Hunting Cabin/Land Question - Keep or Sell?

[cnelk]

Is there cell service at the cabin?

Start a new fad - Work From Cabin! Lol

 

[GunsAreFun]

Is it on enough acres to market as a hunting lease with lodging included? You could get $15-30/acre in Missouri just for the hunting rights plus probably a grand plus per week for use of the cabin during hunting season.

Or do AirBnB and find someone up there that can clean it for you.

I’d be hesitant to sell any land unless you’re putting the cash into another investment earning substantially more income. If you’re already in stocks/mutual funds for retirement, it’s probably wise to have some property for diversification.

 

[Roosterstraw]

I’m going through the same process as you. Only difference is my property is about an hour away. I’m going to list my property on the higher end with the market sky high right now. Hopefully make a good return on it and reinvest the money into a larger property.

 

[CorbLand]

My grandpa bought half an acre in a mountain town in Idaho back in the 70s. Pulled a single wide up there, added a loft with a family room, put a roof and deck on it. His plan was to keep adding on as he had the finances but passed away and nothing got done after that. Its old and run down but most of us grandkids are forever grateful that we have it. It has provided many cheap and doable vacations for us as we were newly weds. Most of us are 3-4 hours away. Keep the damn thing, your kids will never be able to replace it.

 

[String&stick]

100 acres with a cabin. . . I didn't see if you said what state you are located in but this sounds like an air BNB cash cow. Even if you had to upgrade a few amenities in it. You have a setup where a family can fully escape to for a weekend or week. Let their kids explore, etc, etc. Find a service to clean for you or even to manage it. Then blackout a weekend or two a year that you want to use it.

Hell in a year or two if it goes well you may be looking for a place closer to home to buy with the income. Worst case scenario you should be covering taxes and expenses pretty easily.

I'm with the air BNB crowd unless it's just completely remote with no reason for anyone to be close to there.

 

[Bubblehide]

Give me the address and let me know where the spare key is and maintenance will be taken care of.

 

[timberlinehunter]

I thought about doing the AirBnB thing but not sure if people would want to rent it…. It is a nice cabin but only has electric, no running water and it uses an incinerating toilet. At least it would weed out all the yuppies! Lol. It is close to the water and tourist attractions though. Lots to think about for sure!


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[Gseith]

I have a cabin in north central pa and it’s a prime camping spot in the summer. My wife keeps bothering me to AirBnB it. Maybe someday. It’s three hours one way but it’s a nice getaway.
I would say keep yours you will never be able to replace it.

 

[mi650]

So since my fellow Roksliders have been so awesome at giving feedback and ideas of all my other questions I figured I'd throw this one out there too. I have a cabin and land that I use for hunting mainly. Recently I have been considering selling it since I am only averaging 1 or 2 visits up there a year. I love the cabin and property but it is a 5 hour drive from my house one way. I bought the place back when I was single but now being married and with 3 kids I find any free time to get away in very short supply. Lol. So the question is do I sell it and invest the money from the sale (or buy a place closer to home) or keep it and hope to use it more when my kids get older and my wife and I have more free time. My family loves to go to the cabin but time really is the issue. Plus for what I am paying in taxes yearly I could do a few more out of state hunts each year. What's every thoughts/Has anyone been in a similar situation owning land a long way away?

When I bought mine, I considered da U.P. eh, just because of the price. It was about $1k an acre in the late '90s. Looked around Houghton Lake, too. Decided there were too many people.

I had been hunting on my uncles land for 3-4 years, about 2 1/2 hours from home, ended up buying 3 miles from my uncle. Average price was $2900 per acre, I paid $2100. We'd come here nearly every weekend. Now we live here full time.

If you commit yourself to buying a place closer to home, where you can go more often, you won't regret it.

 

[Billy Goat]

I thought about doing the AirBnB thing but not sure if people would want to rent it…. It is a nice cabin but only has electric, no running water and it uses an incinerating toilet. At least it would weed out all the yuppies! Lol. It is close to the water and tourist attractions though. Lots to think about for sure!


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You might be surprised.



If you can swing it, do some updates to add water and the facilities that go with it. You might be surprised how much you can generate off these places. I'd bet you can cover the update expenses in a year, likely less.

Then it's that much nicer for you to use in the future. Do some searching for what is available in the area, what they offer, and the rates.

Gotta remember how cool it is to go out and do camping/outdoor stuff now.

 

[CorbLand]

I thought about doing the AirBnB thing but not sure if people would want to rent it…. It is a nice cabin but only has electric, no running water and it uses an incinerating toilet. At least it would weed out all the yuppies! Lol. It is close to the water and tourist attractions though. Lots to think about for sure!


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I would at least look into the Air BNB. It may be more of a hassle than it is worth depending on if there are people close by that can fix issues for you but you would be amazed. My uncle bought a house in a little town of about 1,000 people. The only recreation even remotely close is a boat ramp with a little park/camping area. It is pretty much booked all summer long as people come to fish the reservoir.

Another option would be to run some power and make about 5 or so RV spots on some of the ground. I know a guy that did that with some ground he owns and he rents them out for 50-100 bucks a night.

 

[FLATHEAD]

Keep it. No Brainer IMO.

 

[ben h]

AirBnB is a bit of work and w/o water or septic, I think it wouldn't work well, but who knows. If I had 100 ac near a destination, I think carving out some RV pads would be a great idea. Of course you'd still need to get the water and septic going. Last summer my girlfriend had to move into an RV park for a few months while her house was being finished and I was surprised how many people stay at those for months on end, mostly for work, and then they had stalls for people just traveling through, but they'd stay for a week or 2. She did monthly rental and I think it was around $700/month for a stall and a little power/water. Daily rates were around $50 as I recall and they're more work with staff and whatnot, but there weren't really that many of those. Before we went there I imagined a trailer park full of meth heads, but it was more $80k trucks with $60k 5th wheels. In fact we looked like the riff raff.

Our family cabin is about 3-3.5 hrs from our primary homes and I think that's on the upper end of distance for getting used regularly. We had another that was 5 hrs and we found that we just didn't use it that much because it's the better part of a day to get to it, vs something that you could go to after work for a quick weekend. That being said, I'd think hard about getting rid of your place, if it's paid for and you can't replace it with something closer.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Hold on to it for a while, see how much your kids like going there. I say this cause I moved into the hunting cabin my dad bought when I was in 6th grade. I loved going there to fish, hunt etc. and always dreamed of living there, after a couple detours and youthful mistakes, I now live there and am raising my family there.

 

[WCB]

If you don't have time to use it now how the hell are you going to have time to do out of state hunts or guided hunts? Also, 5hrs is not that long....make it a point to use it more. But if you own it free and clear just hanging on to it you will be able to dump it anytime without much down side even if you are forced to sell it fairly cheap IMO.

This is coming from a guy that have taken a hard stance on never owning a cabin/lake place etc as I like to travel and hunt too much and don't want the obligation of an extra place. Plus hunting in MN blows.

 

[EdP]

I think 5 hours is quite a long drive, especially if you can find something similar much closer to home. 5 hours means weekend trips become a huge deal. Something within an hour or 1 1/2 hours is much easier and it doesn't take much drive time to get that "away" feeling. Being closer let's you do the inevitable upkeep on a regular basis instead of taking all your time every chance you get to make the trip. If nothing similar is available closer it becomes a much more difficult decision.

 

[Yooper]

I see you're in Michigan. What vicinity of the state is it in? Definitely a lot of rental opps if you're in the right area.

 

[timberlinehunter]

I just send you a PM Yooper.

 

[loganwayne]

My family had a property with another family friend, only about an hour away from our house though. but was a small piece 15ish acres with two cabins but butted up to the national park and national forest on the other sides. I loved that place. we spent every weekend there when i was little. dads buddy ended up moving there and living there full time and we would bring supplies in to him. i remember going and cutting a Christmas tree for him when i was like 6. He ended up passing a few years later and dad couldnt keep it and ended up selling it to his buddies wife, who quickly kicked us out of it(dad was suppose to have life time rights to the cabins). If it was to happen now i would do everything in my power to keep the place, even if it wasnt good for hunting or fishing.

 

[tdhanses]

I bought 4 acres in the mountains years ago, eventually i’ll build a cabin on it but I would never sell it even though it is 9hrs one way away and some years I never even step foot on it.

If you do sell i’d reinvest in something you would prefer, doubt you could replace it though.