Creative ideas for what to do with land in North Georgia???

[Julie Kern]

In October 2007, my husband and I bought two non-adjacent 3-acre lots in a development in the North Georgia Mountains (Jasper, GA). Our timing was perfect - NOT! :) At the time, our thought was that when all the kids were out of the house, we would build on one.  We bought the other as an "investment" - ha!  We had no idea what was coming... and we knew NOTHING about investing.

I can't tell you how many ways this went wrong.  The land is now worth a fraction of what we paid for it.  Kids are grown and out of the house, but we have no desire to build there because (a) we no longer wish to be in the mountains - our thoughts are more towards moving somewhere coastal when we are able and (b) we don't want to throw good money after bad.  

We have had the lots listed with an agent for years - many years and have only gotten one nibble ever - a contract that fell through after the presidential election (and that was their reason for backing out).  For a while, we tried to sell it on our own by listing on CL and on some local Facebook garage sale sites - we got a little traffic that way, but nothing that went anywhere.  

Each lot costs us approximately $1,300 per year in HOA fees and property taxes. We have the lots priced below bank-owned properties (numerous developer-owned lots that never sold and were foreclosed on). They are currently listed at about 1/4 of what we paid for them and no interest whatsoever. Good news is that we own them free and clear.

Covenants are pretty strict so it's not like we could even throw a small cabin on one of them and rent it or use it for personal use - this is a gated community.  There are some very beautiful homes in the community - but a lot more empty land than developed.  

It hadn't occurred to me until recently to turn to BP for possible ideas. I'm really stumped and we feel like we're going to be stuck with this land for years. Which wouldn't be that bad except for the darn HOA fees ($840 per year each).

Plus, I would love to sell them to use for our future REI endeavors.

Anyone have any creative ideas?  Other places we could turn to try to sell them? Or other options?