Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Lease a lot or own a little?

Definitely buy. Also location relative to large tracts or ones not hunted much is beneficial. Also prepare yourself to tell people no about hunting it. I got a friend that bought a large tract and he wants to kill big deer. He lets a few family hunt and stays irritated because they hurt his chances. I take people on mine especially kids I just enjoy being out there

Great plan but I would question dropping the lease maybe get a couple buddies to absorb the price until You get ready to buy..Your gonna miss not having a Good place to hunt until You buy

I wouldn’t drop the lease unless you absolutely had to. I know everyone’s financial situation is different but how much can you save by dropping the lease to put forward to your own land? Also what happens if you drop the lease now, save money and are ready to buy in 5 years, but can’t find what you are looking for? Just might not be available when you are ready.

Do research and Buy what you can afford that has game or that you can improve to pull game off neighboring properties. Better to own something than be beholden to lessors who control everything and can sell it out from you. Now if you can keep the lease great but you never know when Mr. Lessor kicks you out. Better to own something to be able to hunt given how difficult and expensive it is to find a new lease when you need one. Hire a professional like Matt and make it your own.

Thanks for the input. I am a little leery about dropping our current lease, and probably wouldn’t if it left us with no place to hunt(besides public ground). Fortunately we do have a few acres close by that we share with some other folks that we can hunt. It is not the same as having our own lease but it is a place to hunt and the cost is very minimal.

I will admit this has been a struggle for me trying to decide but if we are ever going to be able to buy any reasonably sized acreage I need every penny of what we are spending on our current lease to be saved up for that.

Kinda of reminds me of this movie we watched the other night, a kid was learning how to box because he had been beat up by a bully. The kid wanted to give up because he was so tired and sore, he told his trainer he was giving up because he was probably just going to get his ass kicked anyway…the trainer said “yep you might still get your ass kicked, but then again you might not”

Amen, been that guy before. But I won! If any help!

This!!! If you drop your lease it’s gone forever!!! You will never get it back!

I am in one great lease by myself. Shot really good deer here. Lov it like my own - 5 min from my house - solid situation

I look for land to buy for years - never worked out. Prob past my window - gonna try to enjoy heck out of this lease!

Consult with a longtime attorney on cost associated with owning and passing down land. Especially about "PROBATE".

I do both. It’s a lot of work and it’s not cheap but I enjoy it. I’ve made some money on it as I’ve bought and sold a few tracts. It’s a good alternative investment. I don’t worry about losing $’s on land. I’m 63 and I’ve owned land for 14 years. Always leased before that.

Enjoying this thread and am considering the same. Is there a website or database you guys prefer for considering land to purchase or do you have an agent that’s watching out for you?


Rich

When you lease a piece of property, you are really paying for the experience you get to have when utilizing said land.

There is a cost structure there also. if the day comes where my financial situation changes, and I cant afford it anymore, I can simply walk away from a lease. Not so with Purchasing property. If you get in a bind you still have to make loan payments.

There are pros and cons to both reckon.

If you are a die hard turkey hunter, and the choice is between hunting 60 acres you own and 1200 acres you lease, then it is kinda obvious.

Being a turkey hunter. you would need some really deep pockets to buy up enough land to consistently kill birds. Unless you are a scratch feed type.

When I was searching, I used this: https://www.landwatch.com/land as well as FB Marketplace.

You can set up emails to alert you when something is posted.

I am about to drop my lease and just join a club. I run an ad, and I get a bunch of "interested" replies. Or, " I would like a little more info" or water/power/camper spots.. If I had camper spots I would say I had them. If you want more info, then ask me what you want to know. If you are interested, do more than just say you are interested.. The ones I really love are the ones who can't handle a 2 doe limit, and not being able to kill them off a green field. Oh I eat 2 deer a week. Good for you dude.

Not to mention it seems like the Timber Co manages to tear up something of mine every year. Oh no, we didn't fly a helicopter over your green field, we sprayed around it. I guess the concept of wind drift and dispersion was something they missed. Having red and yellow spots on all the foliage in my field just happens out of the blue, plants are wilting and dying out of the blue. Even the grass was red and yellow and drying up. Nope. Wasn't us......

Or better yet, the DA that parked the herbicide truck in the middle of a pee/bean field and then goes Oh I thought it was grass. If he is that stupid, he doesn't need to be driving a commercial vehicle.

I used landwatch and land.com. I like the mapping feature that land.com has. If you are looking in South Alabama, give this guy a shout.

Roderick McIntyre
Partners Realty
(251) 320-0794

Whether dropping your lease to buy land is a wise decision depends a lot on someone’s current financial situation and whether they can comfortably pay cash for most, if not all of it.

For example, let’s say you buy 70 acres at $3,500 an acre for $245,000. You put 20% down in cash - $49,000 - for a 30 year loan with $196,000 owed at 8.5% interest. That’s $1,523 a month, or $18,276 a year. You have paid nearly 600k for the land and 350k in interest. And that’s not including property taxes and maintenance over 30 years. You will make some revenue from timber, maybe 100k total from a full life cycle of planting, thinning, and clearcut, but don’t expect much with timber prices so low.

That 260 acre lease was probably costing you 3k a year in sunk lease cost. But it was freeing up 15k a year for you to invest for your retirement vs buying 70 acres of land. The land can’t help fund your retirement if you never want to sell it. And I can nearly promise you that 49,000 year one lump sum plus extra 15k a year all invested in your retirement account will make you more than double or triple what your timberland will appreciate in value over 30 years.

Bottom line, if you are financially secure, zero credit card debt or loans besides your mortgage, employment is very stable, you can cover an unexpected major life event without adding more debt, and your tax advantaged retirement accounts are already maxed out, then of course use your extra money on something you enjoy and make the investment in land. If buying land means you have a place to hunt at 62 but can’t afford to retire with financial security the rest of your life, it’s a terrible investment.

Neighbors are important which ever choice you make.

Even if you are a cash buyer the financial argument to buy vs lease is not very compelling. Rural property, timberland is appreciating ~4% per year vs S&P which has historically average 11-12%. Based on ALclearcut’s example even if you paid $245,000 in cash you are leaving ~$17,000 per year on the table (11% - 4%) = 7% *$245,000 =$17,150.

$17K per year could get you in a pretty nice lease

So I’ve almost convinced myself that financially leasing may be more cost effective, but are the intrinsic values of owning the ground you hunt worth the potential financial downside? Also do folks feel you can still have a quality hunting experience even if you were somewhat limited to a smaller acreage but it’s acreage that you own?

Real estate works for most people because it’s forced equity with bond like appreciation.

It’s easy on paper to say you would invest the saved cash flow into the market, but history of behavioral finance would prove otherwise. Most people blow that extra money on bigger toys and vacations.

For the vast majority of people, buying land would be the best decision.