# Help me please! Buying CHEAP acreage in Ontario?



## Addy

I've had the itch for a while now to invest some cash we have in an inexpensive piece of raw land (acreage) in small town Ontario (between Kingston and Algonquin Park). My hope is to buy about 50 acres of raw land (ie a hunting camp that is now close to other homes due to development/sprawl), sit on it for 15 to 20 years (property taxes are negligible) and then either build on it for an early retirement, or, if it's gone way up in value, sever into lots and sell, or sell as a whole depending on whats best for us when the time comes.

Has anyone else here picked up pieces of cheap land throughout Ontario and held onto it? Would you do it again or do you regret it at all?


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## hboy43

Hi:

I live in Hastings County, about 5 km from the border with Renfrew County. Raw land around here is as little as $500/acre in > 20 acre parcels. Mixed forest and rock. You won't be subdividing in 50 years for a housing development however: the population around here is WAY less than it was 100 years ago. No Jobs -> no population -> no RE value (unless waterfroint of course). If you can see yourself living on your own park in 25 years though, come out for a look.

hboy43


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## RoR

What do you pay in taxes on that? Approx?


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## hboy43

About 1.5% of MPAC, however I believe raw land is taxed at a lower rate.


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## MrMatt

Are there listings or a place to see what type of land is available out there?


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## OptsyEagle

Just remember that you are thinking about buying land in the 2nd largest country in the world with one of the lowest populations in the world. We will not be running out of land anytime soon, so with land in such abundant supply, you will definitely need to be precise in the land you buy (the land you get to pay taxes on while you wait for demand to pick up).


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## ddkay

any land outside the GTA greenbelt is cheap, but that's because there isn't much you can do with it.. unless you're literally sitting on a gold mine. do you know a geologist?

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/CrownLand/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_176757.html just redirects you to mls.ca (commercial properties)

how far will you be buying from basic life support services e.g. landline telephone, hospitals?

Is Ontario really that desirable to live in? Why not choose a province with a smaller budget deficit?


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## marina628

Go to Newfoundland and buy up some small town properties,in my little town homes are all over $100,000 now and about 7 years ago you could buy anything for $35,000.Minimum wage is now $10.00 a hour there and gone are the days where people had to come up to main land to get a few weeks work and get EI 42 weeks a year.Come to think of it I have not heard as many newfie jokes as I use to


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## hboy43

Hi:



MrMatt said:


> Are there listings or a place to see what type of land is available out there?


Search on "Bancroft real estate", say www.bancroftrealestate.on.ca but there are about a half dozen other sites. They probably all hit the same MLS listings. Bancroft is the big city in the region, pop 3500. A search on vacant land turned up one or 2 in the $600s/acre ask, about a half dozen about $1000/acre, but I didn't look at all of them. Most are $thousands/acre, but they will have water features or be nearer the population centres. I didn't come across any real near me (Carlow-Mayo township), and I am in the cheap seats, but as I said, I only glanced at about half of the listings.

I agree with whoever suggested that Ontario is poorly governed. But any jurisdiction that is well governed probably doesn't have any $500/acre stuff. Besides, given 20 or 30 years, we might get McGuinty booted out of office.

hboy43


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## callyhan

There was a good article in Moneysense about investing in land recently. http://www.moneysense.ca/2012/02/13/paydirt-investing-in-land/

I don't know that land in eastern Ontario is a great idea as an investment. Since I've moved out here I am surprised how isolated and remote some towns are compared to south western Ontario. Villages are basically dying because everyone is commuting for work to larger centres (Oshawa, Kingston, Ottawa). If you could find acreage close to a moderately sized city like Peterborough or Port Hope that might be the best bet for any future development.


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## mertij

*check this out*

this is a good site that might help you find land in Ontario that is cheap and if you want you could also use it to find land anywhere in north america 
http://www.landwatch.com/Canada_land_for_sale/Ontario/Land


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## Sherlock

What about planting trees on it and selling wood later?


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## banjopete

mertij said:


> this is a good site that might help you find land in Ontario that is cheap and if you want you could also use it to find land anywhere in north america
> http://www.landwatch.com/Canada_land_for_sale/Ontario/Land


Somehow you dug up a post from March 2012.


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