Buying land...

UTfball68

UTfball68

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Location
Granite Quarry
My little bro and I like goin in on investments together for quick flips. He came across 52 acres of land for a little more than 100k. My interest is piqued...but seeing as that's about 3k/acre less than average I assume the worst, and think there's something wrong with the land. I've never dealt in land before, and am only interested if I can make money on it. So first of all...what should I be looking for as to why it's so cheap??? Secondly, what red tape am I going to have to get involved in to see if it's developable land??? Perk test and??? I wouldn't be developing it, but knowing what developable land sells for, that's what I'd be selling it for...but then that brings me back to, why isn't this guy selling it for 4-5k an acre? Thanks for any help.


I should also note...if it does check out as good usable land, the plan is to clear cut and sell the hard wood and then lease as farm land for a while.
 
As they say......location, location, location.
If its out in the middle of nowhere and hard to get to (non maintained roads) then that maybe the going rate.
Things that I would look for is that it has a good or recent survey and the boundries are marked.
There are no back taxes or leins on the place.
Does it perk.
Is part of it in a flood zone so you cant do much with that part. How close is power to the property.
Does somebody else own the mineral and gas rights.
Is the property off of a state/county road or do you have deeded access.
Those are just a few that come to mind. Will probably think of more later.
 
this sounds like the beginning of another "hey this land isn't good for anything else, lets make a 4x4 park" thread :D
 
That's not an unusual deal.
I know where several tracts of $1,000 acre land are.
Expect to get about 250/acre for hardwood clear cut.
Banks will loan for 7-10 years MAX on land, with 25%down and right now about 7.5% on AA credit.

Check zoning, if it's RUD or AG1 you will never develop it without rezoning. Then splitting it will take YEARS due to the one split per year rule to prevent urban sprawl.

Hr,mm....what else you want to know?
 
Ron said:
Expect to get about 250/acre for hardwood clear cut.
Banks will loan for 7-10 years MAX on land, with 25%down and right now about 7.5% on AA credit.
Hr,mm....what else you want to know?
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We just Bought land and that is exactly right on the bank info. We managed to squeeze out 7% because we went with a 5 year loan, but other than that, 25% down was just about what every bank was looking for. Is $250 an acre all you really get for clearing wood off land ? We need to clear ours and I have been wondering what we could expect to get for the lumber.
 
My land has easy Rd access and there is a Road the goes the entire length of the land all the way to the River.
 
then they shouldn't have to really build any and they shouldn't charge you but if is something you were wanting to do id ask if there is "fees or extras" that they would have to do to your land that would cause you to have less than the per acre price. the price is also going to be determined by the type of wood, its age, and how straight it is.
 
Thanks for the info guys...I'm heading out to walk the land with the owner in a few minutes. I'm cleared at 15k down and 7% for 10 years.
 
retroedaddy said:
We just Bought land and that is exactly right on the bank info. We managed to squeeze out 7% because we went with a 5 year loan, but other than that, 25% down was just about what every bank was looking for. Is $250 an acre all you really get for clearing wood off land ? We need to clear ours and I have been wondering what we could expect to get for the lumber.
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Hardwood Pulp is way down.
Pine Saw Timber (depending on mill loosely defined as 12" in diameter at 4' above ground and still 12" at 25') and C&S (~8"-11")....is back ok. Even Soft Pulp is better than it was a few years ago, but hardwoods just arent bringing a ton in my experience. So you take a wood that is less desireable, harder on equipment and often a longer haul to offload and yeah not a great market.

Now $250/acre is a total spit ball since I havent seen your land... species, size and density will all play a major part and that number could conceivably creep towards $1k/acre..but 90% of the tracts Ive screwed with in the last 5 years have been 250/acre
 
Ron said:
Hardwood Pulp is way down.
Pine Saw Timber (depending on mill loosely defined as 12" in diameter at 4' above ground and still 12" at 25') and C&S (~8"-11")....is back ok. Even Soft Pulp is better than it was a few years ago, but hardwoods just arent bringing a ton in my experience. So you take a wood that is less desireable, harder on equipment and often a longer haul to offload and yeah not a great market.

Now $250/acre is a total spit ball since I havent seen your land... species, size and density will all play a major part and that number could conceivably creep towards $1k/acre..but 90% of the tracts Ive screwed with in the last 5 years have been 250/acre
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Thanks Ron, that's pretty much exactly the info I was looking for. I just want the pine taken off the land and the occasional Oak. Then enough for the home site. Although, there is a large path through the site it's really heavily wooded and I was thinking of falling the trees myself then dragging them to the road with my tractor. I'd be happy with any profit from it because honestly, falling trees sounds like a really good time to me,lol.
 
Well I'm back...46 acres of flood plane at 400/acre and 6 acres of rural land at 8500/acre. The guy said he had 20 area clear cut in early 2000's for 40k. Not sure there is much I could do with the land other than lease as hunting property and mud on. Doesn't sound like enough return for me. Thoughts?
 
If you were looking for land to build a house, then hunt and drive on, then I'd say go for it. But as an investment, I'd steer clear. However, I believe you can still lease the flood plain as farm land to put cattle or horses on.
 
I can't imagine you'd get much though...46 acres--especially of currently forested land--isn't going to support much of any farming other than recreational.
 
tknopp said:
This would make me pass on it.
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Pretty much my take...my little brother is still gonna sign on it this evening so he has his own hunting property. He's the kind that will have the property select cut over the years, recreationally farm on a couple acres (adjoining property, also flood plane, has 15 acres of corn) and he'll put a trailer on on the good 6 acres and live there.
 
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