How much to lease land?

[walhondingMF]

I have a similar question. I've been considering leasing land for hunting. Per week, per year, etc. How would one start making up pricing for something like this?

 

[ponytug]

I have a similar question. I've been considering leasing land for hunting. Per week, per year, etc. How would one start making up pricing for something like this?

I think the only way is to talk to lots of local hunters (and non-locals who come for the hunting) and landowners to find out the going rate, but even then it is going to depend on what you land is like for the target species, and what you do to promote it.

I think that these sorts of leases are examples of very local and idiosyncratic pricing, as it really isn't relevant what "Bob" down the road gets if his property is in any way different.

All the best,

Peter

 

[paulsharvey]

I have a similar question. I've been considering leasing land for hunting. Per week, per year, etc. How would one start making up pricing for something like this?

There is an AirBnB type thing for outdoor sporting properties. Search Vortex Podcast, they did a talk with them. I've mentioned it before on on of these threads (Maybe Eddie Walkers about his property), but i forget the name of the site.

 

[paulsharvey]

Landtrust

 

[walhondingMF]

Great resource. Thank you.

 

[California]

Just read time is running out for apple orchard owners as the large century old processor is pulling up stakes and leaving California…

Reason is the volume of apples produced continues to decline…

Maybe California apple trees will soon be too far from the processors to process…

Yep. I read in the local paper that a major part of the local processing plant's input cost, is transportation from the far larger orchards in Washington State. It would be grossly unprofitable to ship apples in the opposite direction, up to eastern Washington, after the plant moves there.

When I toured the local plant 25 years ago it looked like it was from the era when power came from overhead shafts and belts, pre-electricity, with minimal updates in the modern era. I'm not surprised that they can't scale down to match the lessening local input volume.

I'm studying what I will do after this year. Mowing to reduce fire hazard is mandatory. I think the cost of insurance to run a you-pick operation (people fall out of trees!) would be excessive, and I would be competing against the other orphaned growers. A third of a mile of one-way easement wouldn't be good access for the public.

I don't intend to convert to grapes as all my neighbors have done. We enjoy the park-like atmosphere of a mature orchard. With (inherited, Prop 13) low property tax, we can afford to simply carry on using the place for a summer home same as two generations of ancestors.

Surrounded by vineyards that replaced apples in the past 20 years.

Life is good. We don't need a vineyard to enjoy the place.

 

[ultrarunner]

With the tax changes do you think the kids will keep or sell the place if they inherit?

Our friends that grow grapes in Washington are doing ok…

Some in Napa and Sonoma not so well… it’s almost sounds like too many acres in grapes to keep it lucrative.

 

[Jstpssng]

I think the cost of insurance to run a you-pick operation (people fall out of trees!) would be excessive, and I would be competing against the other orphaned growers

Laws vary by state. However, we have laws here to protect the farmer unless he's doing something stupid like supplying ladders. It might be worth checking out if you aren't already familiar with applicable laws.
And don't depend on your insurance agent to explain laws; they are going to go with the company line of minimal exposure while charging maximum rates.

 

[California]

With the tax changes do you think the kids will keep or sell the place if they inherit?

Our friends that grow grapes in Washington are doing ok…

Some in Napa and Sonoma not so well… it’s almost sounds like too many acres in grapes to keep it lucrative.

So far our inherited low tax assessment holds after inheriting, mid-70's appraisal plus 3% Correction: 1975 appraised value plus 2% per year increase since then. I'm paying a quarter of what more recent neighbors pay.

[Revised paragraph]: But the Prop 13 terms have been amended recently to require the heir to move in to inherit the low rate, and the property must have been the primary home of the deceased. It isn't in our case. I voted against Prop 13, it's grossly inequitable, but it has allowed me to keep the place at minimal cost.

Both daughters love the place. One is making the sort of income to do what I did, accumulate savings to buy out the other sibling. It's not resolved whether other daughter wants joint ownership or cash. They may be forced to sell because of the increased property tax along with the cost to maintain all the crumbling infrastructure - house, guest cabin, barns, access road - potentially overwhelming. I spend hundreds of hours per year on things that would cost them a lot to hire done. Dad advised me to bulldoze and start fresh, a few decades later this will apply doubly to them. I don't mind my continual projects on the buildings, orchard, and maintaining two 40 year old tractors, but having others do this may be overwhelming.

Yes I'm hearing that grape growers here (North Bay, Sonoma County) are in trouble. The contractor who prunes, tills, harvests for me (and a couple more apple orchards) says his vineyard maintenance contracts are nearly unprofitable, he can't afford to hire a working foreman to do much of what he does. Some recent years he hasn't had a market for his entire grape crop from the several parcels.

I'm getting too old for this!

Building code? What's that?

 

[ericm979]

We know someone in Sonoma who had an apple orchard. He's pulling it out and turning his place into a "horse property". Says it will be worth more when he or his heirs eventually sell it, and less work in the mean time.