Buying land

I’m looking at buying some land West of Menomonie WI and was wondering if anyone in that area would know what the going rate per acre is for wooded property? I have lots of questions and any answers would be greatly appreciated.
Also if they know any honest private Foresters? Also does anyone know some of the ins and outs of Managed Forest Land and CRP land? When purchasing a peice of property are there any contingencies I should be thinking about adding into the purchase aggreement? I’m pre-approved but still looking for a bank that may have better rates or deals with lot loans that will be converted to a construction loan? Any good excavators out there?
Thanks in advance.

I don’t know the latter part of you questions, but I’ve seen @ 2000-2400p/acre as the average.

Good luck on your search.

Are there are any improvements on the land like electrcity or a well etc.

Is it ALL timber or part timber ? Is it ALL buildable or just part ? Is there access ( say by truck ) to ALL of the land or just part due to a swamp ,creek or river ? Find out if it has been pulped recently. ALL these things will have a bearing on how the property is taxed. I found or I should say my dad found out for me the hard way. After my 40 was properly assessed my taxes dropped almost in half. Turns out some nice but OLD dude was the assessor and was assessing my 40 from a plat book and topo map. He had no clue what was what on my land.

Anyways , I own a 40 ( 8? acres buildable ) between Prentice and Ladysmith and could get $1000 to $1200 maybe more per acre no problem. Same land down here in SC WI and double that easy.

You’ll generaly pay more going through a real estate agent. If you can work out a deal between you and the current owner ( minus a RE agent )more often than not you’ll be money ahead.

There’s info on CRP , Forest Crop programs on the WI DNR site. I looked into that myself a while back. There are different ways to go about it. Like the Forest crop program. One way you can go ( max benefit ) you have to let the general public on your land. THAT was’nt for me. LOL Another way to go is you can keep people off but your tax benefit is reduced. Either way , the DNR sets down guidlines/a timetable on how to manage your land. Timetable as in when it’s time to pulp your land and stuff like that.

I don’t recall exactly how CRP went but I have no tillable land = I did’nt think I qualified ? Anyways ,Right or wrong , in the end I did’nt sign on to any of it. I may reconsider down the road. However, with the way funding is drying up many of these programs may dry up too in the not too distant future.

It’s probably a good thing you’re looking where you are and not in Buffalo County. Woodland acres are going anywhere from $2500 to $4000 an acre, and I’m not talking building lots. This price is for 40’s, 80’s etc. The only problem I have with these prices and the people that are buying these properties is if you can afford to buy at those prices, you should be able to afford the taxes at the same rate. These CRP and Woodland programs are taking the tax burden off the landowner that signs up for them and putting them on his neighbors. The other thing that surprises me is that the people from the bigger cities don’t pay attention to this practice. The also are the recipients of the same tax load transfered from those landowners. If enough people take notice of this practice, maybe something can be done about it.

If someone was offended by my rant, you are probably in one of these programs. I attended an open book at my local town hall this past Monday to complain about the increase in my current property valuations. $113,000 in increases was just a little too much !!!!!!!!!!!! This is not just my problem. The entire township is up an average of 50%. I know “it’s not the valuation, it’s the mill rate.” Well that valuation increased my taxes. In the same light, the Woodland tax program will probably increase $2.00 per acre. Gee, I wonder where they’ll get the rest of the tax money from.

JUST VENTING!!!!!!!!!! I feel a lot better now.

If programs like CRP etc are available and you qualify to enroll I see no problem with doing so. Just because you enroll does’nt neccesarily mean a free ride tax wise either.

And NO , I am not enrolled in any of the CRP , Forest Crop etc programs. I know many who are up where my 40 is located and I don’t hold it against them. It’s a good option for a little tax relief for some GOOD folks who can really use the tax breaks those programs offer. Try telling them you think it’s wrong !

I do understand where your comming from tho. There’s almost always a conflict when wealthy folks apply for these types of programs.
As for open books , I went through the same sort of thing a few years back when my property assessment doubled in one year. It took some digging , question asking and a few visits with the County Assessor but I got my rate dropped to less than it was before it doubled. It can be done.

On the subject of unfair tax burdens. If your pissed about others having to pay an unfair portion of taxes due to programs like CRP etc then you’ll understand that I feel a little miffed myself considering the lions share of my 40s prop tax bill goes to the local school district up there. A , I don’t even have any kids and B, If I did , I live over 4 hours away from that school district. How fair is that ?

I may be missing something here or else Wisconsin is different than Minnesota. I have bought into the family farm and own land which has both CRP and farmland. By law, the farmland that is put into CRP is tillable land which is taken out of production and is taxed the same as the farmland in the area. The income from CRP is also taxed the same as income from farming. The net from CRP land is less than it would be from farming it but I am keeping it in CRP because of erosion factors and the good pheasant and deer hunting it offers. There was also a lot of up front money put into that land for plugging ditches, planting tree strips, controlling weeds, etc. But, bottom line, there are no tax advantages with this program.

CREP on the other hand is nontillable land which the government leases for the long term at a good price. The owner pays reduced taxes over that period of time but cannot sell, rent for hunting, or control who hunts on it (I believe but could be wrong). But this land is usually taxed at a lower rate anyway since it is not tillable.

Not familiar with the forest crop program so wouldn’t know if there are tax benefits there.

So, saying that there are tax advantages in CRP doesn’t hold true in my case.

Anyway, just my .02

Thanks guys……the land I’m looking at is already enrolled in both programs…..just looking for answers, not a CRP MFL bashing session…..I am not rich but do realize that if I don’t buy now, the future does not look that much more promising.
I do beleive the programs were intended to take the tax burden off of the farmer for non-ag land….but farmers are the ones selling the property with the high costs (I grew up on a dairy farm in central WI and love the farming community). There are no improvements on this property, for me to build, some land will need to be taken out of the CRP program.
Thanks,

FYI to RKD,
Buffalo county is reasonable in prices per acre compared to the area from River Falls to Spring Valley….wooded acreage ranges from $6,000 to $25,000 per acre….yes $25,000 per acre….just saw a listing for 2 20 acre chunks of heavily wooded land for $259,900 each. Land around Menomonie is a little more reasonable and the tax rates less, although the cost per acres is around that of the Buffalo County area.
Thanks for all your info.

Mo, you say that this land is in MFL and CRP already? You probably don’t want to buy this land unless you don’t care if people hunt your land. Well at least the MFL anyway. As explained earlier there are 2 different programs for MFL…..an open and closed program…..the open you have to let the general public access your land at anytime and they don’t even have to ask! the closed you don’t have to but it is not as big of a tax break and they tell you what needs to be logged. And they only way to get it out of the open program is to pay the back taxes at today’s tax rate!!! Just an FYI…….know what programs it’s in and do some research….Brad

Thanks Muskyman….the land is in the closed program for 15 more years and is renewable, I talked to the forester and he indicated it is ready for select cutting the mature trees, but there is some leniency on that. I will be taking the CRP land out of the program and pay back taxes….it is very minimal as it is only 4 acres and only in the program for 5 years.
Thanks,

If you have some financial questions on what is good or not, give me a shout. I can take a gander at what you are doing and see if we can do something better or if you are on the right track.

Thanks!!