Tough call man. First thing I thought honestly was...is that price too good to be true? By that I mean if this is a "Business man" is there actually no potential to develop or improve to make more of a profit?
I know there is if it's his principle residence and he lives there 2 yrs... Capital Gains and Your Home Sale | Bankrate.com
I'd go ahead and buy that land. Then you have 2 spots to hunt so you can work on turning that one into prime hunting ground and if the day ever comes that the farmer decides to sell that land to you, you could possibly sell the other land at a lot more per acre than you bought it for since land is so hard to come by. Or by then you may realize the swamp land is much better hunting and not even want to spend your life savings on the other property
Drove by it this morning...the higher NW ground is very suitable to build on...however I now am thinking this man may not be wanting to sell me the entire property but just the Larger portion rectangle and split off the higher easily buildable ground to the NW as at one time he had this entire property listed for $218,000. I have a call into him about a property visit Monday. Zoning said it is zoned for commercial use...and they don't have any of it declared non-buildable at the building department. Thing looked incredibly thick and there were a couple heavy deer trails running off of it....time will tell.
If there is reasonable expectation for profit from this purchase, I am buying it no doubt. Being able to spend some recreational time there would just be the bonus. Have some fun with it while you own it and possibly do some improvements over time. You will be building equity while you continue to look for something better suited to hunting and you could likely do a 1031 exchange to roll any tax liability. If it really is a bargain, there is no reason not to be the guy that makes a nice profit down the road. I bought my farms well below market value by being in the right place at the right time and jumping. If it looks good, pull the trigger.
This is the way I've begun to think about it...Lord has blessed my wife and I with nor debt currently (well $1800 in student loans yet) so doing a home equity loan would easily finance this cleanly with a very low payment because we'd only be financing about 1/3 or 1/4 of our homes value to finance it....be paid off in short order or used as down payment on the chunk I dream of owning (farm I currently hunt...who I know said he'd do land contract should I have enough for a down payment). Appreciate the thoughts Fletch, means a lot bud!
It's only an investment if you KNOW you can get out clean, if it's so wet that it isn't likely developable, then you will likely have to sell it to another hobbiest, may not be hard, but it's not going to fetch $5k+/acre. At $2k, knowing you could get that back out of it, maybe sell of a residential lot and pay for the whole place, and have some fun with it in the mean time... Man I'd like to be in your shoes!
I would buy. You may or may not know, but I recently just bought a small farm with my brothers and I don't regret it one bit. There is no more land being made. For the small acreage properties that you usually hunt, this is right up your alley, especially with being able to do whatever you want with the land. No asking for permission, having to worry about losing access, dealing with others that have permission, etc. I am a strong advocate of buying as much land as you can afford. But it also means a lot to me to be able to do what I love without intrusion from others. Good luck with whatever you decide to do Ty.
Got to walk the property this morning and I will just state it looks great, and is A LOT more fertile than I could have ever imagined! The Easter field could be tilled under right now and farm like 8 acres or so this year...the Western one is grown up more (5-7 foot cedars and saplings taller) both awesome bedding areas. Jumped a group of does and what appeared to be a heavy buck based on it's frame and gate while it trotted away. In the end be around 19.5 acres.....wife and God discussion is tonight and I have a meeting with the banker tomorrow. We've set ourselves up nicely for this though as our home is paid off and already know we will be approved for plenty to cover the land and do some things around our home as well. I will share our decision and video I took today as well when I get a chance.
Oh and to further comment, it would be buildable one for residential type use easily. Portions water table is to high to support a basement, but slab or crawl would be easily possible. :D This guy though never wanted this chunk when he bought the front parcels from original owner...never has held value to him. :D
If you are lucky the emptly lots to the west will be filled by people who will end up feeding in their backyard. make for good late afternoon hunting as the deer migrate to their yards.
Those are owned by people further west across the road there. ANd the northern most person does have a feeder back there.
That would be better than almost every Go Fund Me account I have ever seen Ty you could add in enough for a new tractor and it still would be better than the kid asking to Go Fund Me for a new bow or a video camera!
Decisions been made, owner has been told I'll take it. Bank meeting today, dropping off down payment asap and hope to have it in my name by Mid-March.
