Local land values are rising—but by how much?

by Don Audette, Fall 2004

In 1939, the Fauquier Democrat reported a parcel of land near Amissville was sold at auction for $14 an acre. The Rappahannock News recently quoted one local attorney as estimating some land in the county as now being worth $19,000 an acre. According to local Realtor® Alan Zuschlag, land prices in the county doubled between 2001 and 2003.

So, what's the average price of an acre of vacant land in Rappahannock County? While we know land values are rising, is it possible for landowners to determine the value of any given parcel of vacant land—land without a structure on it?

Landowners can carefully examine the Property Sales Report, available at the Rappahannock County Commissioner of Revenue Office. It shows who bought what acreage when, where, and for how much. Or landowners can talk with the staff at Revenue office…or to Realtors. According to Revenue and realty people we interviewed, there is no average value for an acre of vacant land in Rappahannock County.

Too many variables are involved in the sale of land to come up with an average figure. Every parcel is unique in its location and setting—and sales are made under a wide array of circumstances.

The potential use of land, and the related value, is constantly evolving. Long ago, the quality of the soil had a great influence on land values in Rappahannock County. Buyers were farmers. Good soil meant good crops and more revenue. In cities and towns, land in a good neighborhood—away from train stations, industrial areas, crowds—sold at a premium. The more park-like the setting, the more expensive the land.

Now, city values have shifted to the countryside. Many people from crowded towns and cities want to live in a quiet, rural setting. They get more property for their money than in an urban area. Views and open space appeal to many. Others like the fact that Rappahannock is relatively undeveloped. People pay a premium for such land in Northern Virginia. It appears that the less Rappahannock is developed, the more valuable land here becomes. The uniqueness of the county causes land values to increase over time, more so than land in surrounding counties, where rampant development is taking place.

As shown in the Property Sales Report, county real-estate transfers reflect a multitude of locations, settings, and circumstances. You just can't sum up all the vacant land sold during a year, and all the money involved, and come up with an average value per acre. Land may be in a commercial zone, or a flood plain, or gifted to a child or grand-child, or willed, or carry a lien for back taxes, or have a conservation easement, or contain a dump or abandoned vehicles, or have a spectacular view, or be inaccessible to fire and rescue services, or reflect values set by speculators or people who are rich enough not to care what they spend. Does the land have water in the form of a stream or pond? Is a right-of-way involved?

The market value of land is also subject to the temper of the times. If the economy sudden spirals downward, land may be pulled off the open marketplace to wait for better times. An alternate scenario might occur in which prospective buyers don’t purchase because they think land values are ridiculously high and the bubble is about to burst.

Major outside events could affect land values. Loudoun County appears to be subject to unfettered development, leading some people to bail out and move to Rappahannock County. A significant terrorist strike in the Washington, D.C., area might cause chaos in the local marketplace for land.

If you're concerned about preserving the value of your land, you may wonder if putting it under conservation easement or some other form of conservation protection will increase or devalue your land. While this is hard to determine, local conservation-easement expert Bob Dennis believes, from keeping an eye on prices, that such protection does not reduce the value greatly, if at all. He says that land adjacent to land in easement—especially clusters of land under easement—increases in value. Records show that one 55-acre parcel of land in Amissville that is in conservation easement sold this year for $775,000 ($14,090 per acre)—not exactly a bargain-basement price.

The bottom line is, if you're trying to figure out the value of your land, or wondering how conserving your land will affect its economic value, it's better to do a lot of research first and not jump to conclusions based on real-estate transactions listed in the paper, or on rumors.

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