I am in this same boat, or will be some day, I hope to enjoy it for another 15 20 yrs but none in the family seem to have the same interest in it that I do but that being said, I sorta plan on it being my cash cow when I cant enjoy it anymore, sort of a retirement account if you will. I have only had it for about 6 yrs and its easily tripled in value with the improvements Ive made, including building stocking and managing a 15 acre lake. also roads and greenfields cleared where there was nothing but solid hardwoods.
Also plan to build a cabin and get electric and water run to it, electric will be a huge cost as the cabin site is at least a quarter mile thru woods to the closest power pole in four different directions. but with the completion of all that would increase the value even more.
I am plus one on an extremely good, knowledgeable, accountant, they are worth every penny and a good one, that is not afraid of their own shadow, will also know how to work some numbers and basically push the envelope. one that will find a way to write something off or use a loop hole versus one that will go ahead and pay extra taxes just to be on the safe side.
A fellow once told me if you are not pushing the envelope you are paying too much. after 30 plus years in business I have only had the business audited once, and the CPA we were using at the time may have actually been pushing the envelope almost a little too hard I was afraid, but in the end of the audit he was also good enough that the IRS was left owing us money in the end. In a nutshell, a good one can be worth every penny, not to mention the fact Id rather pay them extra then I had the irs, He tends to use it way more wisely. At least he probably wont donate it to people who want to see me erased from the face of the earth.
Good Luck!
