Buying land

[HuumanCreed]

I don't think it was mentioned but look to see if there are any easements. Otherwise, I think most everything else has been covered.

On a side note. Ask yourself what kind of personality you have. If you buy this property and then have constant problems with the neighbors or constant trespassers, etc, ask yourself if the stress of owning the land will be worth having it. If you aren't living on or very near the property you will likely have trespassers and poachers. Will this be something that sends your blood pressure through the roof? If so, try renting some property first. See how you like it. Heck, if possible, see about the possibility to rent the property you are looking at. That way you can test drive it and see if there are problems you just can't live with. If issues like this won't bother you then you are ahead of the game.

For what it will cost to buy the land and improve it and maintain it you could likely go on some nice out of state hunts or get into a decent hunting club and leave the stress to others.

Lease club has their drawback too. My father in law just joined a club in WV and really regret it. Ironically its just too big for him to scout at his age. Being deep wild WV forest, there was just not that many big bucks and too spread out. He likes the guys at the camp and probably enjoying spending the day trading stories more then actually hunting now. But hunting wise it just not at this point of life. Man just installed a golf cart roof on one of his treestand.....

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Lease club has their drawback too. My father in law just joined a club in WV and really regret it. Ironically its just too big for him to scout at his age. Being deep wild WV forest, there was just not that many big bucks and too spread out. He likes the guys at the camp and probably enjoying spending the day trading stories more then actually hunting now. But hunting wise it just not at this point of life. Man just installed a golf cart roof on one of his treestand.....

Yes, leases have their drawbacks for sure. You get club politics, jealousy, lots of rules, etc. My own experience that eventually made my decision to go to public and permissions only was that the club land size was steadily shrinking, and the dues were going up every year. When I got in, we had 9000 acres, and the dues were $850.00. By the time I got out we had 4000 acres, and the dues were $1300.00. We also lost the best quality land and kept some junk. I just got tired of being up in the air every year about what if any land we were going to lose and how much the due would go up.

That said, with a lease, if it doesn't suit you after a year or two you can just walk away.

 

[Gator]

I bought a 378 acre farm and made great money on it when I sold. Things that I learned. Easements. I had a deeded 15' easement which turns out isn't enough to bring power to the property. I got away with that one as the people that bought the farm didn't know either. I personally never intended to bring power to the property but the new owners did. I bought a rundown farm that had been neglected from someone who couldn't care less about it and lived in Arizona (property was in Virginia). Had a field full of kudzu (huge turnoff to most) that I all but eliminated and put in several food plots and an orchard. All things that appeal to someone looking to buy land to hunt. I don't own hunting property any longer as I won't buy where they run dogs and to get outside of that territory makes the place too far from where I live to be worthwhile to me. My property was over a mile from any road which made it great for the deer but man oh man were those deer skittish (unlike anything I've ever experienced). The other big profit came when we sold. I met with several real estate agents and they wanted 10+%. I put an ad on land.com for $100 a month and then paid a lawyer $500 to do the closing (saved a TON of money on the sell). All just my experience

 

[Nutterbuster]

According to @kyler1945, the average 45-55 year old American is qualified to buy $20k worth of land. Less than 2 acres on average. That's just working on net worth. Very few people can statistically write a check for that.

Little factoids like this are why I'm increasingly concerned about public access to recreational property, among other things.

But, there are folks out there who do it. Recently talked with a guy who offhandedly mentioned buying a $450,000 piece of land with cash. And he honestly thinks he's just an average Joe. He's not.

 

[okccj]

What are your goals? close to home hunting honey hole? couple hour away retreat? do you want to lease pasture/haying/row crops to a local farmer? potential homestead? timber harvest?

with all that being said, my primary factors would be location and value (is it what I want at a price I can afford or is it cheap and I can make it what I want?) neighbors, tax rates, and the way the surrounding land is used will change without your consent so I wouldn't get too hung up on those factors

It's a couple hour away retreat. A place for me to take my family, get away from the office, have a place to camp out and hand down to my kids. It's prime location with land on both sides of a river.

 

[okccj]

Right on!

You can say no. You can always say no.

I’d walk every inch of the property to see if it has exactly what I want.

I’d meet or correspond with every landowner you share a border with. I’d manage my expectations of each (I like em, know they’ll be there a while, or know if I don’t and what to be prepared for).

If you intend on improving the land - I would only trust people who get paid to do improving, not realtors. Get quotes for water, power, sewerage, dirt work for house pad etc. even if you don’t know what you plan to do. Things change.


The single biggest mistake folks make with large life decisions is removing options from the table too soon. With the amount of information available to you today to make good decisions, there’s no reason to do that. From the beginning, assume a 10% additional cost to your purchase for this process(shave 10% from what you’re willing to spend). Use that to do due diligence, knowing you can always say no.

Get as much information as you can about the property completely uncoupled from your decision to buy it. You will drive sellers and realtors nuts. Good. Crazy people make bad decisions sometimes, and sometimes that can help you.

You can always say no. There’s always a better piece of land than what you’re buying at a better price than you’re paying.

Take your time and learn as much as possible. Go as far down the decision tree as possible, using your due diligence budget.

The process will make you streamlined, and allow you to act quickly once that work identifies a piece you want.


Option B, invest that money in an index fund and use 5-10% of it to take yourself hunting somewhere awesome every year. Sorry to keep throwing this out there.

But as a new father who loves to hunt and can’t wait to show my daughter what it’s about, I simply can’t make buying unimproved land with no intention of improving it make sense. I guess I don’t have that “it’s my dirt!” Bone in me.



This only applies if the sole intent of the land is for hunting.

If you fancy yourself a real estate mogul, and have designs on making a good investment, you’re asking the wrong group of folks!

Good stuff.
The most salient for me is probably, "There’s always a better piece of land than what you’re buying at a better price than you’re paying."

 

[okccj]

All great advice and someone alluded to mineral rights….. super important but nobody said anything about the timber (if any). If you play your cards right you can invest n a property that has a sustainable timber harvest program going on already or should have one but if that’s in your plan be sure you know how to value timber and/or ask someone who does know to do a walk through with you. Oftentimes you can leverage the walk through with a future commitment with that particular forester to manage the timber harvest (most take right from the sale so no money up front) or at least commit to the development of a forestry management plan which in some states can give you property tax exemptions upwards of 80%. A good forester will walk the entire property and assess the $4000/ acre or more swaths from the $1000 /acre or less ones giving you a pretty good idea of the average timber value.

Probably not suited for timber.

 

[okccj]

Apparently @Glenn has had a bad experience with a surveyor. There are bad ones, just like any profession.

I would strongly recommend that you have any property you buy surveyed by a professional and reputable land surveyor. I have been in the land development/surveying business for 20 years and been a licensed surveyor for 15 years. I have seen way more incidents of people not getting what they think they are buying than I have people getting a raw deal from a surveyor.

I have seen people buy 65 acres that ended up being 20. I have also seen people buy river front property that didn’t have river access. As well as many other things that could have been avoided with a survey.

It will be expensive but, not in comparison to the cost of the land. DO NOT hire the cheapest surveyor. Do you hire the cheapest attorney? Or go to the cheapest doctor? When you hire the cheapest surveyor you get the guys like @Glenn mentioned.

This is river property with the land spanning both sides. What specifically should I look out for? Would the realtor have had the land surveyed?

 

[krub6b]

This is river property with the land spanning both sides. What specifically should I look out for? Would the realtor have had the land surveyed?

you'll have to ask about when the last survey was done most likely. unless it was split from another tract it most likely hasn't seen a surveyor in decades, which means the property lines may or may not be accurate.

 

[GCTerpfan]

This is river property with the land spanning both sides. What specifically should I look out for? Would the realtor have had the land surveyed?

The things to look out for are too numerous to even try to list, especially without knowing anything about the property. Realtors rarely ever have land surveyed. A good survey would likely cost most of their commission.

The first thing I would do is ask if a survey has been completed like @krub6b mentioned. If it was recently subdivided off a larger tract and the bounds are well marked and as described in your description then you may be okay. If not then hire a surveyor. A competent surveyors job is to determine were your boundaries were placed in the original survey, using all available evidence. Depending on what part of the country you are in that original survey may have occurred hundreds of years ago. The bearings, distances and calls for area in your deed are just some of the evidence and often times aren't the best.

 

[roosterstraw]

All good answeres above. I would suggest finding a good realtor. One that you can trust and one that has your best interest in mind, not theirs. I’ve worked with a couple from a well known land company and I can say I won’t use them again so don’t let the name of a company fool you.

 

[Gator]

a good realtor. One that you can trust and one that has your best interest in mind, not theirs.

Good luck with that one!

 

[thedutchtouch]

Buy it and let us know when the saddle gets together is/how much tags are.

 

[shmelton]

My family and I own several tracts of land, and here is what I would dam sure make sure of:


Make sure you have an easement that extends past your lifetime. I’ve seen land deals where the easement expires once the original purchaser dies.

My grand mother/grand father had such an easement on the main entrance of their homestead, after my grand father sold off the road frontage. It was fine at the time because he owned another entrance. After he died my grand mother sold off the alternate entrance not taking into consideration of the main entrance easement. When she passed her home was worth nothing, and the landowner in front bought the land from the family for pennies on the dollar. Apparently, he never forgot l, and was waiting to pounce.

If you buy land that has utilities running through it. Make sure you are not going to build on top of those utilities. It will be your responsibility to move them. There is three acres next to my home that had a contract for $100k, that can’t sell now, because it’s going to cost $30k to move the utilities.


Get a perk test done for best potential home site, whether you plan on building or not. If the land won’t perk, you will not have the value you think you may have.

Make sure logging trucks can get in and out of the land. At some point in time you will need to cut timber. If logging trucks have to cross creeks, swamps, etc. they won’t want to log. We are having issues with that now. Luckily we are planned on improving the creek crossing anyway, so we had already factored in the cost.

If you’re on a river in low country look at flood marks on trees. It will be underwater during the wet season. That can prevent access.

Where I live can only have 3 houses on a private rd. Depending on the ordinances, that could force you to build another rd. If you want to build.

Understand who has easements through your property. We had a place that a hunting club had an easement through. There were people driving through a place constantly. It’s also very hard to know who is allowed to use the easement under those circumstances. Luckily, it was bought with the intention of flipping, so it really didn’t matter for too long.

I’d definitely get an agent who understood land buys, and could help with due diligence. Don’t be afraid to leave your earnest money on the table. Charging a few grand to the game is much better than being stuck with a turd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ckwilli]

Good neighbors can be a godsend, bad neighbors will drive you nuts.

 

[okccj]

This is completely recreational land. No intentions of building on it. Looking for a place to hunt, camp, fish, noodle, have fun with.
I've been quite fortunate professionally and my dream has always been to own land on the river for a fun getaway. Not worried about utilities. Will use solar/generator for power. Not worried about any sort of revenue from timber, etc.

 

[Ckwilli]

This is completely recreational land. No intentions of building on it. Looking for a place to hunt, camp, fish, noodle, have fun with.
I've been quite fortunate professionally and my dream has always been to own land on the river for a fun getaway. Not worried about utilities. Will use solar/generator for power. Not worried about any sort of revenue from timber, etc.

That’s exactly how we use our property. We initially wanted to build but found it cheaper to buy a house. We don’t have any utilities on it and not enough big trees to sell. Exclusively for play purposes and it’s been great.

 

[okccj]

That’s exactly how we use our property. We initially wanted to build but found it cheaper to buy a house. We don’t have any utilities on it and not enough big trees to sell. Exclusively for play purposes and it’s been great.

Glad to hear it worked out well for you. Owning my own dirt that is completely a play place and can be handed down to my kids to keep or sale (fine by me) is what this is all about.

I'm 41 years old so hope I have a good 20-30 years of fun and great memories.

 

[woodsdog2]

Good luck!

 

[Ckwilli]

Glad to hear it worked out well for you. Owning my own dirt that is completely a play place and can be handed down to my kids to keep or sale (fine by me) is what this is all about.

I'm 41 years old so hope I have a good 20-30 years of fun and great memories.

The only issue I’ve had is with dogs running loose. My neighbors have been good enough to help rectify that problem though.