Texas/New Mexico Stateline | I have relative by marriage we see on holidays and a few times a year. I love this guy like my own kin, he is brilliant, has lots of common sense inspite of a PhD. If you didn't know he had a Doctorate you would just think he was an ordinary dude that could talk about anything.
Well the past couple years he has mentioned almost every time we get together he would like to someway be involved in agriculture. He grew up on a small farm, and raised show animals/hay, etc. He is not totally ignorant of the business. Like I said he has lots of common sense and keeps up with technology. (part of his field of work)
Today we talked, and he just almost came out and said he wanted to buy land in our area and have me farm it. Now I would love the opportunity to farm more land, especially for somebody like him. But a couple things stick in my mind.
1) business with family like that is a recipe for disaster. I would be uncomfortable with him putting that much money at risk when he has a young family to support, etc. I think the pressure on me would be hard to handle, because I am that way. I would hate to disappoint. My current landlords are older retired guys, that have paid for land. So they have no problem weathering the ups and downs. ( he is very successful, and careful with money. So I think that is why he is looking for a "safer" investment like land)
2) I think land prices in our area are very very unstable due to cheaper grains, dairies struggling, and the aquifer being pumped out. I am not interested in buying irrigated land myself because of the water supply being so iffy, and I can't hardly recommend somebody that is not established already buying irrigated land at today's prices.
Anyway, I think he is thinking he can buy some acreage, and figure out what the biggest payment he can reasonably afford each year, and figure it like a retirement fund. It might be an opportunity for me, but a very fine line to walk if things just don't work out.
I was just wondering if anybody else has ever had something like this come up? |
I have a relative wanting to invest in farmland, what do I tell him?
