What to do with 350 acres of land?

Question

I would appreciate good ideas. So own 350 acres of land upstate NY the taxes on the place are killing me. The property has a lot of three's on it.... I am looking for a smart idea to at least re-coupe the cost of the taxes (10K/year). Don;t want to sell the property something I can do with the wood or let farmers use the grass. I don;t know what would make sense???

Answer 1

Talk to you local department of revenue. They almost always have a program to tax agricultural land at much cheaper rates than other residential or commercial land. The program may be as simple as signing an affidavit of use or may require a bona fide plan from like a certified forestry or agriculture agent. A requirement  for many of these programs and tax relief is that you charge the local farmer or wood cutter a 'reasonable' fee. Never 'give' or the agricultural use can be denied by  the locals as well as the IRS. If you set up this you can set it up as a business and use the business deductions to your advantage. Another idea is tying up the land in a land trust. You may reserve certain rights for occupancy but get to take a giant tax deduction for your donation that you may be able to use the rest of your life. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Contact promoters of rock concerts.  If you have enough open space for a band to set up and accomodate a crowd, you might be able to lease the space for a show.  Who knows?  Consider it.  Modern day Woodstock.

Answer 3

Hunting lease

Can harvest some of the wood

Will it support livestock?

Clear an area and plant some pumpkins - then have a big pumpkin sale in the fall.

You might want to talk to a tax specialist and see if there are some other agricultural things you can do that might get you some tax exemptions.

Answer 4

Sell off the mature trees and lease out for pasture land or to farmers that will farm it.  That way the land is used, you are paid, and that will pay the taxes on it.

Answer 5

You have many options, some I would suggest:

Having the property assessed for timber value (make sure you replant to keep the value up)   If there is not good timber value, clear a section and plant crops.

Lease the property to a local farmer to run cattle or horses on

Answer 6

Get someone to put up some wind turbines (if it's windy enough).  What they pay you for leasing the land should easily cover the taxes.

Answer 7

can you turn it into an xmas tree farm?  let someone farm it and pay you?  Can you break it up into lots and have a home builder build homes?