Buying Hunting Land — Part 2 of 3

A Beginners Guide

There just isn’t anything quite like having your own piece of land. However, many buyers struggle with the process of finding that perfect piece of property to call their own. This 3 Part series is dedicated to providing an overview of the process so you can be better prepared when the time comes.

In Part I of the series, which you can read here, we covered the upfront research that will help set the parameters for your search. If you’ve completed this step you now should be familiar with the general processes that will take place throughout the transaction and have some contacts who you might utilize (Surveyors, Realtors, Attorney, Appraisers, Lenders, etc.). You should also be prepared with a loan approval letter (assuming you need financing) that states your maximum loan amount and Top 5 features you are looking for in the property. Once you’ve completed this, you’re ready move forward with further developing your search criteria.

Location

In Part 1 of this series we discussed writing out your goals and features desired on the property. That is a great exercise to really dig deep on how you intend to utilize the land and it also aligns all the decision makers on some common goals. One of the Top 5 features should be location, and probably it will be based on how frequently the property will be visited or if you intend to build a permanent residence there. Here, we’ll go into more detail to fine tune the location of your ideal property.

Obviously if you want to reside on the property, utility availability, distance from an occupation, school rankings (if you have school age children), and many other factors come into play. However, if this will purely be a recreational property, then distance from your current residence might be the biggest initial dictator of location.

If you will only be spending a couple weekends a month on a property, an hour away or more isn’t unreasonable, especially if you can find a property in your budget with a small cabin or place to park a camper (or nearby hotels, or camp sites). Though, if you want to make day trips to the property for an occasional hunt after work, then I suggest no more than 30–45 minutes from your residence or work place.

Once you decide on a comfortable driving distance, you’ll want to narrow the radius to a particular area or direction. If you’re looking for purely the best hunting property available, a good place to start is an online search of the Boone and Crockett Record Book entries. These entries won’t give you the full picture, but it might help you narrow your search to a couple counties. Don’t forget about local conservation offices too. The DNR in your state constantly collect information on the deer heard they manage and can probably point you to counties with higher populations, or maybe where some of the larger deer in the state typically come from. Contact local non-profit conservation board members like Whitetails Unlimited, NWTF, and PF to find out where they would buy land if they had the opportunity. Taxidermists are another good resource you might consider. After narrowing the property search to a few counties or general direction of travel, you can begin fine tuning your location.

Other considerations might be the road systems. If being able to visit the property during the winter or rainy seasons, paved roads become more important. As you move further away from the cities and towns, road maintenance will decrease. In Southern Iowa for example, many roads are classified as Service Level B, which are typically dirt and all but impassible during wet conditions. Agriculture might also be a consideration. Obtaining some cash rent in exchange for farming rights is a great way to generate some additional yearly income. This allows you to afford more acres and puts food on your property for the wildlife. Make sure you are in an area with other farming operations if this is a goal for you. Location of water either for wildlife use or recreation is also important. Think through all the possible scenarios of how you might want to use the property, and use them to help you filter down to a manageable search area. Usually a couple counties is sufficient. If you’re not familiar with those areas, I recommend spending a few weekends driving around. Get familiar with what the nearby towns have to offer (convenience stores, hospitals), how the roads are maintained, which areas are rich in habitat that support your goals, etc. You might find a few localized pockets across a few counties that fit your needs.

After you have decided on an narrowed area, I highly recommend calling a Real Estate professional who specializes in land transactions. Admittedly, I’m biased here, but in most situations the proceeds going to the seller is what pays your agent’s Real Estate fees. So, there really isn’t a reason to go this alone, especially on your first transaction. In addition to providing input on location recommendations, a land sales professional can steer you through the process, point out red flags along the way, and make potentially one of your largest purchases in life go smoothly while reducing financial risk.

Property Search

Armed with a general location, available financing resources, and your list of Top 5 property features, you’re ready to start looking at properties that fit your needs. If you’re working with an agent be sure to communicate these details very clearly. However, don’t hesitate to begin searching online yourself. Ask your agent for recommendations on sites you can begin using to aid in your search. Often, there are one or two sites that every agent in the area posts their property listings to. LandWatch and Land and Farm are a couple in Iowa that most properties for sale can be found. Typically these are an aggregate and might not have the full details, so you’ll want to trace the listings back to the listing office’s site too see additional images and details.

Don’t be alarmed if your ideal property doesn’t come up right away. The availability of high quality rural land within driving distance of larger towns are very few. So,you might have to settle for 4 out of 5 on your list. Just be sure to work closely to communicate with your agent if your willing to be flexible on one or more of your criteria.

If the initial results list is short, my recommendations are to cast a slightly wider net. With fewer options available, it makes since to search just a little further than you would like and a little higher on your budget. Just keep a couple things in mind here:

1. If the property is exactly what you want,but another 5–10 minutes further than ideal, is it worth the drive? Only you can decide.
2. Asking prices are typically a little higher than what an individual might actually accept for the property. Too, look at income potential from timber harvests, annual cash rent, etc as a method to increase your purchasing power.

Outside of an online search, you can also find postings in the free weekly publications and even bulletin boards at gas stations. Ask friends, family, neighbors, lenders, and surveyors if they know of anyone who might be looking to sell their property in the near future. All of these are good sources to locate some leads. One thing to keep in mind throughout this process is that not everyone is as honest as you would hope. The possibility of a scam should be in the back of your mind when vetting a particular contact, especially online.

Once you have located a good number of results, work with your agent to reduce the list of potential properties based on your criteria, your goals and their knowledge of the area so that you have a manageable number to view.

Visiting the Property

With a list of candidate properties in hand, you’re ready to begin visiting them. This is typically the most enjoyable part of the process for most of my clients, but it can be highly emotional. It can also be confusing and hard to keep all the properties straight after looking at several of them within a short period of time. Here are some recommendations to help with these concerns:

1. It might be worth a drive by the property before scheduling an appointment to see it in person. There might be outside influences around the property that would eliminate it from the list. Examples of this might include massive overhead power lines, gas lines where you wanted to build, near by hog confinement buildings, poor roads, or influences around the property that would diminish the value of a future home you might build.
2. Carry a camera with you, and document each property so you can look back at them later to remember highlights and turn offs of each.
3. Create a detailed checklist to remove some of the emotional components from the purchase. Are you planning to build a home or cabin? List all the necessary aspects that you can evaluate immediately (nearby rural water, power, driveway access, level building location, etc.). If you’re looking at it from a pure recreational tract, what can you tell about the neighboring properties? Are there any signs (QDMA, Fresh Clean No-Tresspassing) that might suggest the property is well controlled and managed for hunting?Can you go into more detail on any of your Top 5 features, like documenting potential locations for food plots on a map (if that’s on the list). Other details might include if it has good access from multiple directions, quality of fences, areas to be set aside as sanctuaries, section to list what improvements are necessary to use as you expect, established treestand locations, water and food on or near the property for wildlife, potential income from timber harvests or cash rent, etc. Customize this checklist and document each property, making notes along the way. It will help you later when you’re trying to decide which property is the right fit.
4. Request any records or property disclosures that will help provide a better picture of the property’s history. A farm plan and abbreviated 156 will show the prescribed use of the tillable acres if any. Find out if the farm is leased for the current or following year, and whether that includes hunting rights.
5. The last piece of advice is an exercise in helping you categorize the properties. After you visit the second property, pick which one you would buy from the two if you had to decide right then and there. Keep all the information available from the first, but put it aside as a lower option in the ranking. After you visit a third property, do the same exercise of comparing the third property to the previously selected property. Most likely you’re only going to buy one property, so this helps you decide which one is at the top of the list, after each new property is visited. At the end viewing all the properties on your list, you should know the clear winner, and be ready to write an offer.

Its likely you will loop back through the process a few times until you locate the exact property you want to buy. Though if you’re still struggling to locate options, keep in mind you don’t always have to take a listing at its initial positioning. What I mean is, you will likely come across a property that fits the goals and criteria you have but is outside of your price range. Consider asking the seller if they would be willing to sell of a smaller portion of the tract. This presents new challenges to the seller, but I’ve seen that done on many occasions. Also, don’t rule out that the property is just over priced. If it has been on the market for a long time, that is a good indicator. Ask your agent to evaluate the price to see if a lower offer might be reasonable. These two considerations might bring some new options for you to consider.

Moving Forward

Assuming you’ve successfully followed the process this far, you’ve now located the property of your dreams and you’re ready to make an offer. However, there is more to it than just price. In the final installment of this series, we’ll discuss structuring the deal, what goes into writing an offer, and expectations after its accepted. Read Part 3 here.

Chuck Johnson is a Certified Land Specialist with Mossy Oak Properties, Licensed to sell Real Estate in Iowa.

For questions contact Chuck at: CJohnson@MossyOakProperties.com

If you have a request for an article on any subject relating to Whitetail Land Acquisition, Management, or Hunting, please submit it to:WhitetailFactory@gmail.com

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