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Wow! Great reply!! Thanks a lot for the plethera of information. Come to think of it, I know a realtor who may be willing to help me or I could possibly hire him. I will look into it. Thanks again.

Hello. I'm trying to find a way to buy a place (154 acre ranch) and have it payed off within a few years.

Right now I'm considering the possibility of renting the land to cattle ranchers or anyone with horses or cattle. Sadly, I don't know the first thing about this - so I guess I have 1 major question:

1) How can I find local information on comps, how much to charge, whether or not there is demand, how good is the demand, etc, etc??

Thanks,
McCrockett

juzamjedi. Thanks for the last reply. I took your advice and looked into getting help from a private investor. I wrote a rough business plan and discovered that I might actually be able to make the whole thing work. A lot hinges on whether or not I can sell the extra acres for a decent price and how well business will go during the first 5 years (I made it over 5 years because option ARMs typically offer the minimum payment option of 1 or 2% for the first 5 years). You can take a look at my plan if you want... I would have attached the Excel file here but it doesn't look like it will let me.
:D

Hmmm, a private investor eh? Well, we've talked about that... but I guess we would prefer to avoid going that route because we would like the owners to be just us. I suppose there's ways of working around that, I will definitley look into it - I guess beggers can't be choosers.

I'm sorry, I guess I haven't made this very clear, the property in question isn't an actual business. They don't have old pro formas or anything like that. It's just a property, a large and beautiful house with a barn that sits in an amazing tree covered valley. It has 3 wells, a pond, and tons of fruit trees (154 acres). Our realtor tells us the house alone is worth $3 million (but I know realtors may get carried away sometimes). It's currently owned by a father and son who haven't spoken to eachother for the past 5 years.

Thanks for the reply juzamjedi.

To answer some of those questions:

- For the market analysis, we haven't done any hard research as of yet. I'm just waiting to see if we can actually find a way to make it work financially before I commit to writing a business plan. However, it is truly a beautiful area and we have friends doing similar ranches in less pretty places who're doing very well. Family reunion places seem to be in high demand in this are and there's not much supply for it.

- Management experience isn't a problem. I'm currently a manager of a Holiday Inn Express and I have a degree in business management. But in all honesty, I really want to do my own thing (just like you mentioned).

- We don't plan on employing too many people, except family and of course contractors for repairs and such. We would like to allow families or customers to have the ranch to themselves during the time they payed for it.

- On dividing the additional 54 acres, we're fairly certain this can be done 4 ways without having to subdivide (but again, once we find a way to finance - we will make sure on stuff like this with the county). Land, or comps in the same area are selling for around $60,000 an acre (but we're still looking for comps and trying to get an idea on how long it would take to sell).

- Mortgage payments... yes, this is the problem. Some real etate expert told me probably the best way to go would be an Option ARM. I looked at an option arm and figured out how it would work, and I'm affraid even the minimum %1 payment for the first 5 years would be unbearable. However, we can make about a $200,000 down payment if necessary and we may also be able to make a lower offer (due to the feud). I was wondering if it might be possible to get a loan that doesn't require payments for the first 2 or 3 years (you know, like a furniture store)...

- About the feud, I don't know what it's about except that the property is owned by a father and a son. And they haven't spoken to each other for the past 5 years. They recently were able to communicate enough to agree to sell the property. This is why I'm affraid to get a loan from them. I don't know if they would cooperate or not. But who knows, it may be worth a try.

Anyhow, I hope this sheds some light on my situation. Again, thank you for any insights or help you can offer. Thanks for that link to the SBA. I will have to look at that when I get the chance.

Hello friends!!

I'm a true newbie because I've never really purchased any real estate before. I just graduated from college with a degree in Business Management and an emphasis in Real Estate. So I feel somewhat comfortable in the field (as much as school learning can get me) - but I really would like real-life training.

My dream is to open my own ranch for family reunions and corporate retreats or seminars. In fact, I've already found a place that would be perfect, but I ran into a snag. I've posted a question about it here:

Click Here

Anyhow, I'm happy to be a new member of this forum. I know forums are the best places online to get answers - so I look forward to logging on quite a bit.

Thanks,
McCrockett

Hello. I've had dreams of opening my own reunion/corporate retreat ranch for most of my life and I've finally found the perfect place:

It's perfect because the sellers are having an unfortunate family feud - but they're selling it for a lot cheaper than it should be (I hope that doesn't make me sound like a bad person).

The gist: it's 154 acres for $2.5 Million. I don't need the spare 54 acres and I think I could sell them for enough money to get most of the money back. My dillema, however, there's no way I can make payments on a loan like that.

My question: Is it possible to get a loan that doesn't require payments through the first 2 or 3 years?

I've looked at Option ARM loans, but even the minimum payment on these would be too much for me and my partner to handle.

Thanks in advance for any replies.