A little further down the road from Paradise

[Stubborn1VT]

You may be leveraged, but you're also RICH! (IMO)

 

[SwampCat]

That is fantastic. That is a lot of land to own for recreational purposes - to spend money on instead of make money from

 

[Mortenson]

Congrats! 1 step closer to a thousand!

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

That is fantastic. That is a lot of land to own for recreational purposes - to spend money on instead of make money from

It is for sure. This was the only one I financed a portion of. Definitely multiple ways to look at land in my opinion. If I were to take all that cash and put it into investments, there’s a chance it would grow at a greater rate than the Land appreciates. But two things, what is my endgame with the growth and how many memories and enjoyment am I giving up until I hit that goal? For me personally all I would do with more money is buy more land! So I can pencil it out in my head whereas I’m sure there are other people who think I’m an idiot. And they may be right! But right now I have a savings account worth of land that is growing at a greater rate than a bank that I get more enjoyment out of than should be legal.

 

[SwampCat]

It is for sure. This was the only one I financed a portion of. Definitely multiple ways to look at land in my opinion. If I were to take all that cash and put it into investments, there’s a chance it would grow at a greater rate than the Land appreciates. But two things, what is my endgame with the growth and how many memories and enjoyment am I giving up until I hit that goal? For me personally all I would do with more money is buy more land! So I can pencil it out in my head whereas I’m sure there are other people who think I’m an idiot. And they may be right! But right now I have a savings account worth of land that is growing at a greater rate than a bank that I get more enjoyment out of than should be legal.

I bought my first piece of recreational land in 2003 - 12 acres. I have made six land purchases total for about 400 acres. 62 acres of that is 8 road miles away and the rest is contiguous. The only parcel that had a for sale sign on it was the 62 acres. The contiguous piece involved five purchase from three different land owners - me basically begging them until they got tired of it and sold it to me. When you are begging a land owner to sell land, they dont sell cheap.

I live on my land. In the 20 years I have owned land, not one time has the thought ever entered my mind to sell a single acre. I have tried to set myself up financially where I go to my grave still owning my land. I live right between my two kids, each two hours away. The problem with owning land and having more than one kid - in my opinion - is potentially having enough non-land related net-worth so that if one or more of your kids does not want the land - the kid that does want the land doesnt have to come up with a half million dollars or more out of pocket to pay the other kid. I have seen a lot of acreages go up for sale because the one kid that wanted the land did not have enough money to pay the other kids for their share. I hope to have enough non land related worth to offset that problem - if it arises. If both my kids decide to sell my land after my death - I am good with that, too.

 

[buckdeer1]

Thats great,I have been lucky enough to have neighbors that wanted to sell and I went from 65 acres to 450 all connected in 5 additional pieces from the start in the 90s. On the turkeys about 8-10 years ago we started finding dying turkeys when we were shed hunting and by spring turkey season there were none around.I called the state and they said they hadn't heard anything but I talked to shed hunters in other counties and they said the same thing.Finally this year we have a couple groups back

 

[Tree Spud]

Congrats Dawg! Sounds like a great opportunity for you. Look forward to hearing more details & pics.

 

[cbw]

I’ve been waiting to be able to make this post! Back in January I sold my “duck farm”. Just didn’t make sense to own it any longer. Was an outlier from the other two and couldn’t get there enough to justify its financial burden. While that was going down I was in the midst of a huge deal personally that I never thought was a possibility even 6 months ago. Being proactive, I found out the neighbor between my two other farms was looking to sell after the new year. I was shocked. For a 2-3 months I’ve been following up every couple weeks to gauge his timeframe. Finally ( I spared some details for brevity’s sake) this past week he presented me and a couple people the opportunity. He was very smart (unfortunately for me!) on how he did this and basically gave a price and said give me your highest and best. I have no idea who or how many people were interested. Well turns out my offer was the best. I’m extremely excited but also a bit bittersweet cause I’m now leveraged a good bit to make this happen…which theoretically should pay off at some point.
But…the reasons for my excitement is multifaceted. The main reason is I now have a 650 acre contiguous tract. I never would have dreamt that would be me as a 20 year old college student lugging a 30 pound climber into public land to stare at trees. It’s still surreal. There is no other tract that would connect my two farms but this one. It was my ultimate dream piece.
Another reason is I don’t ever have to move. I look at land for sale daily. Always looking for that one dream piece just for fun. In a couple years I have found none in my area and very few across the Midwest as a whole. So even if I decided to sell what I had it would be a longshot to find a big contiguous tract that I liked. And not to mention I love my house and shops and I really didn’t want to deal with that headache. Now, they can bury me by the pond when it’s my time.
Last, and something that is dear to my heart, is I did the opposite of what i physically hate seeing happen every day. Instead of taking a tract and breaking it up, I took 3 separate tracts and combined them into one. That is a rarity these days but I hope it’s a decision that my family can appreciate long after I’m gone. Big tracts in this part of the world are few and far between

Sorry about the rambling but it’s a big deal in my world. Nerve wracking but exciting. One last thing, I made a lot of sacrifices, and made some good decisions to do this before I hit 45 years old. My truck has 175k miles and my underwear has holes it! I didn’t grow up wealthy or with land but outside of my family, I’ve never been more laser focused on something in my life. I have always wanted a dream piece of property since I started hunting crappy land in high school. I’m blessed that my wife understands my dreams despite it meaning a few less vacations for a bit!

Congratulations! Delayed gratification pays.


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[T-Max]

Well, that made my day! Heck yeah! With that much acreage you can host a field day and we can all come do habitat work for free beer!


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[BenA]

That's awesome! I can't wait to see what you are able to do with that much property together in such a good area!

 

[Mortenson]

Got a map of the place?

How are your turkeys doing? I haven't seen any all winter, but they usually disappear this time of the year. No clue where they go. I was wondering if bird flu was killing them anywhere.

 

[SwampCat]

If we are talking turkeys, I have more around my place than I have had in ten years

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Got a map of the place?

How are your turkeys doing? I haven't seen any all winter, but they usually disappear this time of the year. No clue where they go. I was wondering if bird flu was killing them anywhere.

Bad…saw my first bird this am since November. None on camera in that time. I’ll have a better idea come March when I start listening but as of now I’m a bit nervous

 

[Brian662]

Congrats on it coming together for you. Glad you were the best offer, it sounds like you had the most to gain so that makes the most sense.

That's a huge chunk of contiguous land, is it all in a block of kind of sprawled out?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Congrats on it coming together for you. Glad you were the best offer, it sounds like you had the most to gain so that makes the most sense.

That's a huge chunk of contiguous land, is it all in a block of kind of sprawled out?

Thanks and yeah I feel like I paid the absolute “I have the most to lose” premium, but I guess good for him for capitalizing.

kind of both on the shape. It’s 2 miles east to west but it has one skinny point that connects the newest to my other property.

 

[Brian662]

Have you spoke to your neighbor who was leasing the ground about you buying it? How did that go?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Have you spoke to your neighbor who was leasing the ground about you buying it? How did that go?

No. But it should go ok. Better me get it i suppose than some of the alternatives I have to imagine

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Congrats! Was this property one of the ones that was outfitted on by chance?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Congrats! Was this property one of the ones that was outfitted on by chance?

Thanks…no he’s still alive and kicking. Serving his clients 80” at a time. Luckily it’s the opposite direction from him.

 

[Kdog]

Congrats on the new addition to your place! One of these days, I will never do that unless I find something for $1K per acre.