Looking to buy a 40-100 acre parcel of wooded land with the intent of putting up a small, modest cabin.  Focusing mostly around Taylor County…or statewide around HWY 64.  Want to be kind of secluded, but don’t want to be too deep in the Northwoods.  Plan is my parents would live there until they are too old/no long about to live on their own.

Goal is to have some peaceful recreation land to commune with nature, hunting, etc.  Finding ton of properties that say things like “classified as wetlands”, “enrolled in forestry program”, “land locked”, “easement this & that, etc”.  I’m assuming a lot of that stuff means you can’t build on it and/or some other sort of deal breaking strings attached.

What are some major things I really need to watch out?  I’d love any land buying advice you guys could offer.    

Interested as well...although I doubt I'll ever be able to afford 100 acres of my own land...

Never know.  Depends how picky you are.  I came across 40-acres of 'wetland' for $15k

I thought I was the only one who didn't have a cabin up north.

Trust me, you aren't.

Enrolled in forestry program means the owner has signed an agreement with the state in which his land has a much reduced property tax rate in return for the land being open to the public for recreational purposes (access to fishing, hiking, hunting, etc). There are regulations for cutting timber. The same hunting rules that apply on state land apply to forest management land... no permanent nor "overnight" tree stands, no tree trimming / cutting shooting lanes, no camping, no fires, etc . No motorized vehicles (snowmobiles / ATVs) unless there is a marked trail for them. However, as it's your land, those rules do not apply to you nor anyone you designate. But the public is free to hunt or hike on it, and you cannot keep them out. I'm not sure if you, as a new owner, must abide by the program, and whether or not you can un-enrole.

Wetland usually means you cannot build on it because it will not perk for septic, and you cannot fill in designated wetland.

There's usually a reason these properties are for sale.

Another option is to look at paper company land that is for sale. Wausau Papers has been selling off a lot of land in the area of Hwy 64, and northward.

And there's always tax delinquent properties that have been seized by county governments for tax foreclosures. For them, go to each individual county website and search for their land department. This type of land sale is always in the legal notices of local papers and on county websites. I'm watching one near me in Vilas that is currently being sold by the county. I've hunted on it since they took it 2 years ago, it's less than a mile from my house. It's 50 acres of swamp, but full of deer. Opening minimum bid was way too high, I'm waiting for it to drop.

prebans is the real estate guy here, he'll know the correct answers. I had a real estate license 30 years ago when my mom was a C-21 broker, and I remember some stuff, but that was mostly urban and in another state (s.w. burbs of Chicago).

I got a cabin up north....I live it in full time.

I'm in the market myself, but need a house on it too.  Lol

I see tax delequint properties on wisconsin surplus fairly often, in the northern counties. The few I looked at (online) seem to be landlocked? I'm not sure of the jargon sometimes, but seems like they can't be accessed unless you have a heli?

Anyway, most of them seem to be small properties with only a few acres. No big places. I'm not sure about rights of redemption in WI either, not to mention having to find out about liens and stuff that might be on the property.

Good to know.  Didn't realize MFL was so restrictive and is essentially 'public land'.  Just thought it meant you couldnt cut trees down.
Almost every property I've run across is MFL.  

It isn't automatically open to the public. The landowner has the option of making it open, which results in a lower tax rate than if it is closed.  My mother-in-law and her sisters had about 120 of land which was closed to the public but had a timber cutting plan.

Yeah except mine has 5-6 dozen geese and about a dozen wood duck all in easy shooting distance...........right now.

To OP, if it is less than an average of $1500 per acre, look closely, there is a reason.  As you get closer to 100 acres the price might approach 1k per acre.  The sellers know to mention possible or certified build sites on the land or revocable forest agreements.  I have looked at a lot of land in Taylor and Price counties (live in Price).  Are you looking at all of the county or have you narrowed it down some?  Taylor has a fairly diverse topography.  Do your parents need access to Doctors and other services?  If so stay closer to 13.

I just found an interesting 40 or 60 for sale by accident.  I was looking at a property next to it when I found it.  If you are duck or goose Hunter this one would be awesome.

A friend has 240 acres in Taylor for sale in Taylor that includes access to the Jump river and a nice cabin.  I think it is on Zillow, look west of Ogema and north of the river.  I can steer you to some areas I know well or have set foot on but take your time.  Many have been for sale for a long time, good deals are out there.

On tax delinquent properties, I was told by county employees at the land dept, that once the county seizes property for unpaid taxes, all other liens are null & void.

That's true. But larger tracts tend more to be the open type, because taxes would be more due to volume, and owners take full advantage of it. When you see "forest management" in the description, it's best to check on the type it's enrolled in.

This is when I don't mind higher taxes in Wisconsin.  Right now I do a lot of my hunting on public land and with permission from land owners near me.  Pick what you like best, buy 5 acres near it and go set up camp.

Dammit. Now you guys have me looking at land. Haven't you all cost me enough money already?

not up north but north of most of you guys.

70 acres of marshland near Redgranite with older farm house 129,000.00 also has a Quonset hut  listed by Elickson realty of Wautoma  

enough of this property is tillable to put in alfalfa and pay the property taxes on it

I have no personal interest in this property

I think that is per situation (tax only). Things such as sewer, upgrades, etc. can still exist on the land for the buyer to assume. There is also something about land that was seized, improvements made (such as drainage, shore, flood elevation, etc), may also be assumed by the buyer?  

I have heard of some superb land deals, but the assumption was too much...if that makes sense.

V
OUT

Landlocked isn't an issue.  In WI the parcels that surround a locked parcel must allow access.  At least that was the law when my family still had a locked parcel.

Really?  I've never heard of such a thing.  EXCEPT if there's a legal easement, which is specifically laid out what/how/etc.  ie foot traffic, how wide is the access, etc.  If it's not in writing on the plat, I wouldn't trust it.  Old agreements that may have worked for decades could change in a heart beat if it isn't on a legal description of the property.

Yeesh.  It's way more complicated than I thought.  Supreme Court cases on both prescriptive easements and easements of necessity.  Disregard my previous statement.


I wouldn't buy a landlocked property unless the seller has already obtained a proper access easement.

That's not the case.  A buddy just bought 120 acres.  There's a landlocked 600-something behind him.  The owner of that parcel contacted him about getting an easement because he pissed off the other land owner that he had a verbal easement with.  My buddy told him to go fly a kite.  Dude is screwed.  His only option is to sit on it and hope for the best, buy one of the adjacent properties, or sell to one of the adjacent owners.

Double tap.

Seems to me that your buddy could have had legal access to the 600 acres in exchange for an easement.

Nope.  It's a long story that I don't feel like typing out, but suffice to say that there's a reason the dude lost his easement from the other property owner.

Wow.  A neighbor would have to piss me off  REALLY bad for me to deny him access to his land.

This sounded familiar for a moment but it's not.

Not to hijack the thread, but rather make it educational, just select any of the options from the list below that apply to this situation.

Drugs
Alcohol
Fighting
Cursing
Firearms
Poaching
ATV/Snowmobiles
Damage to land
Sex
Homosexual sex
Other