I feel bad for my neighbor; he has been a farmer all his life, and today while Katie and I went out for a Valentines' Day lunch, we saw him and his wife at the restaurant. With my logging crew cutting wood right along the property line, I wanted to ensure him we knew where the line was and that we would not cross it. Always a great neighbor going back many generations too, he said he was not even going to go down and see where I was cutting...he trusted me. Then he told me he is being forced to sell his farm. He is the only one that farms/logs out of his 5 siblings, and being into drugs, they all want to sell out. It was put in all their names so he is trying to do the right thing and buy part of the farm out so he can continue to farm, but here tillable land is going for more than houselots. While he wants the 300 acres of fields, it is so expensive that he can't afford it, so he is considering buying the woodland and clearing it into forest like I am. I heard he has one of the largest single farms on the East Coast, but I am not sure how true that is. Combined with his siblings, they have over 3200 acres of farm/forest. We did not have a chance to really discuss the specifics of land clearing as far as numbers goes, but I really feel for him. His family was one reason I told my father NOT to put the family farm everyone's names because it is hard to get 2 people to agree, and impossible for 3. 5 people is just insane. So I bought my farm off my father instead of it being inherited like the previous 9 generations. I'll have to go over to his place some night and talk numbers. It is always a pleasure because he is constantly saying, "we are neighbors". We sure are...whatever I can do to help.
Something similar happened to me. My Mom and Dad had a cabin on a lake in The U.P. of Michigan. Dad put the cabin in all five of us kids names. When they passed my four brothers and sisters wanted to cash out the cabin. I made them a fair offer and all four said "not enough". My brother in Seattle contacted a realtor and the gang of four eventually sold the cabin for less than my offer was after the realtor's fees. I was upset but oh well life goes on,,,
Uhhhhhh..... you’ve been here for over two years waiting for the perfect opportunity to reply to a thread and that opportunity finally came!!!!!! Sorry to hear about the circumstances. Welcome to FHC ole !!! Must like it here if you’ve stuck around this long... please introduce yourself and let us know what your interests in wood hoarding are!!!
We lost a small 70 acre farm a few years back. Broke my heart but I couldn't beat the greed from others involved. It was a hard lesson learned. Sure hope it works out for your neighbor. Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk
I am not sure. They want to sell to the Amish, but it is not a democratic vote: unless he signs off, they cannot sell anything. But with every passing year, it gets harder because they have to pay their property taxes. I know what mine cost, and we own land in the same towns so I know the rates, but he has more land then me. It has to be tough coming up with that every year! I would have been in the same situation, but I convinced my father that giving equal shares was not the right thing to do, because my sisters and brothers would never equally agree on what to do with the land. Now my brother and his wife are living with my parents and have been for 2 years now, and my mother wants them out. For some reason they just thought i was going to give my dead-beat brother and sister-in-law some land. I don't think so, I worked hard to pay taxes and payments on this place just to give it away. I offered them my Grandmothers house free...No! I got them a free single wide trailer they can sit on a trailer pad I have with water, power and sewer already in place...No. I offered to sell them my current house...No. They want 5 acres of land so they can plop a new double-wide they fell in love with; nothing less. Find someone to sell you some land then... Boy I wish someone offered me a 2 free houses when I was 20 years old, I had to pay for all three of the ones I got now, but by goodness I did earn them.
I tried to give a family member a free 12 yr old very useable car years ago. It apparently wasn't good enough so they instead went and leased a new car. Some folks just want what they want are willing to go broke for it. Not me. Btw that "old" car is still on the road today.
If the family members are dopers, I would delay as much as I could and let them die out. My brother and I have equal share in the family tree farm. We are on board with not harvesting unless it is for sound woodland management. Only issue is updating the house that is in my profile picture. Grand dad built it, in 1965 era, and he is content to do no upgrades, unless his girlfriend pushes him. He usually comes around, but he could easily turn hermit and let a house fall down around him. I like it to be a comfortable place to enjoy. So far the 50 old carpet in the living room has been replaced with wood laminate, and the bedroom updated. Can’t get him to do satellite tv and split the cost even though we would enjoy it more during football season. Danger tightwad who hasn’t punched a clock since 1990 or so.
