Jake Paul’s new $39M Georgia property is fit for a ‘big kid,’ broker says

Social media influencer and professional boxer Jake Paul has purchased a massive property in South Georgia for $39 million.

Known as Southlands the 5,746-acre estate in Decatur County is one of the largest private land sales in Georgia history, according to the real estate broker Jon Kohler & Associates, which specializes in recreational properties of this caliber.

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“This one is large, even for me,” Kohler said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He worked with colleague Walter Hatchett on the deal.

The property was originally listed in 2024 for $42.5 million.

Credit: Jon Kohler and

Credit: Jon Kohler and

Paul, 28, closed on the purchase in April. He first talked about the property earlier this month on “The Iced Coffee Hour” podcast, saying he funded Southlands from his 2024 boxing match against Mike Tyson, which earned him around $30 million.

“I’ve wanted to buy a ranch for the last 15 years,” Paul told podcasters Graham Stephan and Jack Selby. “I wanted a place where I can wakesurf, hunt and build a racetrack.”

Kohler said working with Paul was a joy.

“He looked across several Southern states,” Kohler said. “This one fit his criteria. … His dad took him hunting when he was a kid in Ohio. It seems like human nature wants us to do what we did as a kid. He’s a perfect big kid.”

Paul also owns a $13 million mansion in Puerto Rico.

Credit: Jon Kohler and Associate

Southlands has a sizable quail population, trophy whitetail deer and 4 miles of frontage to Lake Seminole. There is a remodeled, eight-bedroom main lodge, three guest residences and a four-stall horse barn. There’s a 60-acre irrigated field, a 20-acre private lake, a 30-acre duck pond and 5 miles of creeks with waterfalls. It’s 8 miles from the city of Bainbridge and an 18-minute drive to the nearest airport.

“He flies into the Bainbridge airport on a private jet,” Kohler said. “He’s talked about how much he respects the lifestyle here. It’s a peaceful place.”

Kohler, who has worked with other celebrities like country star Sam Hunt, said the property is like “owning your own private national forest.”

He said the annual maintenance of a space this size could range from $350,000 to $1.2 million “depending on personal taste.”

Credit: Courtesy of Jon Kohler and Associates

Indeed, Southlands has a long history. The original 26,000-acre property was first owned by naturalist and conservationist Herbert Stoddard.

Rhode Island senator and industrialist Jesse Metcalf purchased it in 1937 for hunting and built the original lodge. After World War II, pulp and paper giant International Paper took over the property and used it to breed more durable pine trees.

In 2010, Jim Dahl, founder of the Florida-based investment firm Rock Creek Capital, purchased 160,000 acres of property from International Paper, which would only relinquish Southlands via a mass purchase, said Kohler, who was involved in that deal. Kohler then helped Dahl sell a bulk of the other land while keeping Southlands.

In 2023, Brian Philpot, the CEO and principal owner of AgAmerica Lending, which deals in agricultural loans, purchased the property but put it back on the market last year.