In the last 8 to 10 years, California has seem some some tough times in the dry areas of the state relative to real estate.

One local realtor Mike Strong was quoted saying “Very slow, very bad real estate market,” said Strong.

But all of a sudden, it’s like things are changing overnight. The reason? Simple. Marijuana growing.

The state is experiencing a renewed interest in property and land sales and the driving force behind it is medical marijuana. California is joining a number of others around the state that are allowing commercial businesses to grow, manufacture, and distribute medical cannabis throughout the state. And for this to continue, growers need to consistently be added to the pool of producers.

California has long been a location for growers of marijuana for decades, and in recent times these growers have been able to start legally turning profit. Now that the state is Marijuana friendly, these profits have not soared and the opportunity seems to be endless.

An on-line survey found that nearly 75 percent of respondents favored certain cities allowing commercial medical marijuana growers to set up shops in the city. Facilities can even be as large as 22,000 square feet. All of the product is to be grown indoors in a tightly controlled facility.

This opportunity has set off a new kind of land rush to buy property and land solely for the purpose of growing medical marijuana in California. Properties located in the industrial zones of cities are often being designated for growing marijuana and are being snatched up at growing rates.

With every week that goes by, listings are being sold at double the rate.

Sometimes it does not even necessarily matter if the property listed has any utilities such as water and power hook ups. Some have no roads but are still being picked up by speculators and marijuana businesses looking to cash in on the long term availability of growing on the land.

This is part of what city leaders were hoping to see in many parts of the state. It will still take months before commercial medical marijuana growers can be up and running after purchasing their property, but the medical marijuana industry in California has been friendly in the past few years to these opportunities, and they seem to continue to flourish.