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Driftless_draw

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I’m considering buying 90 acres of hunting land with a couple of guys. I’ve never even considered this before but was curious of any advice of things to ask and consider before investing.

I know one of the guys pretty well and he’s financially stable so that isn’t a worry.

Any info and thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks
 
#4 ·
Driftless_draw said:
I’m considering buying 90 acres of hunting land with a couple of guys. I’ve never even considered this before but was curious of any advice of things to ask and consider before investing.

I know one of the guys pretty well and he’s financially stable so that isn’t a worry.

Any info and thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Myself and three friends bought my family farm - 75 acres - two years ago. I’m no expert and there’s more to be considered than can be covered in a comment, but a few things to consider: what if someone gets sick or needs money for some other reason, what if someone dies, what if someone gets divorced? Will you select beneficiaries for each of your interests in the asset? In our case we organized an LLC with an operating agreement. What will your taxes be? Will you consider timbering, and if so get ready for a detailed discussion with an accountant about how to handle timber taxes. I personally didn’t fully appreciate all these considerations until diving into all this. Of course you don’t necessarily have to dot all your Is and cross all your Ts but that can make a bumpy ride in the future. Better to deal with the pain of planning as best you can on the front end.
 
#5 ·
I would make sure my name was on the deed and title so if things went south your investment is covered
Good luck enjoy your property
 
#6 ·
To add some more opinion here, I agree with others that very often multiple owners has more downside than benefits. But if you get lucky and do it with the right people, it can be a very rewarding experience. Throughout the year I’m texting and talking to these guys, it’s really brought us together around a shared interest. I used to put all the time and money into the property myself, sure people wanted to hunt it, but they rarely helped me through the year. Now I get a little more help, but more importantly it cut my own costs a lot.
 
#9 ·
If I were you, I would think about it like renting an apartment with roommates. Think of things like, who will be listed as the property owner (or LLC), how to divide up bills, taxes, work, property maintenance, what if someone leaves, cant come up with a payment, loses their job, moves away. Are you going to let family, extended family, or friends or friends of friends hunt, too, or allow others to lease? How are you going to divide up the hunting areas? are some areas better than others? hunting styles? stands? pressure? feeders? etc.

Basically, I'm saying don't do it. But if you do, do it yourself, and let people lease in to help with stuff....
 
#10 ·
Like others have said make sure you think long and hard about this and get a firm written agreement on everything before hand.

You said you'd be buying it with a couple guys but you said you only knew one of them pretty well. If you don't know the other guys very well I'd absolutely not do it. Doesn't take much for things to get ugly.

Couple issues I can think of off the top of my head:

What happens if you all have different ideas of what work needs to be done and some guys get lazy?

What if someone runs short on cash and can't pay annual upkeep costs? Who manages those expenses and collects money from everyone?

What if someone ends up wanting out? If so can the rest afford to buy him out? What price do you offer him? If land value goes up do you factor that into buy out price?

Better have a plan in case someone gets divorced.

Do you all have the same hunting style and mindset? I have good friends who just like to hunt differently than I do or want to put in way more or less work and hunting with them isn't as fun.

Who else gets to use the land? Can everyone bring friends and family? If so it could get crowded quick.

The list goes on and on. Also don't worry about IF these things happen just worry about WHEN will they happen because its a 100% certainty that some of this stuff will come up. Own the land long enough and you'll have issues at something.

My best friend has asked me about buying land together. We've been best friends 25 years since we were in junior high school. I flat out told him no, never. I did tell him you buy the land and I'll help you work it in exchange for hunting access but that i didn't want to mix finances and friendships. He understood that so I'm just waiting on him to pick out some land and I'll be there day one with a truck full of tools ready to help him any way I can.
 
#11 ·
Don’t do it, unless you’re buying with family, and even then it’s risky. Always buy alone! If you can’t afford to do that now, then wait. Personally, I would never get a loan to buy land, we waited until we could pay with cash.
 
#12 ·
My wife and I had the personal goal of purchasing some hunting property for several decades and finally made it a reality late in the summer of 2019. Saving for 15 years to have about half the cost as my down payment, we took into consideration that more acreage also meant more taxes. I looked at hundreds of online listings and we put on many miles checking out various properties that looked good on paper. The one we ended up purchasing has a lot of potential, but is not "perfect"......maybe that piece of ground doesn't exist or I simply could not afford it?

Other than my wife, I don't know anyone I would have done this process with because of all the hoops and challenges along the way. Several previous posts have already outlined the potential pitfalls of a land partnership. 90 acres sounds like a lot for 3 guys.....until kids or other friends get brought up as potential users. What if someone likes using an ATV/UTV while the others don't like the noise or intrusion? What if someone gets offended and wants an immediate buy-out? What if the planning.....management goals, plots, tree cutting, etc isn't suitable for all three buyers? So many possible issues that could turn the best of friends into combatants. My father-in-law went into business with a good friend and they ended up non-speaking enemies.....it happens. Proceed with caution.....
 
#13 ·
I wouldn’t buy land with somebody else. As mentioned buy 30 acres of it yourself. Asking for trouble getting in on hunting land with people you know or don’t know. To much can go wrong in that situation.


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#14 ·
Driftless_draw said:
I’m considering buying 90 acres of hunting land with a couple of guys. I’ve never even considered this before but was curious of any advice of things to ask and consider before investing.

I know one of the guys pretty well and he’s financially stable so that isn’t a worry.

Any info and thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks
Click to expand...
There is a saying "partnerships are sinking ships", good luck, be careful.
 
#15 ·
get a lawyer. just like other sad make sure you plan for everything. have it all in writing. if you are best friends dont do it. just like a gun club make sure that every one on board this is a investment, not pay today and get your money back tomorrow. make sure you have it clear that if they dont pay they lose the money. somebody will not pay! have a plan when someone want to drop out (buy their part or sell their part to another buyer) everything must be a joint effort, what i mean if you want to sell everyone must agree, if you want to log every one must agree, if you want to allow other to used it everyone must agree and so on. you will be amazon how one person will allow a friend to hunt there and every one hate him for it. give a time frame when can they sell their part. you will have people come in and 2 years later they think they get all there money back. have it writing that in 5 years you can offer to sell your part for a at 10% of money invested, 6 year 20%, 7 years 30% ect.. also plan when selling the property how much every one gets. because some will come in later like 5 years and sell the property and they think they get a same cut somebody been in for 10 years. make sure if you allow other to join later you have it writing how much they get if it sells and everyone agree. even you dont plan to sell let that person knows what their cut will be and have it in writing. because you sell it 2 years later the law will make you give them the same cut. anything you put on the land make sure everyone agree how it will be used. if somebody dont want it in writing drop them. plan to meet every 3 months to discussed issue, i dont care if you sit around watch football plan to meet every few months because meeting once a year or see one person today and another tomorrow dont work. get a separate bank account for it so people can put the money in it and it just for the land make it that you will need 3 people to sign to get money out. just like any other club you need to vote leader in every year. keep someone on the outside to help as a witness that is neutral. like the old saying goes hope for the best plan for the worst. i always want to do it but could not find the people to do it with. i been think how it could have been done these are some of things i thought about. the biggest problem is getting people to pay there share and how you going to absorb the payment with other. if everyone is paying $5000 a year for this and someone stop paying can the rest cover their $5000? you really dont want to run around a grab the first person who can pay that, he may be a jerk. also plan for throwing someone out of the club, what rules you going to have? if you kick someone out how much are you going to give them back. i have seen clubs the first day a person breaks the rules and they throw them out but dont want to refund their money. that could be a nasty law suit. it might not be a bad ideal keep money on the side for law suits and have a lawyer that will work for you if needed. i sure you will have a law suit if it last 10 years. plan when someone dies that in the club how much the family get back in for the land. i know this is alot and my grammer is not that great but these are the thing i have look into if i ever done this. good luck what ever you do it good be great and it could be a nightmare
 
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#17 ·
I split a piece with a friend. It was agreed upon that it would be surveyed into two separate tracts from the start. The partner was not very ambitious when it came to getting work done and he was content throwing out 500 pounds of corn throughout the season. Made for ****ty hunting on my side of the small piece. Over the course of a few years my life goals changed. Went back to school, took on some other investments. I sold my "share" of the property. He still ended up butt hurt. The positive is I turned a nice profit on the land in such a short time... wish I had bought the whole thing myself. Could have split and sold half to pay for the half to keep.
 
#18 ·
I invested in 80 acres with three of my closest friends. After 5 years, we are still in great shape and hunt/work the land together. A lot of people have laid out a lot of good advice above. Create an LLC with an operating agreement--IE, what happens to a persons share in a catastrophic life event? What happens if a partner wants out? How are taxes realized? How are improvements made? Do you pay into a yearly pool for stands, cameras, blinds, planting trees/plots, or any other real expenses? Is there reward for those with more "sweat equity"? People can get sour if they feel they are doing all of the heavy lifting. What are the long term plans with the land? What type of game management will the group practice? There are sooo many open ends that need to be discussed and hammered out. Sometimes it's best to do with a management plan in writing. If you aren't completely comfortable with your partners and willing to compromise, everyone will lose.

With that being said, real estate is a relatively safe investment when managed correctly and can be incredibly rewarding. As I said above, we are on year 5 of our partnership as land stewards and it has been amazing to watch the property develop and subsequently create great deer habitat along the way. We are learning something new every season, having fun doing it, and managing our plan along the way.

Good luck!
 
#19 ·
I purchased 55 acres with 2 hunting buddies. We had an attorney write up a contract that states all cost associated with ownership such as maintenance, insurance be equally split amongst us. If anyone wants out of ownership or death the remaining owners have 3 years to by him out, find another buyer or sell the land. The attorney thought 3 years was way too long. However we all paid in cash so there’s no lean or monthly payment for anyone to worry about.
Pros, makes land more affordable, split cost for anything you do including property tax and insurance. You always have someone to help do upgrades such as food plots.
Cons, if you want to do something that cost money and the others don’t your screwed. Can’t build a house for yourself.
Would I do it all over again, yes. Is it a perfect situation, no.
If you can afford to buy land yourself I would, if not partners aren’t all that bad but I would only do it with great friends.
 
#20 ·
Good luck.
I have a good friend that has property with a buddy. No issue at all. They had all their I’s dotted and T’s crossed including who does and does and does not get to hunt.
I will say the only complaint I hear from them is that 120 acres is not enough for the 2 of them.
 
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