Albany - especially in the winter. I’ve made that Route 20 trip from Albany to near Syracuse a million times, and it’s not all that “easy” or fast – maybe you can get from this homestead to the western border of the city of Albany, but I’m sure it must be an hour or more if you needed to get downtown; factor in traffic and parking and that’s a 90 minute commute if you hit bad weather or an accident.
Now, if you worked in Schenectady, or were independently wealthy and didn’t have to work…maybe.
But having driven through Carlisle a million times (don’t blink or you’ll miss it)…I would wonder if it’s not a lonely existence unless you grew up there and know everyone for a 30 mile radius.
The taxes on that property are $5500. I’m not sure if that’s with any sort of ag exemptions or anything.
Being as I am in MA, and incredibly jaded towards property taxes, that does not seem like a lot for what it is. Your average single-family 3bed/2bath home on a third of an acre has a $5k property tax bill in most of the towns around me. My 3600sqft home on 100+/- acres is only $5k a year but only because most of it is Chp. 61A. If it weren’t, the property taxes would be vomit-inducing.
But anyway, back to the original post…it’s really only a good deal if you can not just afford to buy it, but afford to live there. Jobs in most industries will be hard to find up there, and they’re not going to pay as much as they do elsewhere in the country/closer to larger cities. So unless you’re independently wealthy, you may find it difficult to afford the property on the salary you’ll be able to make up there. Not the mortgage, but the upkeep of those ancient buildings, the land, the heating costs (faint-worthy!), the winter maintenance costs, etc.
Also, the winters SUCK. They just do.
[QUOTE=beowulf;8172185]
Oneonta is one of the prettiest towns I have EVER seen…[/QUOTE]
And the smell of Brook’s chicken is heavenly…
… in the winter it’s terrifying driving on those roads and the plows are next to useless.
Awww, it isn’t that bad. My buddies and I did at least one road trip from Delhi to Unadilla and back in a foot of snow in my old Malibu. I thought it was kinda fun.
[QUOTE=Beentheredonethat;8172337]
Wow. What are taxes there?[/QUOTE]
All over the map! Local tax assessors have a whole lot of leeway. Don’t assume that what the previous owners are paying won’t go up a decent chunk with a new owner and a new assessment.
If you want some room but you’re willing to leave 50+ acres to forestry and commit to doing so for the next ten years, NY will give you a huge discount on the property tax. More info here: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5236.html (Lately our forestry program has amounted to “the market for lumber sucks, leave 'em growing”. The last time we had an active round of thinning, which was more than a decade ago, it was far, far from clearcutting, more like cherry-picking some of the most marketable trees. If anybody wants a rec for a good forester based out of Coopertown, feel free to drop me a note.)
With the forestry tax exemption, on ~150 acres (with some worked land but a whole lot more forest), we were paying ~$1k in property tax (with the 480a discount) and ~$2k in school tax. There was also a few hundred a year to the forester to keep the plan up-to-date, but it was money well-spent.
Land prices aren’t too bad, but getting anything built is a pain in the butt.
Got out last year. No regrets. Having all this free time is disorienting, but I made a new CotH forum account and have found a way to kill most of the free time. 
[QUOTE=shakeytails;8173155]
And the smell of Brook’s chicken is heavenly…
Awww, it isn’t that bad. My buddies and I did at least one road trip from Delhi to Unadilla and back in a foot of snow in my old Malibu. I thought it was kinda fun.[/QUOTE]
yabbut did you live there?
I actually lived on the hill right in front of Brooks… well… the HUGE giant mountainous hill across from PC… Old Llama farm on Evening Inn… everyone knows the access road to that llama farm… it is STEEP and wraps next to a 15 foot drop that is a ravine/brook…I had fun too until one night coming home from work I lost traction up the hill and spun down the hill and almost into the ravine :eek:
But yeah, pretty as heck but the winters & tax aren’t worth it.
I didn’t live in Oneonta, but drank there a lot!
I vaguely remember that hill. I lived just outside of Cooperstown, also West Edmonton, East Springfield & South Columbia. Spent a couple of years in Delhi- there’s some beautiful old farms in Delaware County!
I used to drool over NY farm real estate catalogs (before the internet!), but then I realized I couldn’t afford to live there. If the property taxes don’t kill ya’, the school taxes will.
Oneonta might not be the place for you high-end horse folk.
A friend of mine who grew up caring for show horses and then did her DVM at Cornell has been bummed out practicing up there. The standard of care among most horse owners is horrendously low. More than once, someone has waited to call her about a horse problem that had progressed to the point that euthanasia was the kindest option. They didn’t want to pay for much else, even when another treatment was a viable (if expensive) option.
She says that county (Delaware?) is the watershed that feeds NYC’s water to it. So the state has rigged it up such that it’s next to impossible to bring much business or industry to the area.
So deals on land up there might not supply much once you step off your farm. The same theme applies for taxes: It’s great to be the richest guy on the block… until you need some good infrastructure (like an ER) or good neighbors.
[QUOTE=mvp;8173420]
She says that county (Delaware?) is the watershed that feeds NYC’s water to it. So the state has rigged it up such that it’s next to impossible to bring much business or industry to the area.[/QUOTE]
Whether or not that is true, Central New York is in the middle of nowhere. There are many reasons it’s difficult to bring business and industry to that area.
As for taxes, it’s funny that if you grow up in NY, you really never think about the fact that other people pay that much less in taxes. :lol:
[QUOTE=S1969;8173534]
Whether or not that is true, Central New York is in the middle of nowhere. There are many reasons it’s difficult to bring business and industry to that area.
As for taxes, it’s funny that if you grow up in NY, you really never think about the fact that other people pay that much less in taxes. :lol:[/QUOTE]
I’d go back to the Finger Lakes and Ithaca in particular if I could afford the taxes and utilities.
As long as we’re talking NY real estate, I have to share this one - not a farm, but still…$105,000. Just two hours away from me…I can tell you that in my town $100K might get you an empty lot. I wonder if it’s possible to move this house??
http://www.oldhousedreams.com/2015/05/28/c-1880-queen-anne-camden-ny/
