Rebelyell789

I don't know if I'm in the right forum or not, but I'll ask anyway. I'm a 24 yr. old country boy with a limited income whose thinkin about his hunting future. At some point I would just like to own my own piece of hunting property. Probably like every hunter out there. I see hundreds of ads that say you can retire or start saving on your dream set of acerage with some early planning and saving. So, I'm gonna start plannin early so I can get an earlier start than most people my age.

Anybody got any advice for me on where to start? Anybody know of any loans or federal programs that help aspiring land owners? I've heard of some that will offer a certain amount of money if the land is used for a specific wildlife purpose. I'm realistic and I'm not looking to buy a chunk of land next week or anything like that, but some future advice would be helpful so I know which direction to start in. Preciate cha.

WestonAU

The government has all sorts of programs that will pay you to pretty much do what they want with your property. I personally only have experience with the WRP program http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Programs/WRP/2007_ContractInfo/2007WRPProgramDescription.pdf

But I know there are more. Me and my dad were able to pay off our land after putting 180 acres into the WRP!

Lanse couche couche

Kind of depends on you and where you are at. Land prices are starting to get out of hand all over. However, in some instances if you look around you can find a nice piece of ground for not much more than the price of a tricked out4-wheel drive truck. The big issue is making sure that you have a good credit score and can come up with a 10 to 20 percent down payment. Lots of people cant do that because they spend all their money on various toys. But, if you are willing to save money and make sacrifices, you can make probably it happen a lot sooner than you think.

cgbuckslayer

Once you have some money saved for a down payment on some land and you want to find financing I would check with Farm Credit Services, they typically have lower interest rates. They mostly deal with farmers but you dont have to be a farmer to get financing through them. They deal alot with young people wanting to buy land and they can help you with gov. programs.

petrey10

how much a of cost does the landowner actually pay is my question. You have to pay the down payment and the mortgage but how much of the easement payment do you get and how well does it cover the cost of the mortgage

Lanse couche couche

I just took a quick look at that site. Does that program really help you to buy the land or just help with habitat development on land that has already been bought? I know that you can get tax breaks for devoting land to habitat, but the taxes are pretty low on non-agricultural land anyway.

North Texan

Don't count on farm programs to help you pay for land. Especially right now. The programs available right now will likely change after the election. I'm not saying you won't qualify or won't get anything, but I wouldn't recommend including government assistance in the budget.

As far as federal loans and programs to help you acquire land, most of those are available only to ag producers. And they are only available if you cannot obtain credit from traditional lenders. When I was actively involved in farm programs, you had to be turned down by at least three traditional lenders.

Once you buy land, you may qualify for WHIP, EQIP, or other programs that help you improve your land, but those programs won't do much to help you purchase it. They mainly provide cost-share assistance to help you improve it.

Another thing to keep in mind is compliance with the farm bill provisions. If you take government money, you have to comply with government rules. One that people don't think about is sod-busting, especially thinking they are going to do some food plots. Farm land is classified as either HEL (highly erodible land) or NHEL (non-highly erodible land). Land classified as HEL has limitations on what can be planted, as well as mandatory conservation practices that must be put into place. Failure to comply with those provisions can result in disqualification from the farm bill.