Suggestions! Purchase or Lease Land?

[TNJones4530]

Been back and forth between leasing land or purchasing. I live on the north side of Maury County and have always wanted a decent sized track for bow hunting deer and turkey that I can call my own, with managing a few small food plots.. Looking to spend an absolute max of 150k (100-125k preferred) on the land within a 1.5-2 hour drive. Most of what I’ve seen within that distance and price range is 20-75 acres.


Not looking to harvest the biggest buck every single year, but rather have good numbers that I can help grow, with taking a couple does a year and the occasional buck.

Those that own and or lease, what do you think? Suggestions on counties to focus on? Also, if you come across any land send it my way! PM or on here.

Thanks y’all.

 

[Omega]

Been back and forth between leasing land or purchasing. I live on the north side of Maury County and have always wanted a decent sized track for bow hunting deer and turkey that I can call my own, with managing a few small food plots.. Looking to spend an absolute max of 150k (100-125k preferred) on the land within a 1.5-2 hour drive. Most of what I’ve seen within that distance and price range is 20-75 acres.


Not looking to harvest the biggest buck every single year, but rather have good numbers that I can help grow, with taking a couple does a year and the occasional buck.

Those that own and or lease, what do you think? Suggestions on counties to focus on? Also, if you come across any land send it my way! PM or on here.

Thanks y’all.

Speaking for me, I say buy. If at least 10 or more acres you can make it part of the green belt to offset taxes some and or have it selectively logged to do the same, and to open up areas for plots, hunt camp etc. As an owner, you can do as you like, within the law, and have full control over who comes and goes. Leasing, it's money lost to you, with a purchase, it's an investment.

 

[MUP]

I own my hunting land, and recommend buying as well. Sounds like you've already answered your question, as you said you've always wanted to own your own.

 

[TRIGGER]

No doubt if you have the ability to buy then buy even if you have to settle for a little less land than you want to hunt. Great investment

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Agreed with Omega. Kind of like renting an apartment for 10 years. After that 10 years and $120,000, you have nothing to show for it. OR you could have put that money toward a $120,000 house and have it paid off and could sell it for likely half again what it's worth. Same practice goes with leasing/owning land. You own it, you can do whatever you want with it and you have it as an investment. Just my .02

 

[Grnwing]

If you have the time and resources, it can be very rewarding. I m fortunate to live on a nice size farm, living on the land allows me to keep up with maintenance and I don't have to schedule time off or try and get everything done on the weekend. With either deer or turkey and the size of land you are looking at, you will be impacted by what your neighbors do. Finding smaller acreage with the right neighbors maybe better than a lot of acres with bad neighbors. It is a great feeling that you have a place that you can go and not have to worry about someone else hunting your spot. If you do buy, get in touch with your local NRCS office and have them come and look at your land and get their opinion on what habitat improvements can be done. Good luck

 

[rem270]

If you can buy then I wouldn't even think about leasing.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Several great points above and I agree. If you are able...buy....leases can work out good sometimes....and sometimes not so good.....you can put allot of work into a lease and then at the end when you go to renew you learn the property owner has other plans.....owning and managing your own land can be very rewarding.....and making habitat improvements is addicting....along those lines....if the place has timber on it considered meeting with a Forrester and share your desires for the property and get his input....from the timber you can recoup some of the money you invested and during a timber harvest is a great time to make plots, improve road system, etc....and thicker cover will be developed naturally......if I was...or had to...go the lease route and wanted to do food plots or other habitat improvements... I would get as long of an lease agreement as possible.....good luck!!

 

[BlackBelt]

The great thing about leasing is when the deer leave or are killed out you can leave too.
I own my property but take great pains to take care of the small herd if deer there and dont hunt it. I want them to grow in numbers. It can be challenging to keep poachers at bay.
I hunt leases. When cwd came I just leased property outside the hot zone.
Advantages to both ways.
Also, what I pay for a yearly lease equals about 1 months payment if I bought the land.

 

[poorhunter]

20 acres IMO isn’t enough USUALLY for a hunting property. It varies of course but I wouldn’t buy a piece of property for hunting that’s less than 40 acres or so. Friend on mine just bought 126 acres for 250,000 with no timber at all but all thick woods and steep hills. There’s land out there but it’s gong up in price. Personally I hate the idea of leases but I understand why landowners do it and I think you’d be better off leasing.

 

[GnashviLLe]

Could be like me! I got the OnX app and looked up the owners of land beside my 16 acres and got written permission to hunt on their land. I now have 106 acres around my land that i hunt that no one else hunts besides me. I give the land owners i hunt on deer meat when i harvest some. Great deal if you ask me!

 

[CATCHDAWG]

This is a no brainer, BUY! A lease can come and go and you can’t do whatever you want, plus you have to share. Buy and it’s yours to do as you see fit. Not to mention they aren’t making land anymore, buy some while it’s still available.

 

[Camp David]

You can't overlook the investment value of owning land. Much better return than any other thing I know of. Over the course of years, we've invested about $62K (only in land costs) for property that is now worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $290K, or more.

That doesn't include the money we've put in for equipment, road repair, out buildings, etc.

But it also doesn't/can't measure the fun we've had there in 31 years either. A big part of that has been being able to stay overnight. In our case, we had the convenience of a 12X60 house trailer that has taken a considerable amount of upgrade and updates.

Having electricity to the property is also something to consider.

For instance, some of our friends have a property (130-160 acres?) and a structure. Their closest neighbor would not allow them to run power lines across their property. His only option was to come in from the main road. That was going to cost another $30 - $40k.

Back in the day, utility companies would finance the cost through your utility bill. They got screwed when people would do that to add the value to their property and skip out on the charge. Nowadays, as I am told, they want the money up front if you want utilities.

 

[huvrman]

Buy, but get at least 100 acres.

 

[cbhunter]

I don’t want to derail but give you something to think about. I was talking with a friend tonight that’s been looking to buy. He said his bank would only go 60% (finance) towards him buying land if it didn’t have livestock or crops on it. Can anyone confirm or debunk what I was told. That makes it hard for a peon like myself that always dreamed of owning land.

 

[Spurhunter]

You mentioned turkey hunting. That is the reason I lease. I cannot afford enough land to run and gun on. Unless you buy small parcel in a heavily turkey populated area and are happy to sit in one spot and blind call, I would say lease. I do own 20 acres of woods I can deer hunt.

 

[Fatboy99]

Buy? Upfront cost, taxes, maintain roads if there are any to start with, bushogging and equipment, food plots cost and equipment, forestry mulching cleanup if needed, dealing with trespassing, neighbors, poaching, ect.
and 1.5-2 hrs away you probably won’t use it as much asu think, unless time is all you have.
just thinks to consider. I still would buy if you can deal with it

 

[rem270]

I don’t want to derail but give you something to think about. I was talking with a friend tonight that’s been looking to buy. He said his bank would only go 60% (finance) towards him buying land if it didn’t have livestock or crops on it. Can anyone confirm or debunk what I was told. That makes it hard for a peon like myself that always dreamed of owning land.

I had to put 20% minimum down when we bought ours. That was 2014 so might have changed at a bank. I think most people usually try to use the like a Farm Credit place instead of a bank most of the time. From what I've heard they don't require as much down but I might be wrong

 

[Hunter 257W]

I had to put 20% minimum down when we bought ours. That was 2014 so might have changed at a bank. I think most people usually try to use the like a Farm Credit place instead of a bank most of the time. From what I've heard they don't require as much down but I might be wrong

Farm Credit required 20% down in 2011 when I bought mine but I paid more than that. The Credit Union where i do most of my banking didn't want to even talk about empty land loans. One thing to consider for anybody who doesn't know is that land loan interest is higher than a primary residence loan.

 

[jmf]

Farm credit ranges from 15 to 30. Just depends on loan length. ie 15 year 15% 25 year 25%