Buying 'woods' from a farmer?

[Ohio Chris]

Sorry, I didn't know what else to call my question. I'm just a dumb city guy looking for some advice. If you would, please take a look at this aerial view from Google:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=maps&ll=40.600399,-84.707422&spn=0.058652,0.132093&oe=utf-8&t=h&z=14

As you can see, it's miles and miles of farm land, but with parcels of woods scattered here and there. What is the purpose of those parcels? For years I thought maybe they served as windbreaks, but when I did an image search just now for 'windbreak' all the results showed long lines of trees that look like tall hedges, whereas the parcels in the aerial picture are just square/rectangular chunks of woods. Then I thought maybe they were the lowest spots on the particular plots of land they belonged to and weren't suitable for farming? I have no idea. Like I said, I'm just a city guy.

The question I really want an answer to is - what is the likelihood that a farmer would be willing to sell me the 'woods portion' of his farm land? That's where I want to live, in the woods.... but if I can get one of these 'farm woods' parcels I can still be pretty close to work and avoid a crazy long daily commute.

Am I crazy for thinking this is even possible? I have other potential questions but I want to see what you have to say first. Thanks.

 

[dave1949]

It may be possible, but I think less than 50% chance.

It would really help if the woods has road frontage and you don't need a ROW across a field to reach it. That would un-complicate things for the current owner.

There is really no way of knowing about the land without walking it. It may be poorly drained, it may be an area of rock outcrop or very shallow soil on top of bedrock. It can be an old pasture that grew up and the land is plenty good enough for a home site.

It is expensive to bring wooded land into crop production. That may be why some of those pieces of wooded land are still around. The owner may look at it as a potential resource for firewood or sawlogs that they just feel more comfortable hanging on to. They may also value it as a wildlife conservation area.

I'm from the Bowling Green area of NW Ohio, so I am familiar with the 10-20 acre woods scattered here and there. I have seen some get built in, often by family, but most just stay woods forever it seems.

My advice would be to scout out some possible buildable locations, find out who owns them and just ask if it would be possible to purchase. Last I knew, wooded lots suitable for building brought a premium price.

 

[oosik]

I've had an opportunity to fly over this agricultural land around here(called the Palouse) and there are small patches that are still "natural". When asked why - the answer almost 100% of the time is - not suitable for farming. Reasons - poor soils, too steep to farm, no reasonable means to irrigate the acreage, its a gully and erodes with each heavy rain & too expensive to convert & maintain as profitable farm land. Believe me, with the excessively high price of farm land - these little patches of "heaven" are few and far between & are becoming fewer every year. VERY few of these patches are adjoining any current roads - if a road can be built; it more than likely can also be farmed.

I have a feeling you are in for a lot of searching before you find a "patch" that will be sold to you. Ask why its not been developed - be very cautious - the soils may be very poor and ground water may be nowhere around - it could be an area of very high winds. There is a reason these patches are not developed - and its not because the farmer likes trees.

By-the-way - - welcome to TBN. Sorry the answers to your dreams may be somewhat negative - -

 

[wolftree]

Chris,

It is possible to find your dream acreage, but, you have to out run, out guess every lawyer and realtor in the area. You need to let everyone you know what you are searching for and be diligent in your search.

As others have stated, if it is a woods, it is a woods for a reason. It may prove easier to plant your trees on a patch of land.

 

[Ohio Chris]

Thanks for the replies. I just Googled Palouse... interesting. Rolling hills, almost like grassy sand dunes. That's definitely not what we have around here. It's as flat as a pool table in NW Ohio. If you zoom in on any of the woodsy areas from the link I posted it looks like they're parts of established crop acreage but just never got cleared. Of course, all you can see is an overhead view so you can't tell if any of the areas are rocky or otherwise undesirable for farming.

 

[Ohio Chris]

I'm going to try to get some pics of one of the pieces of land I'm interested in and let you speculate on it instead of just 'generally' speculating. I should have done that in the first place instead of just posting a link to a random aerial shot of properties.

 

[murphy1244]

Make sure those are not ash tree's either cause they are doomed.

 

[Ohio Chris]

Make sure those are not ash tree's either cause they are doomed.

Good point. The street I live on now was lined with ashes when I moved in in the late Fall. I thought they had already dropped their leaves, but it wasn't until the next Spring that I realized they were all dead. The city cut them all down that Summer.

 

[Sigarms]

Chances of working with a farmer for a parcel of land with woods? I'd go lower than the % that Dave mentioned.

When my wife and I married, we made a list of what was most important to us in both home and land (top 10 list if you will). We assigned each feature we were looking for a number value and we searched, searched and searched.

First thing we did was know what we qualified for per a loan, and what we were comfortable with spending.

We looked for about 6 months and our "Dream land" came up for sale with a house on the market on a Sunday, and we called Monday to set the appointment, saw the house later that week, were the first ones to see it, and as luck would have it, got the house when others were interested in it.

Search, search and search. Don't give up.

That said, if you have any hankering for tractor down the road, price them now. I fell over dead 10 years ago when I looked LOL

 

[dave1949]

Another thing to consider is to avoid areas that are known to have poor well water. I expect you wouldn't have trouble with water volume, but some is much better than others. Sulfur water is one of the worst and it tends to be found consistently in the same general areas.

You can "read" the land a bit by its vegetation. If you don't see large trees and no cut stumps for example, chances are the rock is not very far down. Some grasses and sedges only grow in wet, poorly drained areas. Cattails mean it is a swamp or nearly so. Tree species are good indicators of soil type and moisture levels. I've been gone from Ohio too long to help you with details.

Land that is not good for agriculture is not necessarily unsuitable for a house site. I wouldn't reject a rocky site out of hand for example if there is enough soil for a septic system somewhere usable on the lot. That land may be a pain to farm around the rock but work okay for a house site. Land that is boggy and not decently drained is something to avoid in most cases.