if you had some land
 

what would you do if you came into posession of 150 acres of land?

here're your parameters:


*can't sell it
*don't have ton of money to pour into it
*don't want to live on it full time
*2 hours from NYC
*is comprised of hilly, partially wooded terrain

seeing as how i have 107 ac 2 hours doorstep to doorstep, i go and enjoy it. i fish in the river, shoot skeet, BBQ, relax and work it. in fact i need to get down there and plant milo soon for the up and coming dove season. basically i would enjoy every aspect that the land has to offer.

What are the property taxes on it? If I couldn't afford to pay the taxes and couldn't sell it, I would consider donating it to a land trust.

start building a small house and garden, expand the vegetable garden until I was almost self sufficient and selling some goods. Be propositioned by developers, refuse and have my land taken under eminant domain to build a golf course. Drink myself to death.

If it has some nice hardwood on it, I'd probably sell some. Depending on the kind of trees on the proprety, and the access, a few dozen could be sold off for a nice sum.

Use the money to build a cottage.

Is it hilly enough for a small ski slope?

I'd have to wistfully think about it, because two hours from NYC is still 26 hours from KC... :lol:

A relative of mine did that once. The logging company came out to her property, and marked each tree they wanted to take with an orange plastic tie. Then she went out and made sure the result wouldn't be too thin (or still too thick, which is why she was having it cleared out a little in the first place,) and they came and did all the work and hauled the logs off and sent her a check.

Cut some of the wood and replant , hard wood takes 30 years to reach a cut-able stage , pine takes about 10-12 .
We own 40 ac in mississippi , cut the hard wood , bought 1.5 on a river here in arkinsas , we then replanted the back 40 in pine that should be ready to cut SOON , this will build us a house on the river , replant , rep the rewards , pass it down to the kids .

Get some pheasants and charge people to hunt on it. Better yet, build a small hotel to house hunters and charge for hunting and lodging.

Start a club and partay all the time.

Set up campgrounds.

Summer camp for wayward high school girls. ;)

Be really careful about loggers, there are a LOT of criminals in that business.

Almost as many as in the oil business.

I'd probably tunnel in, wash the dirt and see what turned up. In between dope crops, of course.

Fence it and open a public dog park.

i live on 500 acres at the moment.. so i probably wouldnt crop it.

i'd cut down some trees and build a cute little cabin.. for relaxing weekends away from the city when i needed them (cabin cost would VERY cheap if you did it yourself.. and trust me its SO easy)

or if i needed the money:

Log 1/2 of it - collect the money. (leave the other 1/2 for animals and birds)
The 1/2 that is logged and cleared i would rent to a local farmer neeeding more room to run stock (you said it was hilly so you cant crop it, and maybe only tough sheep or goats will be sutable for stock)
i'd also develop a long couple of chook runs, get some chook feeder machines and make an income from some nice free range eggs!!

(wha ever you do dont invest in a pet goat of your own! trust me!)

Honestly?

Given that it's 2 hrs from NYC, if it's actually in the State of NY I would no choice but to sell it and buy a lot more land somewhere I like with the proceeds.

Otherwise, I would live on it. Except for the fact that it's smaller than I want, it's the property o' my dreams ...

Hell, I might even live on it in NY if it were in a sufficiently un-NY-like community.

You could lease bits of it out for camping and such.

I was going to ditto the sell/buy elsewhere, but I seem to remember someone telling me that NY is actually quite pretty and has lots of wildlife. They go duck hunting in boats that float really slowly down wide rivers with lots of hardwoods on either side. Really lovely in the fall. And there are deer and bears. Probably moose too.

Yes, any land purchased by me will be chosen primarily because of the amount of harvestable meat walking around on it. Sorry, vegans.

NY state is very beautiful, once you're out of the cities. People can even think sensibly out there, but like many states with large cities, the cities get the attention (and the tax dollars) to the detriment of the rural and suburban areas.

I'm not sure it's a detriment. Where the money goes....the scum follow. :biggrin:

LJ, it sounds like you have a specific situation you are facing, not a hypthetical one at all. If it were ME in your position, I would lease an easement for a telecommunications/microwave tower on the highest point. 40 years would be a good lease for me, steady income for the rest of my life. Maybe put a COLA or step increases built into the lease, ask a lawyer to draw it up. Then deed the entire parcel to The Nature Conservancy, take a nice tax writeoff (the Conservancy has great lawyers too), and sit back and enjoy the fireworks when the developers find out :D

oo. i like the way you think.