5 Key Signs You Should Sell or Hold Your Land Now If you’ve owned a parcel of land for a while, you’ve likely received unsolicited offers to buy it, especially during these times of inflation or economic uncertainty where land values are good and buying is hot. People started to see land as an asset […]
If you’ve owned a parcel of land for a while, you’ve likely received unsolicited offers to buy it, especially during these times of inflation or economic uncertainty where land values are good and buying is hot. People started to see land as an asset to hold, especially those abroad. It gives them the opportunity for a strong real estate legal system, dollar stability away from their local currency, and still quite affordable. But for those holding land, is now truly the right time to sell, or if you should wait and hold out for bigger potential gains?
Selling land isn’t always a clear cut decision, it’s a personal circumstance decision. But market timing, nearby development, and your personal financial goals all play a role. Here are five powerful signs to help you decide whether to sell your land now, or hold onto it for the future.
If you’re seeing roads being widened, power lines going up, or housing developments creeping toward your area, this could be a prime time to hold. When development reaches your parcel, or gets close the land values often spike way beyond what you’d expect. Have you ever seen city lots selling for $100k plus, sometimes in the millions. Well, someone held strong on that land during its low value days, they watched others sell their land and the area developed. Leaving them with a rare asset within the area now, if anyone wants to buy land and build their options are few and far between. Leaving the land owner with a prime valued parcel. Sometimes it takes years, and maybe even something they had to pass down till it happened. But in the right situation it could create major value for your family.
However, if development is simply not happening and you’ve held it a long time, selling now might make more sense if you need the cash. Especially if you can reinvest in a more promising location. As of 2025, if you have just held for a good 3-4 years, there’s a good chance you’re at least 300% up on your value. That’s worlds better than a 401k does, so cashing out isn’t a terrible idea.
What to look for:
Zoning changes or county meetings about growth
New utility access (water, sewer, electric)
Nearby homebuilders starting subdivisions
Land is often considered a hedge against inflation. Over the past few years, land values in many areas have risen sharply as people look for alternative investments beyond stocks or traditional real estate.
If your land has doubled or tripled in value and you’re not planning to build or use it, now might be the most profitable time to sell. Prices can flatten or decline when interest rates lower or the economy cools. Land is considered a secondary investment, not a primary living space. In times of a downturn, people tend to sell their secondary assets. And the market gets flooded with sales, dropping the values back down. So, if you’re looking for peak value maybe this is the top and you can re-invest during a downturn. But you never know the market, maybe prices continue to rise. It’s always a guess of course.
Tip: Use recent sales or get a no pressure quote from a reputable land buyer or agent to gauge value. If you don’t understand how what impacts land values there is a great guide from Investopedia here Land Values
One of the simplest signs, your land is costing you a lot of money every year, and not returning anything. Annual property taxes, HOA dues, or weed abatement fees add up, especially on remote or non-buildable land. If you’re holding land where the full annual cost is cheap, $50 a year or something, then it’s nothing to just hold the land long term. But some people, especially within HOA’s could be holding land for annual costs in the thousands. The longer you pay this, you are simply deducting from the profit in the future. You may even go negative on it.
If you’ve had it for years with no use, no access, or no realistic future plans, it might be time to cash out and let go of the maintenance headache. Holding a high HOA due property is only good if you plan to build, they rarely go up in value as most don’t want them long term, just builders.
Some land seems promising, until you dig into the zoning or access. If your land is zoned agricultural, flood-prone, or restricted from building, that could seriously cap future value. Some areas are not buildable and if it doesn’t look like anything will change, it just won’t go up in value. Yes, you could hold till it does become accessible, but sometimes it doesn’t. Issues like lack of firetruck access or land erosion will often have a no build rule, the land might not have the qualities to hold a building. That doesn’t look good for the future, although it’s usually sellable as someone is always willing to take the risk of holding it.
Likewise, landlocked parcels with no legal access may look great on a map but be difficult to use or sell. In these cases, waiting doesn’t always make the land more valuable. You may even have to take a loss on these but at least you won’t have to pay annual taxes anymore.
If you’ve confirmed through the county that development will be tough or impossible, selling might be the smartest move.
Life circumstances evolve and so do investment goals. Whether you:
Have an emergency
Need funds for retirement
Want to start a business
Pay down debt
…selling a piece of idle land can be a strategic way to free up capital without touching your primary assets. One of the biggest reasons people sell land is the dream of using it is now not a reality. They bought land for their future dream home, paid on it for years, only to realize some life change impacted the plan. Maybe as they aged, health problems happened and they needed to stay near a hospital, and can’t build that beautiful river home they planned. This is usually the main reason we see people selling land, they planned to use it, but plans changed.
Even if your land still has potential, the opportunity cost of holding it might outweigh the reward if you could put that money to better use elsewhere now.
Land is best a long-term play, they aren’t making any more of it, so it’s a supply and demand game. But it may not always be in your lifetime as it can take ages. The best decision comes from your current situation, if you really need the liquid cash for an emergency, that takes priority over future options. There are many ways to sell land, owner financed land, real estate agent or FSBO are the most common
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