Times are Changing
By Jim Palmer Jr.

 I have said for many years that at some point in the future folks will have to be rich to live in the country.  I base that thought on what I have seen happening for many years in the real estate business. That includes the plethora of regulations that keep real estate development costs rising, and now the current land prices and the extremely inflated cost of building a new home.  But, these high costs are barely slowing the migration to the country, which is manifested by the current frenzied level of land sales.

A significant cultural change is happening in and around the bedroom communities of Spokane.  About 40 years ago there were a lot of ma-and-pa-farms in the rural areas and most people who lived in the country were folks who had lived that lifestyle all of their lives.  Now, those small farms (80-200 acres) are being subdivided and those smaller parcels are being gobbled up by the demand for housing that continues to be in short supply.  This invasion by city folks into a rural lifestyle is because of their understandable desire to escape the increasing decline of quality-of-life that is happening in most metropolitan areas.  The political climate in most parts of our country seems to be causing a lot of that unrest and even fear of anarchy.  To top that off, the Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent loss of freedoms seems to be driving people from the cities in droves.

Farms and timber lands that were formally designated as Current Use Ag or Forest Lands for tax purposes because of their real use contributions to society (agricultural or tree crops) are being pushed out of those tax classifications because of this cultural shifting.  Farmers who have leased land instead of purchasing (because of high retail land prices), are being forced to abandon those leases when the hassle to cultivate around the new developments drives their costs higher and their yields lower.

Land that had been accumulated by pioneers to this country is being sold for residential use instead of traditional agricultural uses of the past.  I know that change is inevitable, but it’s still sad to see to these homesteads get divided up instead of being stewarded by a new generation.  Farmer’s children rarely see a future in using the land as their parents did when they can now cash in on their ancestors efforts.