You see that a lot in Minnesota. The old farmstead...surrounded by the new development. Blank backsides staring at each other over a strip of green.

Ppl gotta live somewhere.

We're seeing a lot of that in upstate SC, where the market is hot. We're far enough out that we'll either be gone by the time it reaches us, or our place will be worth a lot more money. It sure changes the character of the area, though.

Same thing happening here in Berkley, Michigan; much like ARG's first image. There exists post war bungalows (8' first floor ceiling height and 7.5' attic ceiling height) and developers are randomly tearing them down and building houses (10' first floor ceiling height and 9' second floor ceiling height) that tower over their neighboring houses. No sense of scale whatsoever. The exterior designs of some of the house isn't too bad, but they lack scale.

What...no 3-car to 6-car garages? What will the new owners do?

Kind of sad. We see it in Kansas City's northernmost suburbs - Liberty is growing north towards Kearney and Smithville.

On a happier note, we are a lot closer to city shopping, healthcare, etc. and we didn't even have to move!

Ppl gotta live somewhere.

Yep. Of course I agree, because my new tract/production house sits on former pasture. ;-)

And those folks who had the farmsteads? They were paid (often very well) for their land, and if they still farm, are (probably) happy to move "farther out" away from suburbia. Or so was the case with my extended family -- their family inheritance grew quite a bit, courtesy of the developers, and they are pretty thrilled.

Yeah, we see the same thing in our area, and I can see several reasons:

- People don't want to live in the big cities; they want to raise their children in the suburbs or rural areas ... and in our area this is becoming more and more possible because the roads have been four-laned between us and the city ... and because with the advent of telecommuting, everyone doesn't have to physically go into the office every day.

- The older generation who held onto these properties are dying off, and their children are selling the land. In many cases of which I know personally, keeping the land is less desirable because once it's divided by 4-6 grandchildren, it's not "the big homeplace" it used to be ... it's more of a microfarm. Unless you're making money from the land in some way, the land is expensive to keep. On the other hand, the money IS desirable.

- The land is worth much more than it used to be, so taking the money is more attractive than it was in the past ... and when you look at the old farmhouses, it's often possible to build something new (just as you want it) for the same cost as you can rennovate that old, falling-down house.

Yeah, I see why people do this, though my brother and I are united in our promise that we'll keep our family land. We've already been offered big money -- and turned it down.

I live in a Kansas City, Kansas neighborhood initially built in the 60's.Prior to the building boom, the land(many hundreds of acres), was an apple orchard and corn fields.

Basically 3 Bd 2car garage, medium sized lot, lots of trees. 1-2 blocks east of us are 2 story, split entry homes built in the 70's.2-6 blocks east of those are houses built in the 50's. Slab, originally one car garage, 2 Bd, small yard. Built for returning service people/families. Houses have been extensively remodeled, some into two story to car garages. Basic homes for basic cost---$65K to $110K.

My house is worth about $145,000.

Two blocks away is an estate(built in late 90's) with a pond, long driveway, huge house(recently on the market for $1.75 million---did not sell).

1/2 mile west is zoned agricultural---folks have cattle and working farms. And heavy industrial(cement plants). And lots of wooded areas.

All of this is in the city limits. Cannot come up with a better environment for us to live out the rest of our lives.

Then you have the land of Madigan, where farmers are forced to sell ground to pay the death tax just to keep their farms. Much of this ground is rezoned and subdivided into lots. So much for the Centennial Farm!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-berg-death-tax-st-0902-20160901-story.html

We were lucky in that the farm we bought wasn't really for sale. I approached the owners (owners were three brothers in their 80s). After they vetted us :) and determined that we were NOT going to be putting a development there, we were able to work out a deal. Its my happy place. 197 acres of beauty.

Can't find farms around here for less then 600K-1M+ due to gas infrastructure (or unless you get lucky like doc. Luckily for me, I have a contract (future sale) on land as a result of a similar stroke of luck. I have NO intentions of developing it.

Oh, but the death tax for small businesses and farms doesn't matter because so few people pay it versus (being force to) sell out! /sarc

Nice to have a business with only intellectual property Uncle Sam hasn't figured out how to tax yet.