I am in Clarksville area and want to start moving towards creating my post-Mil retirement living situation.  I am looking at purchasing some land (20+ acres) with the intent to lease the farmable areas to a farmer.  I’m somewhat aware of the minimum 15 acres of farm area (not including the house) regarding taxes and such.  I have a good friend who farms in the area so I’ve been talking with him.

If someone has experience in this for Montgomery, Houston or Stewart counties I’d appreciate the help/education.

Hit me up on PM if you’re willing to impart knowledge.

I don't know what west central Tennessee is. I don't think it is part of the three grand divisions. Those counties that you mentioned are in northwest Middle Tennessee.

Landwatch and other property sites use that description of my area.

Thanks for the help...

A lot will depend on what type of farmland it is.

Pasture field? Soybeans? Corn? Hay?

Also the size. Closer to 20 acres is not a whole lot in the big scheme of things as far as farming goes. That size might be desirable for hay if it's already got a good stand of grass.

It sounds like your best source is your friend that is already in the area.

Another place you could go is to the local Farmers Co-Ops in the areas and ask/look around there. Last time I was in one, there is always a bulletin board with people looking/buying/selling stuff. Just a thought.

I'm not at all familiar with Houston County having only been through there once or twice.  Stewart County is very rural, no industry to speak of that I'm aware of and not a lot of commercial places either.  I do freely admit that I don't get down in that area much anymore so things may have changed over the years.  Stewart County is also rather rugged as far as terrain goes so finding 20 acres of farmable land might be a problem.  Of the three you mentioned Montgomery County is by far the largest and most developed.

A lot of the answer to your question is going to depend on what you want.  If you want completely off-the-map rural I'd suggest Stewart County.  If you want something less rural and more developed then perhaps Houston County or western Montgomery County.  If you want something easily farmed then I'd probably suggest eastern or northeastern Mongtomery County since things tend to flatten out a lot as you go that direction.  Property prices are likely to be the reverse and will probably be lower in Stewart County and increase as you go northeast.

You might also want to look around Cheatham County (Ashland City).  It is between Clarksville and Nashville and while parts of the county are extremely rough terrain a lot of it lies along the river and is relatively flat.  Robertson County (Springfield) might also be an option for you.  I would not recommend Davidson County (Nashville) because of the political climate.

I was born and raised in Clarksville and my wife is from between Palmyra and Cumberland City.  We moved to Nashville in the early 80's and the changes in and around Clarksville have been enormous in places over the years.  I ran a survey crew for years in Montgomery County and knew every nook and cranny of the county.  Now I get lost there ;)

The primary goal is land for me to be away from close neighbors.  The farmable land aspect is mostly to offset the cost of the annual property taxes if able.  I want areas to shoot and grow my own small crops.

I’ll definitely take a look at the Co-Op.

The problem with Montgomery and Cheatham counties is the cost.  Too many people moving up from Nashville plus the new(ish) Google/Hankook stuff has caused property values to spike.  Same for Robertson County on the I-24 side.

South of the river (Cumberland City, etc) or west (Woodlawn, Dover) are still reasonable.  I fly out of the airfield near Woodlawn so that’s a convenient location.

One option for keeping property taxes down, is having the land zoned as 'forest'.  It's something that was passed as some 'keep Tennessee green' initiative, some time ago.  There are some hoops to jump through, and some restrictions, but (if my memory isn't off), the county tax office has to tax your land at 25% of what they would normally tax it at, once you get it rezoned.

Fuzzy memory says that the parcel has to be at least 10 acres, you have to get a state licensed forester to draw up a timber management plan, and then you have to submit everything to the county for their approval.  The downside (once you are past the process of asking government people for something) is that your use of the land is limited by what is laid out in the timber management plan, which means you should consider your long-term plans up front and talk it over with the forester that you are working with.  It can also have a little impact on the resale value, as the county can collect the other 75% of the taxes for the last few years (3?) before the property is sold, when it sells (I guess that was added to keep people from using it as a way to lower their taxes on property that they bought to flip for a profit, in a few years).

There is (or was?) a member here, who answered some questions about it (he's a licensed forester), when I was looking into it, a few years ago.  I still haven't gotten around to starting the process of combining my parcels, so that I don't have a separate 5 acre parcel.

I would think property taxes in the rural areas you are interested in would be rather cheap. Now I understand "cheap" is a relative term. You may want to google these various counties and see what their property tax rate is, that information is readily available on the internet.

As for the "farmable" aspect, my reason for asking is that some crops will command better pricing than say just hay or pasture fields. Crops like soy beans will bring you more money, or at least should, than say just grass for hay or pasture for gazing. But again, that will also be dependent on the amount of acreage you end up with.

I live in Stewart county. When I was at Fort Campbell we used to come out here pretty regularly(there was a range here then). I am not originally from this area, but we really like it. So after I was out of the Army a while we moved back to TN, and we liked Stewart county, so we moved here. We’ve lived here about 3 years now.

The cost of land is part of what brought me here. Taxes are low here as well. It is pretty isolated here, which is very nice I think. I have to say, for a county with limited resources, they seem to keep on top of things. I live off a county maintained dirt road, and they don’t let it get rough.

Don’t speed through Dover. They enforce it pretty strictly. But that’s how they’re catching people runnings drugs through town, so it kinda makes sense. If you’re the type that’s in a hurry, that might be annoying. I like things at a slower pace, so suits me fine.

Depending on where in the county you live, you’re about half way between Clarksville and Paris. So if you need to “go to town” you have options(like on the 1st and 15th when the Dependas are out). But you can get most anything you need here locally anyway.

You can PM me if there’s anything else.

You are thinking about the green belt program, it can be for farm or forest.

Good points.  I haven't kept up with property costs in that area.  I knew they went up, everything has, but with all the expansion there I never thought about what it was doing to property costs.  When we moved to Nashville in the early 80's property was running about $1,000 an acre in parts of the county.  I wish I had had the money and foresight to by up some of it back then and just sit on it.

Good points.  I haven't kept up with property costs in that area.  I knew they went up, everything has, but with all the expansion there I never thought about what it was doing to property costs.  When we moved to Nashville in the early 80's property was running about $1,000 an acre in parts of the county.  I wish I had had the money and foresight to by up some of it back then and just sit on it.

I didn’t know about the Forestry side of that program.  Thanks.

OP. How long do you have until you put your paperwork in?  How close to Sabre do you have to be?  KY doesn't tax military retirement.

I like the Stewart County area however, way too much silly shit goes on out there for my liking.

I have plenty of time.  I just signed a three year ADSO that brings me to 25 years.

I thought KY taxed your retirement.

That's what I put my back 15 acres in. It was pretty painless.

I stand corrected. If your retirement is over $41,110 p/y they tax it.

I’ll have to read about it.  I wonder how VA disability plays into that calculation.

@jeep29 May be able to answer that question.

I can’t speak to whether or not they tax retirement, but holy crap does KY tax everything else. I worked in Hopkinsville for a while-and have a bunch of friends in KY. They were always complaining about vehicle registration costs and similar. After seeing how much of my check they took when I worked up there(and the fact that they kept literally all of that) I don’t think I’ll ever work in KY again.

http://www.relocationessentials.com/aff/www/tools/salary/col.aspx
https://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state

these 2 websites should help you make your decision

@GLOCKPISTOLRO

Thanks, bro.

I grew up in Woodlawn/Indian Mound area and I can appreciate your sentiment, but it beats the Clarksville non sense by leaps and bounds. I really did laugh when I read your post, brought back a fond memory.
I tore down a structure couple of years ago and a guy named “bullet” approached me and Cat operator asking if he could have some of the lumber that I had already told Cat operator he could have. I looked at operator, he looked at me and nodded. I told bullet he could have all he could transport that day, but after that it was gone.
Bullet looked like he was in Crowder’s Comandos and was going to bring the wood back to Boyd. Dude looked straight up like Dewy’s brother, covered in shitty jail tats with eagles/swastikkas, lightning bolts etc.
That’s about my most exciting Stewart county story except for the POS Kirby Wallace.

My 40 acres, in West TN, is classified as Forest  in the Greenbelt program.  It only has about 12.5 acres of actual forest, I bush hog the rest to keep my field of fire clear.  Welcome to the 1st Civ Div OP.