Need help of thought...Future investment in land for Farm/agriculture?

[Mahonri]

I have land and it does me no good.

I rent it, but super cheap to a dairy farmer.... and it's 9.5 hours away... speeding.

I wish I owned 40.

It's worth much less than what I paid for it, but I'm hoping that will change.

Areas differ but the recession will extend until 2011...that's when I have hope things will begin to improve. I don't forsee the stock market moving much either. It's gonna go back down before it goes up again.

If gas prices do what I expect them to do, you'll want land that's close by your home... or has a home on it that you can move into.

Sad that our leaders won't let us drill our own oil that is plentiful, and they keep us dependent upon foreign oil. No change there!

 

[Chicken7777]

Your soo right on land prices, that is one reason I am actually wanting to search because I feel like its time to actually find something good in this type of economy. On the gasoline...thats another issue I also have heard they are giong to rise even higher than they were last year, sometimes I think geez things ARE getting harder than they should be. Mahonri you do make a point with the distance (if gasoline gets even more expensive) but I honestly think( i believe so!) that the driving is going to pay off either in the price of the land because closest to where I live, and around me land is soo very soo expensive due to how there are many residential homes-communities in the area and some of the land owners sell them thinking they are for developing. I honestly have no intention of using the land for building a home anytime soon, I honestly am going to just start off with some crops and then later on bring in only some animals. But I think the distance is going to help my budget, I am happy that it wont be too far away either, since we have gotten used to driving long distances, living in an area where somethings are just not too close.

 

[HennysMom]

Chicken...

75 feet for a well is VERY shallow for a well. Ours is deep bore and is about 300 feet. Our old house had an old concrete well and even it was over 120 feet deep ( you know the type - about 3 feet around, the type a child can fall into?) - it was the 2nd well drilled on the property because the first one went dry. It too was shallow (around 75 feet). Even the first one went dry twice at 120 feet and the fire dept had to fill it up for us. we couldnt drink the water at all and had to use Chlorox to kill all the nasties that got mixed up from the water going in. Our neighbors also went dry. Remember you arent the only one on the water table if you're on a well.

If the well only goes 75 feet - then there is an issue with the water table and there is no way that well will support you or your livestock without going dry (and fast). Water tables (I know you're in FL so its a lower water table than in VA) but in general, your well should be alot deeper. Is it a deep bored well (like a 6 inch little white tube looking thing?) has it been inspected for fecal and other little buggies in the water? Get your OWN private well inspection for water - never trust the other guy (sorry... been burned by having a "Friend" of the people who owned the property inspect the well - and we all got sick on our first endeavor into house owning

years ago). Farmer John down the road had cows..... run off into the ground.. ran into the well water.. fecal not to mention other nasties. Needless to say we sold the house.

The land - did it perk and if so, for what alloted house amount (i.e, square footage/bedrooms) and does that include the barn/stables since you will more than likely have electricity to them and more than likely, plumbing. How about septic? If it has a well, it more than likely has septic. When was the last time the septic tank was cleaned out? (thats expensive and nasty to do). When was it put in (both well and septic) does it have a drainage field and where it that located? You cannot build on a drainage field (even a barn/stable) (at least here you cannot). If something happens with the lines, they have to be repaired (torn up) - makes moving a barn pretty near impossible.

As someone said - get soil samples and test them. If this land is on the cheap and all other land surrounding it is pretty expensive - then there's a reason for it. Either it didnt perk or the land isnt good for farming (soil). If its all clay, you're going to have issues with getting things to grow. Acidity and Ph play major roles in crops (I have issues here as our soil is heavy red clay

).

Whatever you decide to do - make sure all your bases are covered. Again, take someone that knows farming with you if you can - that knows crops and what you want to do with your land. It will make all the difference in the world, trust me.

Keep us posted hun! You're doing great but just keep doing your homework. That well really worries me to no end.....

 

[Chicken7777]

Thanks soo much for the information guys...Hennysmom you have been such a great help, I really do thank you for the honesty and aid in this venture of mine and anything you tell me/give me in information will be very appreciated by from my part!
Well in general I am going to do some good inspecting once I do see the land. I did contact a couple of water well drilling companies to ask how much depth is okay and honestly they told me that i really dont even need 75 ft of a well because 40 would do just as fine..I'll do more research on that tomorrow... I really cant wait to take a look at it this weekend, I hope to go this saturday soo I guess I will keep you guys posted on what I find.
The price of the land is pretty the same as others but better in some way but Ive been told that he really needs to sell the land due to how he's in a worse financial situation than others and needs to keep his other home. I think the owner planned to do something with the land because it has a well, it looks somewhat cleared, but I think he just never got the chance to or just never had the funds...I will though look more into it once I get their and try to examine and test the soil. First off I want to see the distance to the land, secondly I want to be able to see how the land is, and lastly everything else in between the cracks of all regarding the land.

Right now even though I am not 100% decided in purchasing that particular land(even though it seems the best from the ones ive researched) I am trying to see what way I can come up with a way to purchase it. I am looking for loans that have low interest rates, and that can help me purchase this land as well as invest into it asap. Like in example start fixing the land because I know no vacant land is perfect and needs some fixer uppers including adding some more organic matter and such, and also because I might need the equipment as well...I guess I will save that for later once I do have the land, but I am really researching on what I should look into in getting a loan, or if I can actually find a grant for beginning farmers, growers.
I think I have seen grants before but I guess I have to start searching more. I want to see if the gov might have good loans for people starting out like that with land...lets see!
I saw that personal loans of max $25,000 have interest rates of min 10%..have any of you seen anything better in personal loans from some other banks, what banks might you guys recommend?
If any of you might happen to know of such information, I would be very appreciative of it because I really would like to start having things set in what I am thinking of doing.

Thanks again for the help guys!

 

[tea]

Hello -- I am wondering how your hunt for land has gone?

 

[cafarmgirl]

Years ago we bought our first piece of property. It was 38 acres of almond orchard with a well and electricity. Nothing else. It was only about 20 minutes from where we lived at the time. It was our intent to build a house there. We did but we nearly went broke doing it. Even if your not planning on building a house it's incredible how much more there is to do then planned and how much more it costs to do it then planned. Even if you plan ahead carefully! There's always something else popping up that needs to be done. And the drive back and forth once we had animals there got really old really fast. I will never, ever do that again! We moved from there recently and my rule was that the new place had to have all the buildings in place as well as fencing etc.

Also, I don't know how it is where you live but around here if you don't live on your property you better have everything bolted to the ground or it's gone. Sometimes even then it's gone. Dead end roads don't necessarily equal privacy except for the person who want's to steal your stuff while your not there.

I'm really not trying to rain on anybody here but I just wanted to bring up some things that I wish I'd been told long ago! There's a million things to consider when doing this and yes, it's a great investment but it's so easy to end up with a loss if your not careful.

Do a ton of research! Try to get help from someone who farms or ranches. I hope you find what your looking for and are able to make it into what you hope for.