Not all recreational pilots have huge pots of cash to spare Deltasierra. I fly from a farm strip where all of the aircraft are LAA permit to fly types ranging in value from 6K to 40K with most of the fleet being valued at 12-15K. Many of us make considerable sacrifices to fund our flying. Capt Kremmen is right and cash is king irrespective of the type of base that you fly from. In our instance the land is worth far more than the group of pilots could ever afford to buy. Fortunately the present owner is very air minded but eventually will want to retire and in due course one way or another the land will change hands. The return for any investment would be quite poor, unless a change of use was involved, which being fairly rural is thankfully unlikely. Though I do wonder if a farm strip of over 40 years could be considered as "brownfield" if it becomes disused. A bigger threat IMO is a stables, the riding community are another group of people perceived as having large disposable incomes and I fear there will be a greater return for any future land owner and much less regulation in an Equine environment.