Seems to me we drifted away from helping recommend a set up for 5 acres!?!
So here is 2 more cents worth on the original topic:
A Grey Market tractor is a fine tractor if you want lowest prices and basic features. Some are better than others. Do NOT think that grey market used tractor gives you the same features as a new CUT because they do not. Some have plenty of parts available and some do not. Hydrostatic trans is not available. Some have non standard 2pt hitches. Some have non standard PTO speeds. Many have been converted to our standards, some have not. Rarely do you find safety features like ROPS & seat belts, some have auto shut offs when you get (fall) out of the seat, some have PTO shields. Most have live PTOs.
A new Chinese import is probably the closest new tractor to a Grey Market tractor because they are very basic machines at low comparitive costs. Parts are typically available, but not always plentiful. I don't know of any with hydrostatic trans as an option. Safety features missing on the grey market tractors are standard.
A used older utility tractor (Oliver Super 55, Ford NAA, Ford 8N, Ferguson, etc) is cheap and capable, but hard to turn and tear up lawns (I can post pictures of this first hand if you want to see what an old tractor can do when it gets wet outside). These tractors are probably too big to use on just 5 acres unless you are actually farming it. Safety features are non-existant. Some of the more modern units have things like a live PTO, many do not.
A used compact utility tractor is hard to find and will be more expensive than any of the above options and probably not worth the price becuause they seem to be holding their price when compared to a new one. If you can find one at a good price, it will have a standard cat 1 3pt hitch and at least a rear mounted 540pto. Safety features like ROPS and seat belts are on 90% of the used ones unless they are really old.
A new CUT is an expensive unit. For 5 acres you are looking at $10,000 - $11,000 for the basic tractor with hydrostatic transmission, typically with 2 gear ranges & some have cruise control and even come with a cup holder and front and rear lights. That will buy you a new JD, New Holland or Kubota without the mower deck, FEL, etc. But you get all the safety features, you get a 2 or 3 year warrenty, you get some piece of mind in a local dealership that will stand behind it. Parts are not a problem.
So the questions you need to ask are what can you afford to spend in time and in money? How much piece of mind do you want? How mechanical are you? Can you gamble on downtime or not? Etc.
I can tell you I have 4 tractors. 2 bought new, 1 bought barely running, and 1 bought well used. I recommend NEW to anyone with the budget for it. And further, I recommend buying a smaller new from a major supplier than a bigger new Chinese because I have not found anyone who bought a tractor with a hydro trans who would ever give it up (except for REAL farmers and they have a lot of reasons to use all the gears they can get). The Chinese tractors are probably fine but I don't know of any with hydrostatic transmissions. There are also very good Indian & Korean units with manual transmissions, all are cheaper than the major brands units that come in from Japan (JD, NH, Kubota).
