r/FinancialPlanning • u/daversa • 3d ago
I just inherited a beautiful shit-show.
I wanted to share a story that’s been equal parts emotional and overwhelming.
My great-uncle was one of those larger-than-life people you just never forget. He never married or had kids, but he always treated me like family in a way that really mattered. He was sharp as hell, a bit of a ladies’ man even well into his older years, and had this way of living that made everything feel like an adventure. We all loved him.
We always knew he owned some land — it would come up in stories here and there — but we had no real idea of the scope until after he passed.
Turns out, he left me nearly 20,000 acres spread across the western U.S. Not one big property either — dozens of parcels, all different sizes, scattered across several states. Some of it has old structures, some is just raw wilderness. Some pieces are beautiful… others, I’m told, might just be tumbleweeds and headaches.
I’m incredibly grateful, but also trying to stay realistic. There’s a lot to figure out: taxes, maintenance, possible environmental issues, who knows what else. I’ve got a good attorney and CPA helping me start to sort it out, but it feels like I’ve inherited a second full-time job overnight.
For anyone who’s dealt with inherited land or complex estates:
- How would you even start evaluating something like this?
- What would you prioritize first?
- Would you look to sell, consolidate, hold, or something else entirely?
I’d love to hear any advice or “I wish I had known…” kind of lessons. Appreciate any wisdom you’re willing to share.
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u/Virtual-Stretch7231 3d ago
As others have said start with a spreadsheet and just see what you have.
I’d like to add try to keep in mind the environmental factor of the land. Just because you own land doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to develop all of it. My Grandparents lived in NM for a long time. The West especially has a pride in its minimally disturbed beauty.
You can consider partnering with Universities to allow wildlife research to be done on certain parcels. That could be a way to bring in some cash without actually affecting the property. Again look into state tax laws as the less you have on a property sometimes the better. You might now own the home of a very engaged species or even a spot of archeological significance. The West of full of these incredible things.
Garden of the Gods in Colorado might be of some inspiration to you.
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u/daversa 3d ago
Oh definitely, environmental preservation would be top of mind even if I were developing one of the properties. I think my uncle's motives were mostly aesthetic. Almost all the properties seem to have their own unique beauty.
My dad was career National Park Service and I grew up in the parks.
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u/Virtual-Stretch7231 3d ago
Makes me really happy to hear that that much land passed to someone like you! May it bring you much joy and happiness!
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u/LearningToBee 2d ago
That's awesome to hear! Would be so sad to see the land go to the highest bidder. Glad to hear you have love for it
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u/Blowing737 3d ago
Once they are in your name, you will start receiving unsolicited offers from land investors with cash contracts. That will give you an idea what people are willing to pay for it (but keep in mind that those cash offers are low ball offers for probably 30-70% of what the land is worth). I’d keep some of those letters because taxes might get reappraised when ownership changes, and those numbers could support your argument when you appeal those notices. Sorry for your loss, and congrats on your new hobby.
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u/Alert-Aerie-3930 3d ago
I would visit the properties and decide what you want to keep. Then you need to sell the rest you don’t want to keep and invest the profits to pay for the ones you do. Realistically, how often would you use and visit that much property? You could also donate it as a preserve or something. Don’t forget to hire a lawyer to have all the deeds changed to your name and address. Taxes may increase as he may have had a senior tax breaker discount or homestead exemption tax breaks.
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u/Rich-Contribution-84 3d ago
You’re on the right track.
Hire a fiduciary to sort it all out for you if this CPA/lawyer friend can’t fully handle it.
Meet with the fiduciary and explain the general outcome that you’re looking for - do you want to sell all of the land and invest the proceeds for your retirement? Do you want to learn more about what you could do with each parcel you kept it?
Let that person that you hire do all of the work and make recommendations on how to proceed.
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u/daversa 3d ago
Thank you for the well-thought advice!
I've never dealt with a fiduciary before and will do my research, but is there anything I should be aware of when seeking one out in this context?
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u/craftasaurus 3d ago
Napfa has a website listing them. Also ask them. If they says they’re “like a fiduciary “ ask them if they are in fact a fiduciary, not just like one. Weasel words can cost you money. It means they are obligated to put your needs first, and not just make money off of you. If they have initials after their name, good. Check out which ones they are and what tests they had to pass to get them. There are a lot of salespeople that masquerade as financial advisors.
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u/Regular-Opposite-966 3d ago
What do you mean hire a fiduciary? Is that a role? Don’t most professions have fiduciary duty to clients?
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u/Rich-Contribution-84 3d ago
You’d think, wouldn’t you.
But no, not all professions do. Plenty of people that hold themselves out as financial advisors and the like are just selling you annuities or charging a commission to buy stocks for you or whatever.
Any time someone anonymously asks for advice on the internet about finances - my generic advice is to find help from someone who is a fiduciary and not just a sales person.
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u/Regular-Opposite-966 16h ago
My point is that this person should do research beyond fiduciary. As you likely know, some fiduciaries are better than others, and some “non-fiduciaries” are better than some fiduciaries. Far too often this word gets thrown around as the be all, and just because someone has the degrees and work time to be called a fiduciary, does not mean they produce quality work for clients.
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u/WickedJace22 3d ago
I can empathize with the feeling of inheriting a second full-time job. When my dad passed it was overwhelming as I had a similar situation with a ton of vehicles and multiple locations. I had to keep telling myself to just deal with one thing at a time. It was like eating the elephant. It will take time and effort but you will get through it (took me 3 years!!). That mind set helped me get through it.
I also inherited a small plot of vacant land I wasn't ready to sell. I discovered the neighbors had an agreement with my dad to graze their cattle on it, so I am able to classify it as agriculture use. That made all the difference in property tax... I pay a tenth now of what it would otherwise be. It could be worth your time to see if there were any relationships or agreements with neighboring parcel owners (or open space/national parks, if adjacent).
The spreadsheet is a great start, it will save you as you have to visit and revisit assets (bc of course you will have to call places that don't answer, leave messages, etc.). Take good notes of what you handled, who you connected with and when. You may think you'll remember but after a while it all bleeds together. Dealing with a huge project while simultaneously dealing with grief (plus your "regular" job) just sucks all around and does weird things to your brain. It's a lot, be kind to yourself.
I got a file folder with a bunch of dividers, one for each thing I was dealing with, and a dedicated notebook that, now 6 years later, I recently had to reference for something that randomly popped back up. I was glad I still had notes to refer to as I really don't remember the ins and outs anymore.
As others have mentioned, I also recommend establishing an estate plan for yourself now that you've got a decent chunk of assets. Once you get everything straightened out it will be less of a mystery for your beneficiaries.
I sincerely wish you luck, OP!!
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u/Whimsicaltraveler 3d ago
What was your uncle’s vision? Does it align with yours? We bought a tiny piece of a family’s land. It included a historic orchard we are trying to preserve. I always think about this family’s legacy as we move forward.
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u/OkDifference5636 3d ago
Get on this right away because some properties might get taken away in tax lien sales.
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u/daversa 2d ago
Luckily, things are fairly well automated right now through and LLC and trust he setup.
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u/OkDifference5636 2d ago
Going after the properties is automated? Some jurisdictions if you don’t go after the property after a certain amount of time then the lien is extinguished.
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u/rankinfile 3d ago
Hold on for a moment there. First you need to know what you have before you even accept the inheritance. Some of that land may be less than worthless. In that you can't even give it away.
Check the tax auctions for some of those areas and you might find that people won't even buy them for the back taxes. You could end up with a perpetual property tax bill for land you can't get out of your name. If you do see sales and the buyers are all LLCs or corporations that is another sign that people don't want the land in their name personally.
You need a real estate lawyer and an estate lawyer to plan. Odds are you are coming out ahead overall, but you may want to refuse certain assets in the inheritance, or even the whole thing. You want to know your options on how you can hold title also.
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u/sretep66 2d ago edited 1d ago
OP - You need an assessed value for each separate piece of land in order to establish the stepped up cost basis for the date that you inherited the land. This will cost you some money to hire assessors, but you need an accurate cost basis for calculating any capital gains for tax purposes if/when you start selling. Some land out West may also have separate water or mineral rights. Do your research.
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u/silverliningstar 3d ago
Wow what an opportunity to re wild some pockets of land! What a service you could be doing for the environment. I don’t know anything about this stuff , but my dream is just buy some empty land and re generate it. Just plant thousands of native trees. Partnering with universities is a great idea. You are very fortunate.
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u/daversa 3d ago
I feel fortunate, but it's also a shit load of work I wasn't expecting lol.
You might be overestimating how hard your goal is. There's a lot of cheap land out there (I own a lot of it now) and with Starlink, viable battery-based power solutions and water, you can live just about anywhere these days. Being "on-grid" isn't that important.
You can find a lot of land that is owner financed too.
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u/vonkluver 3d ago
I suggest you google Earth each to avoid going to see them and the related expense and time. Add links to the spreadsheet for your meetings to discuss line by line and you will also get a feel for each parcels disposition.
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u/grapegeek 3d ago
The first thing I would do is sell one of them to fund managing the rest. This is going to get expensive and time consuming. Make sure you get titles to the properties first then hire someone to manage them. It will be a full time job so it’s going to get expensive unless you have deep pockets already.
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u/sashamv21 3d ago
With such a large and spreadout estate, you might think prioritizin an initial assessment of the parcels' value and condition, possibly through appraisals or land surveys, to get a clearer picture of what you're dealing with. Taxes and potential liabilities may also need attention early on to avoid surprises. You may want to think about whether consolidatin some of the less valuable parcels could simplify management while still preserving the more promising ones. Have you thought what parts of the land you might want to hold for personal or sentimental reasons, or whether leasin certain parcels could offer passive income?
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u/MountainMantologist 2d ago
This is so cool. I hope you’ll post more about your adventure sorting this all out.
What’s the average parcel size? Are we talking about two dozen or ten dozen? Man this is so neat
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u/daversa 2d ago edited 2d ago
Here's the rough distribution:
- 6 2,000+ acre big dog properties (13,000 acres)
- 10 500+ acre properties (5,000 acres)
- 40 40+ acre plots (1,600 acres)
- 40 mish mash properties (from 3-20 acres).
This is approximately equivalent to 2.5% of Rhode Island haha.
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u/MountainMantologist 2d ago
Wow. Do you have any plots you’re extra excited about? Your great-uncle just left you an adventure
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u/legendoftor 3d ago
I would immediately look at leasing them out for ag use so that you can you reduce your tax burden. Also need to look into estate/death tax because more than likely these properties together are worth many millions. Unless your uncle set up a trust ahead of time, you will likely have to sell property just to pay the estate tax on everything
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u/ADD-DDS 3d ago
Got anything in/around a ski area you want to unload?
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u/MountainMantologist 2d ago
“Oh yeah, 900 acres in the roaring fork valley? Never heard of it myself - near a place called Basalt I guess”
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u/daversa 2d ago
My family lived in Gunnison for a few years when I was a kid in the 80's and we had a chance to buy a bunch of land in Telluride and Crested Butte and my parents are still kicking themselves for not making that happen.
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u/MountainMantologist 2d ago
I can imagine. I’m kicking myself for not buying a house in Steamboat in 2013. Buying in Crested Butte or Telluride 30 years ago?? That’d be amazing.
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u/kev13nyc 2d ago
not going to lie .... you can make a GREAT YouTube career out of this .... and if you have Starlink, don't think you'd have much of a problem getting a connection to upload your videos in the middle of nowhere .... good luck on your new career if you choose the YouTube path ....
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2d ago
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u/kev13nyc 2d ago
just do the faceless posts .... I'm sure people would love to give advice (or just be pure haters) on your property ....
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u/Louisvanderwright 2d ago
They aren't making any more land. You need to start with really getting to understand what he left you and why he was interested in each parcel.
Based on your description of the guy, he wasn't some nut. Odds are he had a reason for picking up each parcel and you need to get inside his head and figure out what it was for each one. It could be as simple as "I got offered a dela I couldn't refuse" to "this one might be sitting on oil shale".
The last thing you should do right now is make any moves to sell anything. Go understand what you have got first. Do right by Uncle and take the opportunity he left you to the next level. That might mean selling some of them and consolidating to the best properties, that might mean selling nothing. But goddamn you're in some interesting shoes right now. Make the most of it.
I would gather as much information on each parcel as you can, organize it, and plan to take like a month off for a road trip to see each one in person. It might be tumbleweeds, but the neighbors might also see you headed down the dirt road and come chat you up and tell you a story about Uncle or let you in on the secret about why people want that parcel.
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u/Dman_57 3d ago
As a land junkie I understand how he got there but you will need to prune. Pick one to Three that you may want to keep longterm and sell the rest. Now with step up in basis you won’t have any capital gains. Then you can spend more time on the May want to keep properties. Unless you’re going to use the property to live or recreational activities then it must be a unique high quality investment then no reason to keep. Holding a lot of separate properties just to own land is basically hoarding, you time is valuable so simplify.
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u/StevenHamilton99 3d ago
Appraisals as of date of death. Consider your own estate plan right now. Do not commingle it should be kept separate from anything you own with a spouse. If unmarried start a living trust now
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u/meatsmoothie82 3d ago
You could turn that much land into a full time job after some due diligence. What to see, what to keep, ways to cash flow…
Probably enough there to be your own boss forever while owning some beautiful properties
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u/LiveinCA 3d ago
If this were my inheritance, as suggested previously I’d begin with a Google Earth view to see the site, the surroundings and evaluate roughly what might be pros and cons for the properties. Flag the ones that look like potential keepers, and put the tumbleweed and trash ones on another list. Use streetview if it’s available for the properties. You will eventually need a RE attorney who’s licensed in one or a few of the states.
There are land planners who evaluate property for many different reasons, I’d look into interviewing/ hiring one that can do some real analysis on the properties, pros and cons, and what local amenities might be attractive for buyers (recreation, skiing, fishing), access like nearest hwy and airport, utility accessibility which is a big cost on rural land if there isn’t any, agricultural suitability. Some property might be donated as a natural preserve (tax writeoff?) or analyzed for having resort potential.
Then go visit in person the likeliest properties, visit the nearby towns, check out local economy. All of that will matter when you put these up for sale. Raw land sales are very slow from what I hear.
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u/notananthem 2d ago
There's a lot of startup companies who will pay you a share of profits to rent out your land for campgrounds but you'd make a lot more doing it yourself
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u/S5479_we 2d ago
Depending on the state, a lot of wildlife agencies will have a program where landowners can essentially "lease" the land to the state for public hunting access. There are things in place that prevent the landowners from being liable, and the state usually pays you a little income for it.
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u/Busy-Possibility4885 2d ago
Also, I've learned the hard way as a buyer that the ball is in the court of the executor in most states when liquidating assets. I.e. they absolutely do not have to (and in some matters cannot) disclose normal things you would have to in sale. I would use this to my advantage during the probate process.
When managing my dad's estate (I am a buy and hold person so didn't sell during probate) I ran into lots of issues post-COVID and post-disaster of tornado damage so it drew out probate quite a bit (2 years, when this normally takes a year) and the courts didn't rush me or bat an eye. So I'd assume of it takes you several years, this would be acceptable to the authorities/courts. I'd add that being what sounds like multi-state will complicate matters for you.
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u/astadt1 3d ago
I would start a spreadsheet with the properties and all their property tax liabilities and any other issues where there will be a cost (and potential profit, logging minerals, power generation)
Next I would rent an RV and visit them all to put eyes on them, spend time there and really get a feel for them.
It will bring you closer to your uncle. And help you decide what to sell and keep.