What do you wish you had found out before you bought your land?

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Wed, 06/08/2016 - 12:51 #1

Member for

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FirstGenFarmer
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 06/08/2016 - 11:25

What do you wish you had found out before you bought your land?

Hi Forum Team,

 

My partner and I are looking at purchasing 100-200 acres in North East Victoria. We've looked at a few and havesome more to look at this weekend.

 

I've put a list of questions to the agent about easements, rates, soil type, soil and water testing, zoning, how far away is phone and power etc.

 

When you bought your land, is there anything that you wished you had asked or found out before you purchased?

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Amelia

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Wed, 06/08/2016 - 18:35 #2
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Amelia,

 

the agent wants to sell the property, so is perhaps not the best person to ask. Check with the local council about the rates ,easements. zoning and so on. Also check with the power company and with the phone company about availability of these services.

 

1. check if there are old sheep dips on the property. Arsenic was used in sheep dips years ago and persists in the soil.

 

2..What water is available on the property and how high is the salt and mineral content. You can have these tests done by a laboratory. It's too late when you buy the property to regret it later  if the soil is contaminated and the water isn''t drinkable.

 

3. Most important of all, what are the neighbours like? For example, a man I know bought a very nice property and what should have been a wonderful lifestyle change turned in to a night mare for him. His neighbours are dreadful and abusive. They also cut his fences so that their stock can get into his paddock to eat his pasture, because they are overstocked and have none in theirs. He can't leave his house unattended because when he does they pinch everything that isn't nailed down and some that is.

 

So my advice is, have all these tests done before you sign on the dotted line and never, ever, take the real eastate agents word for any of it. His object is to sell the property and no matter how pleasant he is to deal with, his aim is to get his commission, because that is how he makes his living.

 

Don't let any of this turn you off buying the property, but be cautious as and agent can spot a 'new chum'' (an inexperienced person) a mile away.

 

Cheers,

Barb

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Fri, 06/10/2016 - 14:17 #3
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Amelia,

From my experience lots of questions go un-answered when looking at purchasing a farm. Emotion takes over and the hard questions/answers come to light after the purchase when it is too late. Some typical questions that you may not think to ask include:

* What is the farm infrastructure like (fences, yards, sheds)?

* What capital improvements may be required to run cattle (new yards, crush, load ramp, fencing, water troughs)?
* What area of the farm is arable (able to be grazed)?
* Is the bush area regrowth, semi cleared or untouched? Untouched bush-land will be more valuable?
* Are the pastures native, naturalised or improved (this will impact on the carrying capacity of the land)?
* Are local farm contractors, stock agents available?
* Where are the closest saleyards, can livestock be purchased from local farmers to reduce freight costs and commission?
* Does the farm have a history of fertiliser?
* Are any old soil tests available (last 3 years)?
* Is there any evidence of salinity or soil erosion on the property?
* Is the farm sub-divided into a number of paddocks, if so is water available in each paddock? If not can it be reticulated from other dams?
* Are there any noxious weeds present on the farm (the land owner is legally responsible for this, a good question for the estate agent)?
* Is there sufficient water available for household use and fire control? 
* If you are planning on being an absentee owner, is there a neighbour or local farmer who can check on the farm / livestock twice a week? This is also a good idea for increased farm security.
* What is the risk of bushfire? Have any preventative measures been put in place? Each farm should have a Fire Wise action plan where fire control measures match the level of risk.
Regards,
Charlie
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Wed, 06/15/2016 - 00:30 #4
Wynarling
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 05/31/2015 - 10:27
I wish I had been more thorough in my inspection, and not made so many assumptions. Assumption 1: telephone points in house means phone line is intact. Not in my case, local contractor from the phone company told us the line to the road was too old and the line into town was pretty bad anyway, not worth connecting. Assumption 2: Telstra mapping for mobile coverage is accurate. I have low signal outside, occasional signal inside but can't use phone inside and drop outs outside. No problem according to Telstra. Also means no internet, although the satellite should change that. Assumption 3: power points means power. I was careful to check the house which was all good, but again noted powerpoints in shearing sheds and workshop and assumed it was all connected. It was not. Also low voltage to house, too low to run certain appliances, thousands to upgrade service lines to house. Assumption 4: clean roof means good roof. No, it could mean iron has been painted, and underneath paint is leaky rusty iron, which you find out about when the first big storm hits. Unless the sellers are very honest you will not find out about the weed burden until you have lived through all seasons! You can get an idea by asking neighbours or the local farm supply shops. I would not say the agent was misleading or glazing over points in any way, he answered all questions and pointed out things we would never have thought of. The agent only knows what the seller tells them, luckily for us the agent was local, and in small communities everyone knows what goes on on every property. I was enchanted with the property and would have brought it regardless of problems, it is just costing so much more than I budgeted for. The agent also noted in the contract the sale was conditional on adequate drinking quality water supply from the bore (no scheme water here), which he said he puts in all his rural contracts. Good news is our bore water is more pure than treated scheme water!
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Fri, 06/17/2016 - 17:41 #5
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

HI,

Have a building inspector check out the property before you sign the contract. In my area it is regulation to have this done, but may not be in all states or territories. They will check for termites and if safety switches have been installed and also smoke alarms. These things are law in Qld. at least. They will check too, to see if there are any major faults with main dwelling- rusty guttering, sinking foudations etc.

 

Hope all goes well and you enjoy your lifestyle change

Cheers,

Barb

 

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Wed, 06/15/2016 - 22:09 #6
Kaz
Last seen: 07/06/2023 - 21:03
Joined: 04/05/2015 - 09:51

Hi Amelia,

I settled on my dream block in October 2015 after a looooooong settlement because we went in blind!

 

Things I wish I knew then!

***If the land is the result of a subdivision, ask if the land has been registered, or better yet, request proof that subdivision has started with council (got stuck with that one!)

 

*** Wet weather access! Water courses can appear as a slight dip during dry periods, and impassable in wet periods!

 

*** Take a shovel, and inspect the soil in multiple locations if you plan to grow veges or fruit trees. I was glad I did this as I have a lovely black sandy loam perfect for pears, but another section was shale.

 

***Walk the perimeter, check the fences, check gates and hinges, check for animal tracks that can prove to be wild pigs or other feral animals.

 

*** Go say hi to the neighbours, you can tell how friendly they are by the signs on their gates, you can tell by the trouble in the area if everyone has "No shooting" signs on their gates. We were camped on our property one night, lights out, when a random vehicle came flying onto our property aimlessly shooting into the night. We found out off a neighbour our property used to be a free-for-all for anyone who wanted to come in and shoot bunnys/foxes or roos.We ended up having to upgrade our gates and entire front fence which was cut multiple times from people wanting to go shoot their guns.

 

***Your real estate will tell you what you want to hear!

 

***your planning certificate is your best friend if you want to build on it later. Get a copy and read it multiple times at home. Your solicitor will go through it with you in the office but so much will go over your head! All your Zoning issues will be listed in it. Make sure you receive full copies of your land as surveyed and not just parts of the property, there are a lot of old paper roads still in existence that anyone can legally use.

 

***Ask for vacant possession in contract negotiations, it means any handshake deals with neighbouring farmers to graze your property as a verbal agistment agreement; will legally end. It will be up to the seller to organise for any agisted animals to be off the farm by settlement. Some farmers will go to all lengths to keep their animals on your pasture.

 

***Weeds! Spring is the best time to see what weeds are about, our pasture turned into a weed-fest from September and has given us about a good weeks work this spring to start a weed eradication program costing us a decent amount of money in chemicals that wont hurt the underlying pasture, our sheep or waterways. We just had so many weeds come up as soon as the warm weather hit!

I just wish that I was initially told how long my settlement would take, it took 10 months when we were originally told 6 weeks. 

We also had to have easements registered on other persons land, we also had an "auto-console" attached to one of our lots, these are a pain in the butt to register as it involves every land against it's boundary being surveyed and deregistered, then registered at the LPI. Very confusing and time-consuming, however this is only if your land is coming apart from multiple lots which is common these days as large holdings are being fragmented into smaller lots.

 

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