Monday, January 15, 2007

Land Prices

At work at the moment we have some of our American counterparts over. I was chatting to one guy today as we worked, and the conversation went something like this:

Me: So have you bought your house own house in Texas then

USA: Yea I own a place just south of Blah Blah. Well, when I say I own it, I mean the bank owns it - darn mortgages!

Me: Yup me too...Is your house very big

USA: No not really, its quite a small place. I only have 10 acres and 300 square feet or so of house

Me: Did you say 10 acres?

USA: yea its not that big.

Me: Is a US acre the same as a British acre?

USA: Uh-huh. How many acres do you have?

I then took some time to explain that 10 acres is f*cking loads of land! He seemed genuinely amazed that I didn't even have one acre of land.

Me: So how much would 10 acres in Texas set me back?

USA: Erm, about 6 thousand dollars.

Me: You have got to be kidding me?

USA: I'm serious! Why how much would that cost you in the UK.

I then explained to him that a friend of mine was looking at buying a small plot of land to build a house on, and it would cost him £170k just for the plot of land. This time it was his turn to pick himself up off the floor!

Can you imagine having 10 acres of land? I could build one massive garage on that! He said that he has woods at the back of his garden, and hasn't seen most of it. Imagine if you had kids, camping in the back garden would be brill!


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

but look at the down side, you would own 10 acres of america, the armpit of the universe, seems we have the better deal.

Evo1 said...

One thing to note,

UK population - around 60million
US population - around 300million

(That's 5 times more people living in US)

Area of UK - 250 thousand sq km
Area of US - 10 million sq km

(That's 40 times more).

Also, in the UK, land for agriculturals purposes is a lot cheaper than land you intend to build houses on. An acre of Agricultural land used to set you back just a few grand.

Then of course, there has to be a premium on British soil because there are hardly any yanks over here to speak of.

Lis said...

And the US is a hell of a lot bigger than England

Lis said...

Sorry, I didn't actually read tthe beginning of Evo's comment. Although I do think my message was a lot more precise :)

Anonymous said...

woo hoo me and evo agree on summat, vote evo, keep the wanks....oops sorry yanks out

Evo1 said...

Precision and accuracy, there is a world of difference ;)

Anonymous said...

That's so funny ... and misinformed. You're going to compare Blair Witch and Ted Bundy with the entire US? How ridiculous! Blair Witch was a figment of Hollywood (something you Brits seem consumed with). Ted Bundy was one disturbed guy ... hmmmm, does anyone remember Jack the Ripper? Should we compare the Ripper against all of the UK?
10 acres might seem like a lot of land to people who live in a smaller geographic area. Yes, we have a lot of land, and yes we have a huge population - but you're comparing apples to oranges here, there's no relation to each country. There are thousands upon thousands of unused acres all over the US. Our cities are just as crowded as your cities are, and the closer to the more populated areas, the higher the cost is for that land or building. That's simple economics regardless of what country you reside.
It amazes me that the Brits continue to judge the entire US based on a few people or the makings of Hollywood. I guess we should assume that you are all like a BBC show Keeping Up Appearances, or Benny Hill!!
You claim to be a more civilized society and above all that makes the US such a bad country, yet you are quick to judge and slow to understand. Not everyone here agrees with Bush or the war. We're not all loud and obnoxious. And yes, even some of us admire and welcome friendship with people of other countries, like Great Britain.
Perhaps we should assume that everyone follows the lead of Prince Charles and screws around a nasty older skank instead of loving and appreciating the one most inspirational woman the UK has known for quite some time.
Bottom line - get to know the individual before you make a sweeping judgment against the entire country.