In the modern world, more than ever, land is valuable. What might have once been a common goal to strive towards is something that’s become more expensive and elusive due to a variety of factors. That’s true enough in a personal sense and can infringe on your ability to own or build the kind of house that you want, but coming across land when you’re in business might be an even greater opportunity.
There are differing perspectives here as well. You might be someone who is already in business, and this land might give you an idea for a fresh venture. Or the acquisition of this land might seem to you an opportunity to start something new.
The First Step
Having land in your possession is indeed an incredible opportunity, and while it’s a good idea to have some frame of reference of the direction that you’re going to go in – it’s important to not get too ahead of yourself at this stage. The first thing to do is look at the land that you have available. You need to understand the space, what it’s capable of, and arguably most importantly of all, you need to know what needs to be done to it before it can become usable. You might not be fortunate enough to find yourself with land that’s ready to go right out of the gate; it might require some treatment to make sure that it can be built on and there won’t be problems down the line.
So, perhaps the first thing that you want to do is get it tested – become aware of any potential problems with the soil or anything that’s present underneath the land that could cause issues down the line. After that, you need to think about how you can get it in a usable state, and for that, you’ll need to enlist the help of earthwork contractors who can get it into a position where it’s ready to go. Overall, this process might take some time, and again it’s important to have an idea of what you’re going to use this land for so that you can take any costs into account for your overall business plan. Additionally, you might want the earthwork itself conducted in such a way that accommodates one potential use of the land more than it would for another – which is something to bear in mind.
Combining Causes
Something that you might be interested in, if you don’t have a prior business venture to draw on here, is to use this land as many people would if they were looking to simply find themselves a home. Building a property on this land that can be used for the purposes of accommodation gives you a great deal of flexibility. You could build a hotel, a luxury home, a bed and breakfast – anything that can allow you to gain passive income. The idea of renting out property and making money from it is appealing to people due to the relatively low amount of work that you actually have to do in order to make money. Of course, there will be issues like upkeep that will cost, and work that needs doing from other contractors – but you might find that most of the time, this kind of thing (especially when it’s just a property that you let) allows you to make money in a relatively stress-free manner.
This can even double as a place for you to spend time in if you want, which might mean that you adopt a seasonal model. Renting it out during some months but staying in it during others could be a convenient solution, but this all depends on your circumstances outside of this. Something like a hotel or a bed and breakfast would allow you to stay in this property full time and work where you live, which would still allow you to earn the passive income, but wouldn’t require you to relocate entirely. There are problems that arise here compared with simply letting out a property, however, such as the additional work that you need to put in. A let property is basically just a home for people to do with as they will, but a hotel carries a certain standard, and venues like bed and breakfasts will require you to serve food on the premises, which involves skills and work that you might not feel confident in following through with.
An Opportunity for Expansion
What if you’re already in business? You might then see this land as a way of expanding what you’ve already established. This could maybe be the site of a new branch – though that’s something that very much depends on the surroundings. While earlier on, you might have examined the land itself – the dimensions and the quality – you might now look to what’s around it in order to best judge its use. If it’s in a relatively quiet area, or somewhere suburban, it might not make sense to open up a new shop there – but this isn’t a blanket rule, and each different area will have its own unique qualities.
That’s not the only kind of expansion, however. This might also be a chance for your business to branch out into something entirely new. Jumping into something that you have no knowledge of might be ill-advised, but you have time to think about what the most sensible approach would be and how you can go about it. Market research is going to be invaluable and a necessity regardless of what you ultimately decide to do – this is an incredible opportunity, and understanding what your business needs or how you can best use this land can help you to maximize its potential. It might even be that the previous example of developing property could be something that you see value in. Alternatively, while the space might not contain many businesses like yours around it, that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s no place for you; it might just be that there’s a gap in the market for you to capitalize on.
