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Retirement
Ozark County is one of the fastest growing counties
in the Ozarks, with retirement the largest reason people migrate here.
Folks from all over are buying and building homes to help make Ozark County
a diverse and interesting place to enjoy retirement life. Excellent financial
institutions coupled with many real estate companies offer a variety of
opportunities to find and buy your dream property.
Real Estate - It's still a bargain
by Dan Morrison
Park Place Realty
In this new century and new millennium, Ozark County remains one of the
most popular places in the country for pure and simple enjoyment, real
estate investing, hunting, fishing and recreating.
The "real Ozarks" and all the serenity and natural beauty of
our rolling hills, valleys, mountains, streams, rivers, lakes, woods and
pastures is very pleasing to those who come to our area, as well as to
those of us who live here.
It always amazes me to see how many good folks from every state in the
United States seem to find out what a great place our Ozark County is
to live - whether they are planning early retirement here or bringing
the whole family to enjoy a simpler way of life away from the congestion
of a big city.
Ozark County, once primarily an area that attracted vacationers, has
become an exclusive retirement area and family home to those wishing to
escape the crime, congestion, harsh pressures and severe weather of big
cities.
Folks that five-to-ten years ago would have chosen our neighbor city
to the south, Mountain Home, Ark., are now choosing southern Missouri
over northern Arkansas. Even Arkansas natives have been looking for and
purchasing residences or land on which to build in our area. It's obvious
to most that one can still get more "real estate" for your buying
dollar in and around the Gainesville area.
To give potential real estate purchasers a general idea of the still
very reasonable Ozarks real estate price ranges, as well as a description
of some of the different categories of real estate, here are some generalities
(with general price ranges):
Acreage -- vacant lot (land only)
- Wooded acreage - $400 to $800 per acre.
- Open and improved acreage - $700 to $1,000 per acre.
- River and lake acreage - $1,500 to $5,500 per acre, depending on size,
view, terrain, and access.
- Building sites - (price ranges based on the assumption of a small
acreage). There is quite a variance in this category; however, two-to-five-acre
building sites/tracts without well, septic, with access to electricity,
will generally range from $12,000 to $20,000. Two-to-five-acre building
sites/tracts, with well, septic and electricity on site generally ranges
from $16,000 to $28,000. Similar properties, with or without amenities
as applied to these tracts with a good lake or river view generally
range from $19,500 to $42,500.
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Residential Real Estate
(Estimated as if home were on small acreage or lot)
This is a very big category and includes a variety of types of residential
structures: lake area homes, log homes, wood frame homes, brick homes,
berm homes, cabins, cottages, farm houses, chalet-style homes, ranch-style
homes, modular/mobile homes, etc.
- Retirement homes/second homes (small-to-medium in size) - $55,000
to $110,000.
- Luxury homes (medium-to-large in size with uniqueness as to location,
view, architectural design, custom amenities, etc.) - $135,000 to $250,000.
- Fixer-upper farm houses (small-to-medium in size, usually with a barn
or some other outbuilding{s}) - $60,000 to $100,000.
- Rental homes (includes homes "in town" or in fairly close
proximity to town) - $45,000 to $70,000.
- New construction (never been lived in - includes primarily "conventional"
types of homes) - $79,000 to $149,000. Note: There are always a certain
number of folks hiring local contractors to construct their new home
to specifications of plans/blueprints that they (the folks moving to
our area) have worked on with their families for many years prior to
their actually move to the Ozarks, solidifying their desire to create
their own idea of an efficient mode of living in the Ozarks.
- Remodeled homes (medium-to-older homes on original homestead sites,
which have been updated to reflect a lot of the structural and superficial
desires of people moving to our area, without disturbing the character
of the original home site {e.g. mature trees and landscaping, outbuildings,
etc.}) - $70,000 to $150,000.
- Mobile homes/modular (in good availability on individual sites; also
a good number of both in-town and rural mobile home parks/modular sites.)
$39,000 to $80,000.
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Farms and Ranches
- Gentlemen farms/ranches (Also known as "hobby farms," these
are farms or ranches usually with small to medium-sized acreages that
are not dependent or not totally dependent on agriculture or commercial
operation for survival. This seems to be an extremely popular category
of real estate for entrepreneurs or hobbyists.) - $150,000 to $325,000.
- For profit farms/ranches ("for profit" operations, such
as dairy farms, cattle farms, horse ranches, exotic animal farms, game
farms, etc., usually with large tracts of land, primarily pasture. There
is quite a variance in this category of real estate for a variety of
reasons.) - $175,000 to $1.9 million.
Commercial Businesses
- Owner operator businesses (These are very popular and very needed
in our Ozarks. While a few are seasonal businesses, most are year-round.
This category may include motels, resorts, convenience stores, RV parks,
bait/tackle stores, restaurants, sporting goods stores, clothing stores,
antique shops, beauty shops, flower/card shops, etc. There are many
opportunities for innovative "self-starters". Established
owner/operator businesses do go up for sale occasionally, ranging from
small businesses without any real estate up to "big" businesses
with real estate, furniture, fixtures and equipment. - $25,000 to $1.5
million.
Financing Your Piece of the Ozarks
Our area has good access to a variety of types of real estate loans.
Locally owned bank, savings bank, FHA or VA and Farm Credit Services supply
both short term and long term financing.
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You'll Never Want to Leave
There are many ways to find peace, solitude and contentment in our southern
Missouri Ozarks, and there is property available in most all real estate
categories mentioned above. Ozark County has several real estate agencies
who will be happy to assist you in facilitating your real estate purchase
here in the Ozarks.
Good conservation practices by those that are here now and those moving
to our Ozarks is absolutely of the utmost importance for all our futures.
By purchasing here in the Ozarks, you will realize very soon that you
are not only making a great real estate investment, but you can live out
the dreams of a life time, enjoy low taxes, a pristine pollution-free
environment and wake up every day to the natural wholesome beauty of the
Ozarks.
And once you arrive, you'll never want to leave!
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