A gift for a neighbor??

[thatguy]

Last year our neighbor asked if he could use our fields for hay (about 4 or 5 acres right now). Until then I was just rough cutting them a few times a year, so I agreed. He also said he would help clean out an old fence row and put fertilizer on the land.. I also helped him get in touch with neighbors about haying their vacant lots (about about another 7 acres or so)..

This year he has been doing some work leveling out part of fields to a) add about 1 acre to hay and b) make cutting hay easier by not having to swerve around rough parts of the land.. he also helped me burn a brush pile that I started years ago - but that was also done so he didnt have to cut around it when haying..

Everything he has done will benefit his haying but he has been laying out money for seed, diesel fuel (grooming the land), fertilizer, lime, etc.. BUT i am benefitting with him smoothing out the land (it would have cost me $1000 to $1500 to get someone with a large dozer or excavator out to do what he did..

My question is... Should I offer to pay him for some of his work? Take he and his wife to dinner? Give him a gift card?? he hasnt asked for anything and all of this work he offered to do..

Thoughts?? Im thinking at least take them to dinner..

Brian

 

[Bilko]

I would take them to dinner and maybe a gift card to use towards fuel! It's hard to find good neighbors now days. Even though you both are benefiting from this it doesn't hurt to go the extra mile.

 

[Ron JD670]

I would take them to dinner and maybe a gift card to use towards fuel! It's hard to find good neighbors now days. Even though you both are benefiting from this it doesn't hurt to go the extra mile.

Can't go wrong with a gift card for fuel, seed, or???
If he is sociable andif some of the other neighbors feel the same way it might be a good reason for a block party/neighborhood pot luck when spring gets here and thank him.

 

[Depmandog]

I think I would try to generate a paper trail showing money changing hands on a yearly basis. You never know what the future holds.

For instance - "what if" twenty years down the road your nice neighbor continues to use your land, make improvements. Derive income (hay) from the land all without nothing in writing, no money changing hands. Then something happens to him and then his wife or kids come back and lay claim to your acreage.

Will it happen - no - not likely, but stuff like this does happen on occasion.

If it were me, I would write him out a check for a couple hundred, note on the check it was for tractor work on your farm.

Maybe the next year, you bring up the subject - my CPA says I have to show some income/expense on our little farm to save some tax.. You pay me x for each bale of hay, and I write you a check for fuel. I am sure you can figure something out.

Having a paper trail would be all the proof you would need if something happened where they claimed your land as his.

We have something similar going on now. My wife is an only child. FIL owns 160 acres. MIL recently passed. Everything is in a trust, with my wife as trustee. 10 years ago, FIL let a neighbor move his mobile home onto the property. (the state layed claim to their farmette as part of a road project). I drafted up an agreement we had him sign.

The man isn't the sharpest tack in the box, but is a great "farm hand" for FIL. FIL isn't in the greatest health - so one day the inevitable will happen - and then it will be only the unpaid farm hand living on the farm.

Our biggest concern is he will get married and the new woman might get some ideas in her head.

We have an appointment with the lawyer to draw up a more iron clad agreement to prevent this from happening. We are both positive HE would never lay claim, but if he got married....Who knows.

 

[rsewill]

Seems like you are trading hay acres for some light excavating that benefits him, too. Why would you want to pay him anything?

 

[kco]

We had trouble with what I thought was a failing septic field a few years ago when it was occasionally coming to the surface. A neighbour recommended a contractor who drove 15 miles to look at it. He determined that I just had to re-level the distribution box (since the flow was coming from just one of the four field lines).

At the time I had no clue about septic field design. Following the barely discernible indentations of the inlet and outlet lines, he showed me exactly where to dig to access the box.

He would not accept payment. So we got his address and sent him a thank you card with a gift certificate from Mark's Work Warehouse.

It so nice that people are willing to help like that.

 

[dmccarty]

I would get him something. The first thing that came to mind was fuel for his equipment since he is burning quite a bit of it to fix your land. Logistically that might be a bit hard to do so that leaves a gift card to use as he wishes.

Later,
Dan

 

[Fixemall]

Thoughtful gifts are the best, find out if he services his own machine and what brand of filter and oil he uses and purchase accordingly.

 

[MoKelly]

I don't think you really owe him anything --- he asked you to use the land for hay and he is making it easier fior him to get the hay.

But, that said, a dinner is a great idea.

The issue I see down the road is when and if you ever want himn to stop using the land. Then what happens and how do you keep feelings from getting hurt?

MoKelly

 

[dodge man]

I got to be honest, if anything he owes you money. Hay doesn't have a lot of value, but some. I'm not saying you should ask for money, I'd be just like you and let him get the hay off of it for nothing so I didn't have to mow it. Like you say, everything he is doing is more for his benifit than yours. Sounds like a win-win for the both of you, just the way it is.

 

[MasseyWV]

The question you need to ask yourself is... Would your neighbor have done all that work if it wasn't benefiting him? Sure, his work is also benefiting you, but that is probably coincidental.

Lastly, I would protect myself by drawing up an annual lease agreement and charging a small fee. The fee doesn't have to be much, even a dollar would probably suffice, but it would be enough to show that he is leasing the land from you.

 

[deere755]

I agree that I think you owe him nothing. While he is helping you out he is helping himself out too. He is getting all the money from the hay. I have a lease on a small piece of land that I farm where I pay nothing but I do some mowing and plant deer plots for the guy and I leave a few rows of what ever I am planting standing for the wildlife. We have a lease in place but no money changes hands. If you would like to take him out to dinner that is fine but I wouldn't feel obligated to. I have taken my Landlord out to eat that I am talking about but I also do that for some of the others too. If nothing else send him a Christmas card with a gift certificate for a nice resturant.

 

[JeremyL]

He is a neighbor. Can't he also be a friend? If you are thinking of going out to dinner with him, he must be a likable fellow. Might be a good time to take the relationship up a notch from mutual work relationship to friendship.

All the previous responses have focused on the tit-for-tat; why not add some fun, too?

Let us know what you do.

 

[ljohnson778]

He is a neighbor. Can't he also be a friend? If you are thinking of going out to dinner with him, he must be a likable fellow. Might be a good time to take the relationship up a notch from mutual work relationship to friendship.

All the previous responses have focused on the tit-for-tat; why not add some fun, too?

Let us know what you do.

Nice post, I agree completely. The reason this country is going to he!! In a hand basket is because we're so worried about "what can I get for me" or "what can someone take from me"... Let's get back to being neighbors and friends, it worked once upon a time.

 

[blueriver]

Leave things as they are ... both parties are benifiting.

 

[MasseyWV]

He is a neighbor. Can't he also be a friend? If you are thinking of going out to dinner with him, he must be a likable fellow. Might be a good time to take the relationship up a notch from mutual work relationship to friendship.

All the previous responses have focused on the tit-for-tat; why not add some fun, too?

Normally, I would tend to agree. However, neighbors can be unpredictable so it pays to be friendly, but with a measure of caution. People who seem very nice can also have a dark side that is usually hidden behind a veil of "nice".

 

[thatguy]

thanks for all the responses.. I really thought of it as a fair trade off with him, BUT I just wanted to see what others thought.. I have told him that I appreciate what he is doing..

Remember those "Ill never plow the snow off the neighbors driveway again" threads - where ppl thought it was a good idea to give the snow plow man a little sign of appreciation.. I didnt want to be 'thatguy' that didnt show his appreciation for the kindness of neighbors.

thanks

brian

 

[ultrarunner]

In the old days it was simple

A bottle or more of his favorite adult beverage would have been well received...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I let my neighbor make hay on me. I'd rather he use it for hay than it go to waste. I buy some of my beef from him, so I know where some of the feed comes from.

 

[DKCDKC]

I would look on the exchange as a fair trade, but take him out to dinner as a gesture.

As has been mentioned, in Virginia you need to clarify an agreement relative to use of land. If you allow someone to use your land for an extended period - a lawyer would have to tell you how long, but I seem to recall 7 years - without other agreement, that person gains certain rights to the land. To avoid any misunderstanding, I suggest you have him pay you $1 a year rent for the land - renting land for hay is pretty low cost in Virginia anyway - and have a letter he signs that says so. That should more than protect your rights.