Here's to optimism...

So, there's a little chunk of land on the way to my grocery store that's had a "For Sale" sign on it for the better part of a year now. Not much, about an acre with a smallish pole-barn/brick facade building on it. There were several old cars, trailers, etc. on the property, so I assumed it was being used as an independent body shop or something along those lines. Looked pretty much perfect for my needs, and only a couple of miles from home. Curiosity got the best of me today and I decided to call about it. The agent gives me the rundown on the land and the building, then tells me the price: $250,000.00. A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS. I almost dropped the phone. For a little over an acre and a 3,000 sq. ft. outbuilding. The agent told me, "Well, that area's only going to continue to grow". Now, this area is populated by a National Guard base and hubs for most of the major shipping companies (UPS, Fed Ex, Forward Air, etc.) The only "commercially viable" parcels of land in this area need to be big enough to build a 50,000 sq. ft. warehouse on - this chunk of land wouldn't be big enough for a parking lot. The whole area is a horrible location for office space and would be death to a retail store. On top of that, the agent told me they will be expanding the road in the near future, taking away a good bit of land, and the whole parcel is subject to some ultra-wacky zoning regs becuase it is bordered by residential, commercial, military and free-trade zone land("But it would be easy to get it re-zoned"). Yeah right. Betcha it's still for sale this time next year...