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looking for wisdom

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young gun

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
245
Location
northwestern ontario
I am looking for some advice, there is a ranch that backgrounds yearlings
about four miles from my house up for sale and I have been looking to by a place for some time now. there is aprox. 1200 acres with two houses hay shed and barns and two large harvestor silos, used to be a dairy farm.
they fellow who owns it is willing sell it for contract for deed. my problem is that i would't have enough capital to buy the calves to run on the place. talked to him and he would be willing to buy the calves and have me custom graze and feed them on the property. would have to quit job in town to take care of the 500+ calves :shock: . not sure if this is a good deal or not ? so many varialbles to consider since most people on this forum have their head on straight thought i would throw it out there, since the yearlings would be gone in october there is also the oportunity for some guided white tail hunting in beautiful northwestern ontario, also room to board horses up to twenty head. The reason he wants to sell is he is getting in the upper seventies and it is only him and his wife his children want nothing to do with farming
 
Oh my~this would work well if you win the lottery-otherwize will be lots of work.........Wish I was young enough to take it on.........Good Luck to you..
 
young gun said:
I am looking for some advice, there is a ranch that backgrounds yearlings
about four miles from my house up for sale and I have been looking to by a place for some time now. there is aprox. 1200 acres with two houses hay shed and barns and two large harvestor silos, used to be a dairy farm.
they fellow who owns it is willing sell it for contract for deed. my problem is that i would't have enough capital to buy the calves to run on the place. talked to him and he would be willing to buy the calves and have me custom graze and feed them on the property. would have to quit job in town to take care of the 500+ calves :shock: . not sure if this is a good deal or not ? so many varialbles to consider since most people on this forum have their head on straight thought i would throw it out there, since the yearlings would be gone in october there is also the oportunity for some guided white tail hunting in beautiful northwestern ontario, also room to board horses up to twenty head. The reason he wants to sell is he is getting in the upper seventies and it is only him and his wife his children want nothing to do with farming
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I realize it's a way to do what you like for a living but you're putting your whole future in another mans hands. If he's supplying the money and you've paid 5 years worth of payments and he decides he likes the farm better than he thought and wanted it back, cut off your calf supply, you'd not be in a good position. Try another way to buy the farm.
 
The children may not want the land but often in the end greed steps in.I'd be very careful,sad isn't it when one always has to to be suspect. :( There was a time a handshake was the bonding contract.

Talk to a lawyer and a financial adviser before taking any steps toward this purchase...JMHO.
 
I'd go for it-there are alot of ways to find capital or cattle to graze your land if he decides to back out of the deal. I'd imagine you can register a caveat to protect your interests. Get some advice from an 'independant' lawyer and see where you stand. Sounds like you've got more than one income stream lined up there.
 
There are no guarantees of anything in this world. There are daily risks & rewards no matter what we do. I believe there is an old saying about a turtle not being able to take a single step without poking his head out of his shell!
Sounds like this man is bending over backwards trying to help you get started. As long as you have a contract, that land is only going to be worth a lot more in the future. Looking back, most of my regrets don't come from mistakes, but from not trying in the first place.

(By the way for those who are worried about the man or his kids backing out, that contract for deed is binding. It is used often here even though those buying the land could pay cash. The seller wants to use it to defer income tax and not have to pay a lump sum. He also collects the interest.
Just make sure it is written so you are not breaking the terms of the contract whenever you decide to do something. It is usually written so that you have to consult the owner before making any improvements etc. Also talk to him about what happens if you want to pay the place off early etc.) Good luck in what ever you decide.
 
young gun said:
I am looking for some advice, there is a ranch that backgrounds yearlings
about four miles from my house up for sale and I have been looking to by a place for some time now. there is aprox. 1200 acres with two houses hay shed and barns and two large harvestor silos, used to be a dairy farm.
they fellow who owns it is willing sell it for contract for deed. my problem is that i would't have enough capital to buy the calves to run on the place. talked to him and he would be willing to buy the calves and have me custom graze and feed them on the property. would have to quit job in town to take care of the 500+ calves :shock: . not sure if this is a good deal or not ? so many varialbles to consider since most people on this forum have their head on straight thought i would throw it out there, since the yearlings would be gone in october there is also the oportunity for some guided white tail hunting in beautiful northwestern ontario, also room to board horses up to twenty head. The reason he wants to sell is he is getting in the upper seventies and it is only him and his wife his children want nothing to do with farming
Click to expand...

young gun, you say you are looking for advice, but will you take it, more than likely not. None of us see very clearly through starry eyes! Today, huge debt can ruin you for the rest of your life. With the unstable economy we have today, I believe waiting for a few years would be to your advantage.

Best Regards
Ben Roberts
 
Only you can determine if you can make enough off the business end of it. ALWAYS plan for a worst case scenario. If you do better fine, if you do hit hard times, if you planned and budgeted for it, you can survive until times gets better.

I write and review contracts for deed all the time. They are just as binding as any other purchase agreement or financing document/mortgage.....that means you cannot back out, and he cannot back out. By all means, file the contract at the courthouse. That will give you a "first" position on the property and provides public notice of your interest in the property. Agree in advance (remember, it is real estate....it must be in writing and witnessed for it to be binding) on how you can do a refi or prepayment of principal, or do HELOC's for improvements, etc.

Have a real estate attorney review it. If the Contract calls for a escrow agent, make sure all the appropriate documents are on file with the escrow company. Chances are, they will need an executed warranty deed from him as well as a quitclaim deed from you.

I am sorry.....I tend to talk realtor too much and I forget that others are not as involved in it as I am.....HELOC=Home Equity Line Of Credit.......
 
Since land is the largest purchase most of us will make in our lifetime Goodpasture, I don't believe you can share too much information about it. Thanks

It seems many are forgetting this owner is turning over his cattle & his land to a young man. He certainly is taking his share of the risk also! Young Gun must have made quite an impression on him. If this man has that much faith in him, he must be able to handle it. How often does an chance like this come along? I passed up a deal similar to this up as a young man & I have regretted it ever since.
 
fedup2 said:
It seems many are forgetting this owner is turning over his cattle & his land to a young man. He certainly is taking his share of the risk also! Young Gun must have made quite an impression on him. If this man has that much faith in him, he must be able to handle it.
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Your VERY right about that,he most certainly must think alot of him and have the faith he can do it.....just make sure all the ducks are in order,we've seen bad things happen when its not all done legally.Guess one gets headshy after a while.

Good Luck young gun
 
We started with nothing...and we've always thought, and experience has borne this out to be true, "If you've got the land, you can always get the cattle."

We weren't able to do that, we got the cattle and then the land, but
looking back, having the land would have made things much easier.
And we survived anyway.

I say "go for it." I doubt if you are afraid of hard work, or you wouldn't be thinking of doing this in the first place.

Be sure to take the necessary precautions as others have already recommended.

There are no guarantees in life. None. If this is what you want to do,
I don't think you'll find a better opportunity. And land keeps going up...

GOOD LUCK!! And keep us posted.
 
thanks for the advice kola cya???........oh! :o thanks my wife and i have been brainstorming we still have all winter to hammer out the details. he is not interested in keeping feeders forever but like northern rancher said we will have other options available to us. he also said we don't have to buy the whole 1200 acres right away. that way we can keep the purchase price down. not sure i want to do it that way. don't want to break up the home farm. with the plans we have been working on it will take everything to make it work
 
Ben Roberts said:
young gun said:
I am looking for some advice, there is a ranch that backgrounds yearlings
about four miles from my house up for sale and I have been looking to by a place for some time now. there is aprox. 1200 acres with two houses hay shed and barns and two large harvestor silos, used to be a dairy farm.
they fellow who owns it is willing sell it for contract for deed. my problem is that i would't have enough capital to buy the calves to run on the place. talked to him and he would be willing to buy the calves and have me custom graze and feed them on the property. would have to quit job in town to take care of the 500+ calves :shock: . not sure if this is a good deal or not ? so many varialbles to consider since most people on this forum have their head on straight thought i would throw it out there, since the yearlings would be gone in october there is also the oportunity for some guided white tail hunting in beautiful northwestern ontario, also room to board horses up to twenty head. The reason he wants to sell is he is getting in the upper seventies and it is only him and his wife his children want nothing to do with farming
Click to expand...

young gun, you say you are looking for advice, but will you take it, more than likely not. None of us see very clearly through starry eyes! Today, huge debt can ruin you for the rest of your life. With the unstable economy we have today, I believe waiting for a few years would be to your advantage.

Best Regards
Ben Roberts
Click to expand...

I would disagree wait for what until your 40 or 50 or 60 after awhile what's the point.If it pencils out that you can make a living pay ALL the bills and add a few head of livestock each year I'd go for it.I am a gambler If I lose my a$$ so what scrape up whats left and start over.

Read some history on alot of successful people many have went broke but never quit and in the end they made it.We add about 30 to 50 cows each year now and as the herd gets bigger I just work a little harder.I don't have a hired man and the kids are either in college at work or to young to be much help at present..My wife put's in 50 to 60 hours a week at her jobs so she does'nt have alot of free time either.But I keep expanding even when I'm told not to.

I waited to buy land what would have cost $500 an acre now is $1200 to $2000 see what sitting on the fence get's a guy.Maybe it will go down in value or maybe someone else will buy it and you won't get a chance at it again....I'd go for it.
 
CASH FLOW, CASH FLOW, CASH FLOW!!! Pencil out every foreseeable scenario so that you are comfortable with your ability to make the payments. Remember, the only place plans work ideally is on paper.

And since this is a major transaction, heed the previous advice to seek legal guidance and CYA. You may know and trust the seller very well, but down the road it will likely serve your interests well to have everything covered in writing to avoid potential disputes.
 
I can probably get you together with someone to graze yearlings on your grass later on if you like. Heck I started with nothing much and still have most of it left lol.
 

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