Pinetop White Mountain Blog

Good Morning Everyone!

Every day in our office in Show Low we have potential buyers coming in looking for Land where they can come up to the cool high country, park the RV and just relax for two or three months out of the year.  Most of the time they expect to come in to our market and pick up acreage with utilities available, at a very low price.  

The reality is that land in our area is very expensive.  If you want an acre of tall pines with utilities, you are most likely looking at a minimum of 100K per acre and if it is in a desirable location, probably more than that.  The parcel is likely to be deed restricted to Site-built homes only and there may be a time limit on how soon you need to start building the home.  You will not be able to bring the RV up and park it for a few months out of the year.  The deed restrictions might even preclude your parking the RV on the lot once you build your home unless it has a covered and enclosed garage.  Not what folks want to hear I know, but it is the truth in this area.  

I know that you can look online and find parcels listed that are selling for very low prices.  Perhaps around $5000. per acre or less, and although they may look nice in the pictures, the reality of those parcels is much different.  

First off they are probably at least 25 or 30 miles out of town.  It is highly unlikely that the parcel has any utilities and they aren't available to that parcel for many miles.  The utility companies will extend the lines, but at the customer's expense, and I can guarantee that they will take the longest route to get there.  They will charge the customer to extend their lines to serve the greatest amount of area.  Extending lines is very costly and the utility companies don't share the expense.  They may even have restrictions on who they will serve.  It is certainly something that a buyer would want to investigate during their due diligence period.  It would be very disheartening to discover after the sale closes to have a utility company deny service to the property on the basis that they don't have to provide service until a home is being built on the land.  Believe me it can happen and while it might not seem fair, it is their right and they are in control. 

Second, there is no water in those areas.  You may or may not find water if you decided to drill a well and drilling costs the last time I checked were about $25 to $30 per foot.  When you consider that IF you can even find water in these locations it is going to be at a minimum 200 feet below the surface and could be as deep as 1000 feet, the cost of that well gets high pretty fast.  There is a possibility that there might be a stand pipe around somewhere that you can haul in your water but it still might be miles from the parcel of land.

Third, and perhaps most important.  There may not even be a road to the property.  There may be a dirt track that is traversable only with a four wheel drive, high profile vehicle, or there may be no road at all.  At a minimum it will require many twists and turns to get to the land as there is unlikely to be a direct road to it.  And I can assure you that there won't be any emergency services available to that area.  If it is covered at all, the closest fire station will be 15 to 20 miles away.  

Finally, much as I hate to disillusion you, it won't be in the tall pines.  It may have some scrub on it and perhaps a few spindly juniper or pinion trees, but it will not be in the ponderosa pines.  

In short, inexpensive parcels in the Show Low area will equate to primitive conditions and if you are an advocate of "green" living, they are a good value.  However, if you want the conveniences associated with mountain living these types of parcels are not going to be for you. 

A better alternative is an acre or two of property in more established areas that already have services available.  If you want to park the RV a consideration might be in one of the lovely RV areas with all the amenities and then just take a drive out to the more remote areas for a picnic or a drive.  In the end the value you get for your cost is going to be much higher. 

I hope you find this information useful and we look forward to seeing you on your next visit to the Show Low area.

SANDRA & BRUCE PAULOW, REALTORS®

"WE WORK FOR YOU!"

RE/MAX Pine Country Realty in Show Low, Arizona.

(866) 537-9001 or (928) 242-0300