I’m not a huge fan of cliché’s, but the cliché, “Cash is king” rings so true to me especially in this economy when banks are only loaning to those whom don’t even need the money! So as a small business owner I’ve leveraged my land holdings into a barter machine! Whether it’s for advertising, web services, haircuts or dental work I ask everyone that performs a service for me if they’d be interested in land as a long-term investment. Invariably, they are intrigued and want to learn more. Then, I pop out my iPhone, and start showing them beautiful pictures of my raw undeveloped, open space, clean air property. The land is so foreign to their urban lifestyles that suddenly I see their imaginations are spinning. I can see the inner explorer in them start to get excited about all of the possibilities of owning raw land and what they could do on it one day. As a result, I save my cash and get what I consider a valuable service performed for me and they get to own land they never even considered was possible from their perspective. A typical “Win-Win” barter scenario!
I just had a lengthy conversation with the CEO of a large corporation based in San Diego. The CEO has been investing in property from me for several years and has never even visited his land! We discussed why he was buying property and I found it interesting that from his point of view the property was not just a legacy for his family’s trust, but also a way to show the bank he had substantial assets and could use those assets for additional collateral should his business need financing. He was also intrigued by the barter model although he had never attempted to barter his land or use his company’s services to acquire land. Nevertheless, it did get him thinking about his land in a different way and how the asset could be leveraged in other creative ways.
However, here is the bad news– you have to pay taxes on the trade. Bartering does not exempt you from paying taxes, so be sure to keep track of the goods and services you barter for, and report this to the IRS.
if you have questions about how barter works there are many excellent websites and services that can help you take your raw land and barter it for other goods and services! In fact, I know of another developer friend of mine date that bartered his raw land for a new car! Check out the links below to learn more:
http://www.bartergroup.com/
