Land Smart Resources

Recently I came across two interesting articles that reiterate the quality of life provided by land investments. The first, an AP report on the significant losses American households incurred over the past year, helps put into perspective the advantage of owning a tangible investment such as land as opposed to stocks.

American households lost $1.33 trillion of their wealth in the first three months of the year as the recession took a bite out of stock portfolios and dragged down home prices.

The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that household net worth fell to $50.38 trillion in the January-March quarter, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2004. The first-quarter figure marked a decline of 2.6 percent, or $1.33 trillion, from the final quarter of 2008.

The damage to wealth in the first quarter came from the sinking stock market. The value of Americans’ stock holdings dropped 5.8 percent from the final quarter of last year. Continue reading at NYTimes.com…

Despite the doom and gloom of the main stream media, there exists pockets of optimism.  Take for example Charles Gracey, who’s investment not only provides an income, but provides a better quality of life for his family.

Like many others, Charles, who goes by Chip, a computer chip designer from California, has felt the sting of losing money in the financial markets, and he has watched with trepidation as home values have skidded. But now he has found what he thinks will be a better way to build his assets while improving his family’s quality of life.

All it takes, it seems, is water, sunlight and the right kind of soil. (Sweat equity is optional and, if he wants, he can even pass along the everyday risks to someone else, too.)

Last spring, Mr. Gracey, and his wife, Kristin, paid $1.59 million for a 105-acre walnut farm — complete with a 37-year-old farmhouse — in Red Bluff, Calif., about 125 miles north of Sacramento. The farm was already in operation, so all he had to do was move the family in and hire a management company to oversee the orchards. (Mr. Gracey, meanwhile, makes a two-hour drive twice a week to his technology business in Rocklin, where he used to live, and works from home the rest of the time.) Continue reading at NYTimes.com…