Looking at buying some land....

[sheff]

Is there not underground water? Or just no current wells?

 

[npaden]

This is perhaps one of the largest enabling's I've seen happen online yet.

Well done for helping @npaden spend his money folks. Here's to a successful barter & closing.

It wasn't just folks here online enabling me. I had several friends and family members doing their part as well.

Haven't heard back yet, but was just online looking and 3 small 40 acre tracts just to the west of this property just popped up for sale as well. That was one slightly negative thing because I wouldn't be able to control those smaller neighbors. After those small tracts the landowners going west are all 640+ acre pieces so I'm taking it as a sign that I need to add those 120 acres as well if I can get to an agreement on price on the 580 acres.

Haven't heard back from the realtor, he mentioned that the seller might be out until the 21st. That's my birthday so maybe getting a deal done then could be my birthday present for the rest of my life. LOL.

 

[npaden]

Is there not underground water? Or just no current wells?

Just no current wells. It also sounds like it would be pretty deep wells and pretty expensive drilling "if" you end up hitting decent water. I haven't looked into it very much yet but I'm assuming the worst case scenario that drilling a well isn't a feasible option. I'm sure I could get electricity as well, but it would cost $50,000+ to get it there and I would be way ahead just spending that on a solar/wind/battery setup if I decided I needed it. Lots of people living off grid with a pretty comfortable setups now unless you need air conditioning and this looks like it wouldn't need it.

 

[Ben Lamb]

It wasn't just folks here online enabling me. I had several friends and family members doing their part as well.

I mean, it does take a village.

Good luck!!

 

[npaden]

I have verbal agreements on both the 580 and the 120 beside it. Waiting for the contracts on them. Didn't quite get the 10% reduction I was hoping for but close to 8% off the asking price on both of them combined. Will be interesting to see how this all turns out a few years from now. Have some projects planned for the summer that's for sure.

 

[Letthemgrow]

Congratulations. I hope it turns out to be all that you hoped for.

 

[Cheesehead]

I have verbal agreements on both the 580 and the 120 beside it. Waiting for the contracts on them. Didn't quite get the 10% reduction I was hoping for but close to 8% off the asking price on both of them combined. Will be interesting to see how this all turns out a few years from now. Have some projects planned for the summer that's for sure.

Super cool man. Gives us millennials hope after the smoke clears we can do the same.

 

[npaden]

Now have signed contracts on both properties!

Realtor thinks I got a pretty good deal.

I’m tapped out, but this property is adjoining it to the northwest if anyone is looking. I can vouch for the new neighbor.

Forbes Canyon Ranch

This 937-acre ranch is a perfect place for a hunting retreat, located in game unit 85. The ranch would qualify for the Colorado Landowner Preference program which would allow for 1 application and 1 P

www.landsofamerica.com

$500/acre more than I just paid, but it does have a new cabin.

 

[Mudranger1]

Wooohoooo congrats!

 

[Mudranger1]

Maybe a summer meet and greet? With prices the way they are we are probably just going to leave the camper down at our property all summer and just head that way most weekends

 

[npaden]

Maybe a summer meet and greet? With prices the way they are we are probably just going to leave the camper down at our property all summer and just head that way most weekends

We are hoping to get there a couple times this summer hopefully. I’ll pm you my cell #.

 

[MarvB]

Good for you @npaden! Congrats on the purchase.

 

[MNElkNut]

Congrats! I have thought about ya a couple times. Nothing like that first time you get to take a whiz on your own land! Yeah, its mine and I can pee where I want feeling!

 

[Wallydeuce]

Congratulations! Good luck on your purchase.

 

[kiwi hunter]

You gonna love it.

 

[npaden]

Well, it has taken a while to get everything lined out, but we finally closed on this property this morning. We closed on the 120 adjoining acres back in May but the lender required an appraisal on this piece and it took them a while to find an appraiser and get on his schedule so that was the big delay. Appraisal did come in a little higher than I ended up paying so that was good.

Pretty excited to say the least.

It is crazy, but I still haven't set foot on the property. We will be up there over 4th to check things out though. It does appear that there is actually a spring on the property that always holds water and flows a little way down a small creek bottom so I want to look at that pretty closely and see if there is anything that can be done to improve that.

I haven't decided yet, but am thinking about doing a bit of documentation on what I end up doing to the property as far as habitat improvement goes. I've looked into several options and I think it would be neat to document some of it but not sure on what exactly I will get done on that. If I do I will probably start a new thread on that part of it.

Thanks for the input and comments and hopefully this will end up being a long term place that our family will cherish. Or at least a nice place to hang our recreational hats for a decade or so before moving onto something else when I retire.

Nathan

 

[cncterra]

Okay, this is probably a can of worms on a public hunting forum but I really think there are some smart folks here that can help me think through my conundrum. Sometimes just typing it all out helps me think things through so here goes....

I have been looking at buying some land out west for a few years now with the thought of ultimately retiring on it and in the shorter term enjoying hunting and recreating on it.

Wyoming has been high on my list for several reasons including no state income taxes as a retirement option, but I have been looking for years and just can't seem to find something with what I want in my price range. The pandemic hasn't helped anything as prices have jumped up and nice properties are getting bought sight unseen.

Colorado, New Mexico, Montana and Utah are all on my shopping list along with Idaho, even Oregon and Nebraska have been looked at a bit.

I'm about to give up on finding "the property" and realizing that I may end up needing to buy a couple different places that between them have what I want. Getting a place big enough that I can hunt on it in a place that is really pretty and has all the other boxes checked is really expensive. So I've started looking at more of an ugly place that is big enough to hunt on and a smaller place that is pretty and has the creek and the rocks and ponderosa pines and all that fun stuff.

Another big part of the thought process is resident vs. non-resident tag allocations and structure. New Mexico has the glut of landowner tags that currently go with the property whether you are a resident or not. Colorado has that for deer, but not really for elk. Wyoming has non transferable landowner tags. Right now Montana doesn't have any landowner preference at all. Utah gives out deer tags pretty easy but actually you really need to own a ton of property to get an elk tag. Wyoming probably has the best resident hunting in the lower 48 so between that and no state income tax, that is a big part of why I've looked pretty hard at Wyoming for property. Retiring to a smaller place in Wyoming and owning land in another state for hunting could be the best of both worlds with the great resident public land opportunities in Wyoming and being able to hunt the property that I own in another state.

So... after looking for a few years and prices continuing up I'm thinking about "settling" for something that isn't exactly what I'm looking for but does check several of the boxes. I'm thinking that I'm not marrying the place, I would just be buying it and I can always sell it if the ideal property comes up sometime down the road.

One nice feature about it is that it is closer to where I live now than most of the places I've been looking at and I am 9 years away from my current planned retirement date so being a 6 hour drive away instead of a 10 or 12 hour drive away really will add up over those next 9 years.

So... I'm actually going to put a link up of the place I am looking at buying.

Whiskey Ridge Ranch

Whiskey Ridge Ranch encompasses 580.28 +/- contiguous acres with various terrain that provides water, cover, and feed for a slew of animals that frequent the area. With endless breathtaking views, esp

www.landsofamerica.com

580 acres just outside of Trinidad Colorado. Decent number of elk on it and something that I wasn't looking for but this property has plenty of bear on it as well. I don't think it has much in the way of deer on it but it gets a landowner deer tag and there are probably some deer on it, but I am more interested in elk anyway. I see this as a place where I could hunt elk every year and not have to wait on the draws and also a place where I could take people that haven't ever shot an elk and give them a chance. I wouldn't expect there to be very high quality bulls, but they just uploaded some new trail camera pictures and got a picture of a pretty good bull to boot. Elk tags are OTC for this unit for 2nd and 3rd seasons. This area is nearly all private property so there seems to be limited hunting pressure although that could change based on the neighboring property owners.

Negatives are no electricity and no well. I think with the generator and some solar you could get around the electricity issue and as a recreational place, having someone haul water for the small amount that would get used wouldn't be too terrible. The realtor said that there was a service that charged like $75 for 1,000 gallons to fill the water tank or something like that.

I have the money to buy it outright if I sold some stock or have asked about an installment sale option where I could spread it out over 2 or 3 years. I may also look into financing it so I don't have to pay tax on my unrealized gains on my stock.

So that's it. I'm open to any and all comments, questions, suggestions, etc...

Thanks, Nathan

Hello, I am new here on the forum. One thought could be trading land owner tags with other landowners from other states? I receive land owner elk tags from my small parcel of land in New Mexico every 3-4 years. I renew my application for unit wide which includes the Pecos Wilderness. I am searching for Land owners who are open to trading. I have had several fantastic elk hunts in the Pecos Wilderness over the years but am looking for new opportunities in other western states. So, but your ranch property and trade land owner tags with me and you would not have to own land in each state.

 

[npaden]

I did get a chance to hunt 2nd season on the property this year but we weren't able to make anything happen. The elk seem to be passing through more than living on the property right now anyway. Did get a trail camera picture of a really good bull and saw him the last day we were there on the neighbors property but that was the only elk we saw. We are for sure looking at options to make the property more attractive during the season. This year it seemed that the oak brush acorn crop was pretty poor so that might make a difference in years that it is better.

Interesting thought on trading out tags. I think it is going to take a few more years for me to figure out the best way to hunt this property.

 

[Jack Ryan]

So how is this working out for you by now? I bet with the inflation, housing and land prices you are proud as a peacock on this deal?

 

[npaden]

Still think it was a good decision. I could have locked in a 5 year term at 6.4% interest but instead chose a 4.5% variable rate and that has been painful. It is up to 8.83% now and I'm doing most everything I can to pay it off early. Although I could have paid it off completely already but I sent a couple letters out to adjoining landowners asking if they were interested in selling and one actually said yes so I have another 160 acres adjoining. It has a small legit spring that probably produces a gallon or two per minute and a pond that has water in it on every satellite picture I've seen so I think it was a good pick up. That gets me up to 860 acres plus opened up another 40 acres of BLM for a total of 160 acres of BLM that I can access now.

Not sure land prices have moved much but I haven't been looking super hard since my wallet is beyond empty right now. Still haven't shot anything on it. Hoping to change that in a couple weeks but it is for sure not a slam dunk punch your tag in advance kind of thing. Part of it has been lack of time to get there and spend time. I think I could fill a bear tag if I spent some time in September there.