How did you get yours

terry f · November 18, 2011, 10:59:30 PM

Just curious how you came about your property. I know there are lots of different ways, some were bought some were handed down, some are family owned. Mine was bought with a combination of home equity loan and 401k loan. Do you think it is still possible for a logger to buy some property and pay for it from the logging? I know location is everything, someplace a $1,000 an acre is high other places $10,000 an acre is a deal. I know there are lots of different types of woodlots, some are remote, some are a getaway, some are the back 40 of a farm. I'd like to hear about yours.

Bobus2003 · November 18, 2011, 11:29:45 PM

Been Trying to do a land swap for the past few years.. gonna trade half the property cost for Logging of the Entire 240 acres

terry f · November 18, 2011, 11:37:30 PM

Where in the black hills are you Bobus? The drive from Deadwood to Hot Springs is one of my favorite drives.

Bobus2003 · November 19, 2011, 01:00:48 AM

I live in Spearfish Now, Grew up West of Hill City by Deerfield Lake

WildDog · November 19, 2011, 03:47:45 AM

I can't comment on logging royalties etc but It wasn't that long ago you could buy grazing country down here that could be paid off from the earnings within 10 years. Not so these days. I noticed an old 500 acre farm of mine for sale on the internet this week, I sold it in 2002 and the vendor has it listed for 4 times as much :(

thecfarm · November 19, 2011, 06:31:27 AM

My is handed down form my Father. Very lucky to have this place.
Best way to read about it,is to click on to thcfarm,that will take you to my profile and read,"about me"

KBforester · November 19, 2011, 06:36:34 AM

I bought my property a year and a half ago. I'm coastal, so no way could I log it and make my money back. Interior eastern Maine you could probably do it.... that is to say if you could find any woodlot that still had wood on it. Prices are dirt cheap... because thats all there is, dirt.

Norm · November 19, 2011, 07:17:51 AM

I was driving home and noticed a for sale sign along the highway. I thought it was just a few acres along a small crick that ran along it. Turned out to be a full sized farm when I looked into it. Had woods, a couple of cricks running through it and some decent farm land. Best investment I ever made regardless of the price.

11 years later I couldn't be happier having it, my goal is to make it better than when I bought it.

WDH · November 19, 2011, 07:33:06 AM

I acquired mine in five stages. Having bought the original 12 acres, I added on as I saved money. I used some home equity line money for one parcel. Best investment that I have ever made, too.

Terry,

At least down here, you cannot buy land and cut timber off the land to pay for it anymore. That is how many of the private independent sawmillers made their money, not so much in the milling and selling of the lumber. I have a friend that recently bought 75 acres, did a shelterwood/seed tree cut (hardwood), and ended up with $600/acre in the dirt.

Ironwood · November 19, 2011, 07:54:07 AM

Wifey found an obscure add in the paper 15 years ago, "House, stable and acreage" thought it meant the house was stable (not rickety), ended up a 20x40' horse stable. Drive in was so rough realator would drive his car up to show the house. PERFECT, no "townie" would want this place. House was straight square good foundation but ROUGH. Got it for same price your could buy a finished home in town. 18 acres, stable, woods, fields, privacy, close to town GOOD schools. AND public water, NG and sewage if we want it. We're far enough away we can opt out of the utilites, and so far have only NG, although ran a water line in the trench in case our well goes. Our story is fairly ununsual given proximity to town, more likely out in remote areas. We did ALL the work ourselves, you could not afford it otherwise.

Ironwood

terry f · November 19, 2011, 12:38:05 PM

Bobus is this where your services are going for the land payment, and the landowner gets full price from the mill? Are you a one man operation or do you have to pay a crew?

lynches lumber · November 19, 2011, 05:04:49 PM

I got mine the ole fashion way. Me and the bank went halvers. Couldnt really afford 52 acres at the time but it was my wifes uncles inheritance. Hes a crack head and really needed money. Hated to see him in a bind like that so I helped him out.Ive still got 52 acres, house, sheds and duck ponds. He went thru what I paid him in less than a year. Oh well.

Bobus2003 · November 19, 2011, 10:50:52 PM

Quote from: terry f on November 19, 2011, 12:38:05 PM
Bobus is this where your services are going for the land payment, and the landowner gets full price from the mill? Are you a one man operation or do you have to pay a crew?

Yeah the Lands in the West Central Hills. I'll get 25% of what comes from the mill, Rest to the Land owner.. Since the I have a Day Job Running Delimber for a Big Outfit, it would be done on the week\ends by my Dad and I

Holmes · November 20, 2011, 06:38:21 PM

My wife spotted our place on the front page of the real estate section of the Sunday paper in April of 1999. "90 acres and farm house, needs work". Took 5 months to go thru the process of buying it and 5 plus years for complete renovation. I did 2/3 of the work myself. We had to get the natives to move out ,2 porcupines, flying squirrels, mice, snakes. We bought the additional piece of land that was with the house but across the street a few months later and ended up with 114 acres total. I really enjoy working on The Farm. Holmes

g_man · November 20, 2011, 08:37:32 PM

I used to hunt on this property. It was part of a 500 acre farm and one mile from where we lived. In the mid 80's the farm estate was purchased by a realitor. The acreage along the road was sold off in 20 to 60 acre chuncks leaving a back woodlot of 180 acres including a half mile long tongue of land to the road. That was bought by a man who I remember was logging it with a horse. He kept the horse in a old horse trailer with skids instead of wheels and he kept his grain in an old refridgerator. He would drag these around to where he was working. When he died in the mid 90s a modern big time logging/construction outfit bought it an finished the cut. They then tried to sell lots and make a developement but the timing was bad and in 2 years only one lot was sold. I was still hunting here and would run into the owner once in a while and chat. One day he told me that he had to much land like this that he had bought spread all over the state and he needed to sell some and operate closer to home as a logger and not try to be a land realtor. That got me thinking and my wife was also interested so in 1999 we made him an offer for the whole remaining 170 acres at $500 per acre which he accepted and we became woodlot owners. In 2000 we started a small house. In 2001 we sold the old place and moved one mile into the unfinished basement of what is now our house in the woods. It took us until 2005 to finish the house. We've been here 12 years and love it. We have learned so much.

trapper · November 20, 2011, 08:42:03 PM

18 years ago when I was going to marry his daughter my future father in law asked if I wanted to buy his place. I told him show me how I can afford it. He did and we bought 37 acres on a land contract. When it was half paid off we went with a morgage from him. 7 years ago we bought another 20 from him with a morgage from the credit union. Could have gotten another 50 from him at a good price but wanted to be debt free before I retired. Even got to stay with him and my mother in law in Flordia on vacation.

DR Buck · November 20, 2011, 09:00:49 PM

Found our's when turning around on a house hunting trip in 1996. It had been for sale for a couple of years. The for sale sign was laying in the ditch along the road. Realtor didn't want to show it to us. Said it was a handyman special. You could see through the roof in places, water pipes leaked everywhere, electrical was "scary" and the floor was wavy. The place was filthy and had trash piled 8 feet high all around the outside. And, there were tenants living in it.

I thought the realtor was going to have a heart attack when we told him we were going to make an offer on it. ;D

He was wrong. It turned out to be a handyman nightmare! The structure was solid and we got through most of the other issues by throwing cash and sweat at them. We're still doing some updates and renovations but all of the major stuff is complete. We've doubled the size of the house, built a new 30x40 detached garage and nailed most of the barn back together.

Was it worth it? You bet! 57 acres, half in hardwoods 45 miles from Washington DC thats valued at 10 times what we paid and put into it.

terry f · November 21, 2011, 10:02:22 PM

Thanks for the replies. I envy anyone who can walk out their back door and be in their woods. Mine is sixty miles away and a jump of 3500' elevation.

tapper2 · November 22, 2011, 08:45:08 PM

I hear ya'.Ours is 35 miles north of here. I try to get up there as often as possible. It's a 70 acre wooded lot with 1800' of dirt road frontage. We just found out who owned the lot (they lived in NYC) and wrote them a letter. They hadn't been there in over 10-15 years, so were eager to sell. It took some doing, but it's ours, mortgage free... someday we'll build up there, but for now we just work the land and play around/hunt/log/sawyer etc...weekend stuff.

Brokermike · November 23, 2011, 09:26:42 AM

I don't have mine yet. My wife and I have 9 acres and a small sugarhouse. We are in the process of combing over land records and introducing ourselves to some of the older land owners in our town. We desperately want to buy a run down farmhouse with about 50 acres of pasture and woodland (to tap and manage).

Wish us luck!