|
10-13-2011, 10:59 AM | |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: San Antonio Tx.
Casino cash: $3934454
|
Are you a Landowner?
If you are, I guarantee you dont own as much land as this guy. 2.2 million acres.
If you own any land, how much do you own? http://www.landreport.com/americas-1...st-landowners/ John Malone, the 70-year-old chairman of Liberty Media, is famously reticent when it comes to discussing his business life. There is, however, one subject that makes the Denver businessman open up: his personal land holdings. Recently, he’s had a lot more to talk about. In 2011, Malone became the largest private landowner in the U.S., wresting the top spot on The Land Report 100 from his friend and longtime business partner, Ted Turner. His decades-long rise to the top dates back to the 1990s, when Malone began acquiring land in Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. His land grab kicked into overdrive in the summer of 2010 when he purchased New Mexico’s historic 290,100-acre Bell Ranch. In early 2011, he snapped up an additional 1 million acres of timberland in Maine and New Hampshire to become America’s leading land baron. Malone says his lust for land harkens back to his Irish genes: “A certain land hunger comes from being denied property ownership for so many generations.” Why buy now? Malone says he was enticed by two trends: a drop in land prices and a decrease in the cost of borrowing. And though he says he operates his landholdings to break even, he also recognizes that real estate “is a pretty decent hedge on the devaluation of currency.” Malone is an ardent conservationist, an ethic he shares with Turner. While the duo’s ends are the same, their means differ somewhat. “I tend to be more willing to admit that human beings aren’t going away,” Malone says. His 2011 Maine and New Hampshire purchase, which was brokered by LandVest’s Timberland Division, saw him acquire robust sustainable forestry operations from private equity firm GMO Renewable Resources. He intends to keep them in place. He applies this philosophy to his western properties, such as the Bell, where he raises cattle and horses. Ultimately, he plans to put all of his land in perpetual conservation easements. So how does Malone’s good friend feel about being knocked off the top spot on The Land Report 100? CNN’s founder couldn’t be happier. “I consider John a good friend and have great respect for him,” Turner says. Malone notes that it was Turner who “first gave me this land-buying disease” on a helicopter ride the two shared on a Turner ranch. Malone is not done yet either. He says he is looking at a large parcel in the Northeast and Canada that would “double us in the forestry side.” He’s adding cropland so that “we can go a little more vertical in cattle and produce more of our own feed and control costs better,” he says. But in the end, there’s more involved than economics and conservation. “There’s the emotional and intellectual aspect of walking the land and getting that sense of awe,” says Malone. “I own it, sort of, for my lifetime.” — Monte |
Posts: 66,914
|
10-13-2011, 11:02 AM | #2 | ||
Mindful Taoist German
Join Date: Aug 2000
Casino cash: $8121662
|
Don't know who he is but I can't imagine anything will feel better than than buying more property...
__________________
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
Posts: 74,189
|
10-13-2011, 11:04 AM | #3 |
NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
Casino cash: $3428491
VARSITY
|
Man, I'll bet he spends all of his free time mowing. No, thanks.
__________________
I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit. |
Posts: 141,184
|
10-13-2011, 11:05 AM | #4 |
PLAY GOOD FOOTBALL
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: American Gardens Building
Casino cash: $4128654
|
i pay property tax, does that count?
|
Posts: 17,367
|
10-13-2011, 11:05 AM | #5 |
Prestige Worldwide
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Spring Hill, KS
Casino cash: $3150526
|
I'd rather be land-rich than cash-poor...
__________________
Adopt-A-Chief: John Dorsey
|
Posts: 18,383
|
10-13-2011, 11:09 AM | #6 |
MVP
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Michigan
Casino cash: $3347078
|
I don't think anyone that can invest that kind of money in land has a problem with outsourcing the mowing.
2.2 million acres? If the average rate of acquisition is $1,500 per acre... wuh.... 3.3 billion dollars. |
Posts: 12,537
|
10-13-2011, 11:10 AM | #7 |
MVP
Join Date: Sep 2000
Casino cash: $10005036
|
I own a whopping .13 acres. Suck on that Malone.
My wife and I are house shopping and I used to (maybe still do a little) think it would be cool to live out on an acreage. But then when I factored in the time to drive out in BFE, be close to a store or down-town or have neighbors for my little girl to play with, it started to lose some its luster. Just give me enough land for me to do some fun landscaping (I'm into water gardening) on and I'm good. |
Posts: 5,747
|
10-13-2011, 11:23 AM | #8 |
Veteran
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Folly Beach, SC
Casino cash: $5197550
|
21 acres in wild, wonderful Round O, South Carolina...about 40 minutes outside Charleston.
|
Posts: 3,068
|
10-13-2011, 11:37 AM | #9 | |
NFL's #1 Ermines Fan
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: My house
Casino cash: $3428491
VARSITY
|
Quote:
If he's smart with his money he'd buy a bigger mower instead of hiring it out. So 2.2 million acres = 3,437.5 square miles Based on the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the land area of the two smallest U.S. states are: The state of Rhode Island = 1,045 square miles The state of Delaware = 1,954 square miles So this dude privately owns more land than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, and he's gaining on Connecticut in a one on one, which has 4,845 square miles of land area.
__________________
I'm putting random letters here as a celebration of free speech: xigrakgrah misorojeq rkemeseit. |
|
Posts: 141,184
|
10-13-2011, 11:46 AM | #10 |
Supporter
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Scott City KS
Casino cash: $2424734
|
Holy Crap. That is a bunch.
I own the lot my house is on and 25% share of 160 acres. I'm buying the other 75%. |
Posts: 56,733
|
10-13-2011, 11:48 AM | #11 |
MVP
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: nemo
Casino cash: $1799900
|
i own a 30 acre patch of timber that's pretty much surrounded by corn and bean fields. i love hunting.
house is up next to the road w/11 acres of yard. i hate mowing. sec
__________________
"Mr. seclark. Wrong for gravy, wrong for jelly, wrong for biscuits." -rj "If every Planeteer who was disliked by another Planeteer stopped being a Planeteer we wouldn't have any Planeteers." -rj |
Posts: 13,393
|
10-13-2011, 12:03 PM | #12 |
Hello
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: South Dakota
Casino cash: $1172096
VARSITY
|
|
Posts: 23,201
|
10-13-2011, 12:03 PM | #13 |
Be Kind To Your Pets
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Glorious Independence, MO
Casino cash: $17686178
VARSITY
|
I have a front and back yard and a Craftsman mower. Does that count?
|
Posts: 40,830
|
10-13-2011, 12:09 PM | #14 |
In Search of a Life
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: San Antonio Tx.
Casino cash: $3934454
|
|
Posts: 66,914
|
10-13-2011, 12:14 PM | #15 |
Mama Tried
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Missouri
Casino cash: $9949903
|
Yes.
__________________
True Son of Liberty |
Posts: 23,371
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|