Updated November 24, 2020

In 2019 the Nevada County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance implementing new rules that affect what type of real estate might be suitable for cultivation.  Here’s the latest information as of spring 2020 regarding grow properties in Nevada County:

Commercial growers will need to obtain a permit from the County and a license from the State of California. Commercial grows are prohibited in all Residential Zones and on parcels less than 2 acres. They are permitted on parcels with a legal permanent residence zoned AG, AE, FR and TPZ with the following restrictions:

• 2 – 4.99 acres: Indoors only with a maximum 500 sq ft of canopy. 
• 5 – 9.99 acres: Indoors/Mixed Light/Outdoors with a maximum 2500 sq ft of canopy.
• 10 -20 acres: Indoors/Mixed Light/Outdoors with a maximum 5000 sq ft of canopy.
• 20 + acres: Indoors/Mixed Light/Outdoors with a maximum 10,000 sq ft of canopy.  

Update as of November 2020:

If you want a 20 acre parcel so you can grow the maximum, there are currently 10 properties on the market right now that are zoned for possible cultivation.  However, the price tags range from $1.3M to $3M, and most of these properties seem suitable for this kind of enterprise. These aren’t typical grow properties as they all have rather nice, large houses, hence the price. 

How about 20 acres with a fixer or an old permitted cabin? 

There are none on the market right now but we do know of one coming on soon at $750,000. Please contact us for details.

Is buying raw land in Nevada County and developing it a better option?

Perhaps.  This market is hot right now too with half of the 12 currently pending sales having less than 2 weeks of market time. Raw land with 20+ acres and suitable zoning gives you 30 properties to choose from starting at $130k.  However, as with everything, you get what you pay for.  The cheaper properties are cheap for good reason – they are unsuitable or potentially extremely difficult to develop for permitted commercial cultivation.  

If you want a 10-20 acre parcel, there are currently 21 potentially suitable properties on the market right now.  The cheapest starting at $219k for a cabin on a heavily forested property. 

10-20 acre land options give you 13 properties starting at $55k.   

5 acres of land gives you around 20 properties starting at $40k. Compare that to 5 acres with a residence, which has 16 options starting from $455k. 

A helpful hint to know is that the very cheap properties or the ones with several months of market time are most likely not feasible for development for commercial cultivation.   If they were, they would have been snapped up rather quickly. 

Finding the right cannabis property is not the first step towards legal cultivation.   

First you need to read the ordinance and prepare a feasible plan.  The ordinance has a lot of detail that isn’t within the scope of this article.  Most likely you will need to work with your lawyer, engineer and a lot of visits to the helpful folks at Nevada County before everything falls into place.  Regulations are detailed and may change so buyers need to do their research thoroughly. Here are some resources to assist you.

Another step before calling your Realtor is to get your finances in order.  You will need to provide proof that you have the funds to purchase a property.

Once you’ve done all this, call us! We can help you find the right Nevada County grow properties.

Do you have a property that you’re thinking of selling? Give us a call and we can discuss the best way for you to reach your goals.