My team and I have been involved in the procurement and sales of an increasing number of rural properties of late, and it bears mentioning that there are some important added variables that need to be factored in when deciding on a home in the country. The obvious ones have to do with the physical aspects of the property’s location, like its views and topography, level of privacy and noise impacts, amount of sunlight and usable land, proximity to commute and desirable locations, the nature of...

There are many ways of measuring the success of an investment, and the method you choose will largely be influenced by your definition of what success looks like and your tolerance for risk. As we touched upon in our previous discussion, when comparing rates of return of different properties based on their cash flow, we use metrics like Gross Rent Multiplier and Capitalization Rate. That said, to get to the actual bottom line on how the property performs, we need to compare the cash flow and...

The County of Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission acquired the 32-mile Santa Cruz Branch Railroad and Right of Way from Union Pacific on October 12, 2012 for $14.2 Million, returning it to local public ownership to preserve it for future transportation uses. Plans for a Light Commuter Rail Line have been proposed alongside bicycle and pedestrian paths, and information for each of these can be viewed on the RTC’s site at sccrtc.org .  As part of these plans, the RTC stated their...