The properties that came to him from his brother Lawrence and with his wife have already been described.  It may be worth noting that with the widow of Lawrence there was a dispute over the will, but apparently it was never carried into the courts, and that owing to the great depreciation of paper money during the Revolution the Custis personal property was materially lessened, for “I am now receiving a shilling in the pound in discharge of Bonds which ought to have been paid me, & would have been realized before I left Virginia, but for my indulgences to the debtors,” Washington wrote, and in 1778 he said, “by the comparitive worth of money, six or seven thousand pounds which I have in Bonds upon Interest is now reduced to as many hundreds because I can get no more for a thousand at this day than a hundred would have fetched when I left Virginia, Bonds, debts, Rents, &c. undergoing no change while the currency is depreciating in value and for ought I know may in a little time be totally sunk.”  Indeed, in 1781 he complained “that I have totally neglected all my private concerns, which are declining every day, and may, possibly, end in capital losses, if not absolute ruin, before I am at liberty to look after them.”

In 1784 he became partner with George Clinton in some land purchases in the State of New York with the expectation of buying the “mineral springs at Saratoga; and ... the Oriskany tract, on which Fort Schuyler stands.”  In this they were disappointed, but six thousand acres in the Mohawk valley were obtained “amazingly cheap.”  Washington’s share cost him, including interest, eighteen hundred and seventy-five pounds, and in 1793 two-thirds of the land had been sold for three thousand four hundred pounds, and in his inventory of 1799 Washington valued what he still held of the property at six thousand dollars.

In 1790, having inside information that the capital was to be removed from New York to Philadelphia, Washington tried to purchase a farm near that city, foreseeing a speedy rise in value.  In this apparently he did not succeed.  Later he purchased lots in the new Federal city, and built houses on two of them.  He also had town lots in Williamsburg, Alexandria, Winchester, and Bath.  In addition to all this property there were many smaller holdings.  Much was sold or traded, yet when he died, besides his wife’s real estate and the Mount Vernon property, he possessed fifty-one thousand three hundred and ninety-five acres, exclusive of town property.  A contemporary said “that General Washington is, perhaps, the greatest landholder in America.”

All these lands, except Mount Vernon, were, so far as possible, rented, but the net income was not large.  Rent agents were employed to look after the tenants, but low rents, war, paper money, a shifting population, and Washington’s dislike of lawsuits all tended to reduce the receipts, and the landlord did not get simple interest on his investments.  Thus, in 1799 he complains of slow payments from tenants in Washington and Lafayette Counties (Pennsylvania).  Instead of an expected six thousand dollars, due June 1, but seventeen hundred dollars were received.