Brian,

Land typically is not a good retirement investment unless you are buying it ahead of time to move onto once you retire. It has no cash flow or income return on investment, you can't depressiate it on taxes, and it is the least liquid type of real estate or any investment. You are depending only on the apprisiation which is historically low over the long term. The long term average annual appriciation rate in Klamath is only about 3 or 4 %. If you own this property with no loan you could have put this money in a good CD, bonds, even 401K and done better over the long term. I would recomend dumping this property as quickly as you can and get this money invested into something with a good rate of return unless you are planning to build a home here and move onto it when you retire, but even then if you had this money in a good investment it would outperform the return on investment for this property. It would be worth taking a loss so that you could get your money back and get it into something that will pay you 8 to 10% return over the long term which is not that hard to find usualy. You can find that in real estate, mutual funds, stocks, etc. Most investers will dump an investment once it drops below a certain level. They usually want to see at least a 6% return. The long term projection on this property is only 4% maybe and that is not including your expenses (taxes and assoc dues) Right now Running Y land values are down by about 30% from 2006 because invantory is about 4 times normal for that area while most of the rest of Klamath Falls is only about double. When the market turns around at the long term average appriciation it will take about 7 years to make up the difference. If you sell it at a 30% loss ($170,000) and invest that into a good investment 8-10% (a great investment would be 13-17% or more) you could be completely recovered from your loss in about 3 years and start making money on the investment funds again.
Taking a loss is hard to swallow sometimes and most peole would rather continue to loose money on the investment while they wait for the value to return so that they don't see the loss, but the money that could have been made is still a loss.
If I can help you make a good investment please let me know.

The prices of all properties in the area have decreased. I agree with the first answer. If you purchased the property at the Running Y for retirement, I would think you should keep it for retirement. It is a great investment. If you look at real estate over time, there are trends of it moving up and down. About the time you are ready for retirement, you can either move onto it to enjoy your retirement or the prices may be up enough again that it would make sense to sell it then!

Hi Brian,
Most lots at the Running Y have lost value since 2006. We are most likely at or near the bottom of the market, and are hoping to see things begin to turn around mid-year 2009. However, it will probably take longer than that for properties to get back to pre-2006 levels, so if you can hang on to it for at least a year or two, that would be advisable.
If you would like specific comparables and information on pricing and what has sold at the Running Y, I'd be happy to get that to you.
Take care,

Kim