Making Money off Land

[AgTag23]

I am researching ways to make land profitable to reduce yearly expenses (and payment)

1) lease out to hunting (how much could this make?)

2) pine tree plantation (how much could this make? do you have to wait until crop is mature or can you lease the growing rights annually?)

3) cattle lease (how much could this make?)

Lets use an example scenario.

300 acres: 100 acres pastureland (lease to cattle), 50 acres timber (to eventually sell), 150 acres mixed woods/pasture (to lease to hunting). Does a model like this work? Obviously things would look different depending on location, geography of land, county, etc.

[AgTag23]

Wanting to keep expenses low. So have ruled out any kind of crops/farming, etc

[Jcjohnson]

No help here but interesting thread topic.

[RiverRat1]

Short answer is all of those things put together may help you reduce land expenses but not payments.

Cattle lease maybe $2,500 (no idea where your at).
Hunting lease maybe $5k
Timber - no idea but imagine not much if you average year/year (sell timber one year in 10?)

You will NEVER be able to know what the costs of owning the ranch will be until you get into it. Will be a lot more than you think..Unless you can do what no other land owner does and not improve the ranch. It's easy to say lease the land to hunters and let them maintain roads..And let cattle guy keep up with fences etc.. But it just doesn't work that way.

[Landrover]

I am working thru those scenarios now on approximately 1,500 I would like to buy. Timber is definitely a long term plan, not yearly payments. Plant, thin, clear cut.....repeat! I cant imagine a scenario where a timber company would pay yearly for 50 acres or even 1,500 of just timber. Small leases on cattle dont pay either.....seems growing super high quality hay is a better option than leasing for cattle. Hunting is another wildcard. Can you lease to deer hunters or a outfitter if quality deer are there. Can u lease hog hunting rights to an outfitter doing night hunts which is growing in popularity or some serious hog dog guys (little small for that if in wrong locale). Any duck/goose hunting opportunities? Fishing? What are the surface minerals worth.....sand/gravel? Any gas or oil? Sorry if I over loaded you but it is all on my mind currently.

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[Captain39]

You will not make your money back on land. 300 acres at even a low of $3k acre is $900k. You will not make your money back in this lifetime. Also I do OWN land & have bought and sold land. Only land I make money on is inherited lan(cattle lease)d; still not much at all and land I have bought cheap; improved & sold(nice profit this way). I will probably buy more even with all considered.

[Texans42]

You will not make your money back on land. 300 acres at even a low of $3k acre is $900k. You will not make your money back in this lifetime. Also I do OWN land & have bought and sold land. Only land I make money on is inherited lan(cattle lease)d; still not much at all and land I have bought cheap; improved & sold(nice profit this way). I will probably buy more even with all considered.

You can but it won’t be off cattle or timber, and will have to have pretty high grain yields, with great water wells.

[Keith]

Y'all forget, everyone is looking for a deer lease. Lease (10) 30 acre leases for 2 people @ $2500 per hunter per year. At least that seems to be about the going rate for small tracts of land. LOL I see a gold mind! LOL

[scott123456789]

As Mentioned before, leasing for cattle just ensures you can qualify for Ag exemption. The ~$10 an acre per year won’t come close to paying off a note.

Hunting might bring in a bit more but once again you are lucky to cover taxes and insurance.

Hay production seems like a possible money maker I know what we give the feed store per bale but, the initial investment of sprigging coastal then fertilizer, and equipment. If you sub contract the hay work they normally take half of the production.

[centex_aggie]

You would need to provide more info to get closer estimates.

1) What county is it in? How is the deer quality? Distance to major city?

2) No idea

3) Probably not much if you are only leasing $100 acres. Maybe 1k max? This will also depend on pasture quality. Native grass? Improved pasture? What region of Texas?

[Antlers86]

Pecan orchard on the 100 acre pasture!

[TX_Hoghunter]

The only way to make money on land is to sell it. Anything else you do is just to lower the cost of ownership. I am lucky to own land without owing anything on it but even then you don't really make much.

-john

[RiverRat1]

Pecan orchard on the 100 acre pasture!

And in 35 years you "may" be able to start selling pecans! That's after you invest another hundred thousand in machines to harvest.

[labman]

After buying and selling 3 tracts of land from 200-1200, the short answer is not much. Cattle and hunt leasing are fine, but can create much more headache than it's worth. RR1 absolutely nailed it.

If you have mineral rights, you're a winner-sand/caliche, O@G all good. Maybe a pipeline easement.

If CRP or maybe WRP are viable options, look into them. Lots of pros and cons. I'm a part owner of a place in South Dakota we converted all ag land (mostly corn) into CRP. But, we did that to create more wildlife habitat and help offset the cost. We run a few cattle with the adjacent property owner, and it's been a great partnership. But it's the only instance that has turned out well, YMMV.


Buy land for recreation or as an investment, it'll pay off in capital gains and great family memories. Otherwise, I really don't like folks coming on to my property, period.

[Shinesintx]

My land is my 401k. Last year, I looked like an idiot because I bought it in 2012...and the stock market has been killing it. Today, I look like a genius.

I get to play with my land/investment for the next 20 years, until I need it for retirement.