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One of these things doesnt belong.....

I think lots of these older landowners are going to look for young farmers rather than selling at top dollar to corporate farmers or land investors (if no heirs in line). Just a hunch. Pretty confident they will avoid foreign investors unless the buyer hides it (has a front person).
Good luck. A few will but most will look to the established operations that have nice equipment and pay good rents!
 
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I'm sure the time frame when land and rates were lower just previous to the rates and prices now, there was a lot of cherry picking and an overall higher level of purchases in general. I'm sure there are some real duds and possibly some good properties sitting at too high of price now as there were also properties sitting when the market was on fire, priced too high even in that market. One should expect some kind of lull after that buying frenzy. I also believe there are "overpriced" pieces that are much more of a value than one priced at "real market value" that will sell. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people may feel getting a "diamond in the rough" purchase for a cheaper price and then fixing it up into something special is more of a value than buying a "turn-key" place at a "premium" price.

When I commented grey, I wasn't talking about the actual sale price but rather how they arrived at that price. I will be closing on a property in January that is well under real market value. I'm sure there are plenty sweetheart deals out there with the ageing farmer or his wife that sells to family or close friend. Yes that certainly happens, but I don't really consider those type sales part of the "market" because the public doesn't know they were ever for sale until the deal is closed and done, therefore the closing sale price wasn't affected by "open market" financial forces. Plus "friends and family" discounts set those deals apart from "real market value" also.

I'm sure you'll know the answer to this but curious on how that can skew the averages on any given year as these farmers pass the baton to the next generation in their circle of friends and family at lower prices. I don't think the "sweetheart" and "friends and family discount" deals have much bearing on the average prices of land in the open/public market. Again, because most people don't know about those sales and aren't spelunking on the tax assessor site spending hours finding them in the sales search data. I think those private sales may sometimes be a better reflection of *fundamental* land value than the "market value" prices that land sells at on the open market. But I'm sure there are plenty of realtors who would disagree with me and say that a piece of land is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. And in a capitalist society that is technically true. But how many sales of similar pieces of land at a similar price level in a similar area on the public market equals a new market value benchmark? It happens *very often* that a piece of land sells for higher than you'd think it might, because you find that one "just right" buyer who has to have it for one reason or another. He's got a house nearby. Family nearby. He's the neighbor. He has a fast approaching 1031 exchange deadline. Any number of extenuating circumstances that might make a piece sell to a single person for a price no one else offered. Does that mean that price is the new "real market value"? If there were extenuating circumstances then I don't think that means that's the new "real market value". If it happens multiple times, with no extenuating circumstances, well then that's a different story.
 
Way more than I would have guessed. I wonder if that number will go down after this wave of baby boomers are gone?
Hard to believe that a *lot* of land in southern Iowa won't hit the public market for sale in the next 10-15 years. There are an awful lot of farmers who are ageing out and a lot of kids that aren't sticking around on the farm, they're moving north to better paying city jobs and in a lot of cases don't want to mess with the management of a farm that they're not still emotionally or sentimentally connected to in some deep way.
 
All the private sales I know of haven’t gotten any “deals” from family members. Basically saving the realtor/auction fee is enough for them. They just get offered first is the only “win” I’ve seen
I've seen it both ways. The tax assessor sale record usually notes if it was a sale between family members. Sometimes I'm surprised at a lower sale price, but often the land sells for about what it's selling for on the public market.
 
Good luck. A few will but most will look to the established operations that have nice equipment and pay good rents!

A neighbor selling a parcel approached me to match an offer. Like an idiot, I turned it down. Regrets.


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From the 2023 ISU study :

The survey asked respondents what percent of the land was sold to six categories of buyers: existing local farmers, existing relocating farmers, new farmers, local investors, non-local investors, or other.

The majority of farmland sales, 70%, were to existing farmers, of which existing local farmers captured 69% of land sales. Only 1% of sales were to existing relocating farmers. New farmers represented 4% of sales. Investors represented 24% of land sales, with 12% going to local investors and 12% to non-local. Other purchasers were 2% of sales.
 
From the 2023 ISU study :

The survey asked respondents what percent of the land was sold to six categories of buyers: existing local farmers, existing relocating farmers, new farmers, local investors, non-local investors, or other.

The majority of farmland sales, 70%, were to existing farmers, of which existing local farmers captured 69% of land sales. Only 1% of sales were to existing relocating farmers. New farmers represented 4% of sales. Investors represented 24% of land sales, with 12% going to local investors and 12% to non-local. Other purchasers were 2% of sales.
And where would rec buyers fit into this? Combo farms they cash rent and enjoy the recreation. I wouldn't call those people investors. Or farmers.
 
@deep woods goat hunter was recently on The Land Podcast with Jake...some great insights from a lender perspective as well.

Correct me if I am wrong @deep woods goat hunter , but it sounds like you've stayed busy / steady through all of this. However, single family residences there has been a lot more instances of not being able to lend because the numbers don't allow it. And, you've / you're team has had to say "no" more times in the past 12-18 months than the past 8-10 years...If I recall correctly....?

IMO, lenders and cash buyers are determining the market right now (and going forward in the next 12-18 months with our current trajectory). If that makes sense.
 
@deep woods goat hunter was recently on The Land Podcast with Jake...some great insights from a lender perspective as well.

Correct me if I am wrong @deep woods goat hunter , but it sounds like you've stayed busy / steady through all of this. However, single family residences there has been a lot more instances of not being able to lend because the numbers don't allow it. And, you've / you're team has had to say "no" more times in the past 12-18 months than the past 8-10 years...If I recall correctly....?

IMO, lenders and cash buyers are determining the market right now (and going forward in the next 12-18 months with our current trajectory). If that makes sense.
Yes I was. And yes those things are true. I will have to read up on rest of thread when time allows.
 
Auction NCMO Yesterday, 5 miles from me- No sale on an 88 Acre Rec farm- $2,350/Acre
Chew on that one...
Seller family had it appraised before sale @ $5,100/acre & refused to sell it (within family) at appraised value because they thought it would bring more.

I’ve seen 2 farms recently that sold for $3100 an acre in Shelby county and $2900 an acre in Macon county. That’s here in northeast mo. But a farm sold last week maybe 7-8 miles from the Shelby farm for $5000 per. The one that sold last week was 80 acres and the one that sold for $3100 was 98 acres I believe. It’s all over the place right now it seems like
 
Auction NCMO Yesterday, 5 miles from me- No sale on an 88 Acre Rec farm- $2,350/Acre
Chew on that one...
Seller family had it appraised before sale @ $5,100/acre & refused to sell it (within family) at appraised value because they thought it would bring more.
Interesting, poorly advertised auction or something?

Just a few months before I bought my farm the end of 21' i nearly went to an auction for a 79 acre piece in southern IA. I called the auctioneer and spoke with him. Even went down and drove around. Didn't end up going to the auction. Not a very well advertised auction, sort of a an ol'boy small town country auctioneer type. It was actually 278 acres going to auction in two parcels. Whoever won the per acre bid could chose to purchase both parcels at that price per acre, or one of the two at their winning bid per acre price and then the other would go up for auction again.

I couldn't get the day off work, I asked if I could have someone go down and bid in my place for me, that was good to do. This was just before I had really started to play with loan calculators and realizing what I could actually afford. I was going to have my dad go down and bid for me. I ended up telling him dont bother, i probably can't afford it, or it will go for to much, or there will be so many people there I wont win. That was a mistake, the winning bid ended up being $2246 per acre. Absolute steal. Had I bought that I could have flipped that pretty quick and probably double acreage size by now.
 
Interesting, poorly advertised auction or something?

Just a few months before I bought my farm the end of 21' i nearly went to an auction for a 79 acre piece in southern IA. I called the auctioneer and spoke with him. Even went down and drove around. Didn't end up going to the auction. Not a very well advertised auction, sort of a an ol'boy small town country auctioneer type. It was actually 278 acres going to auction in two parcels. Whoever won the per acre bid could chose to purchase both parcels at that price per acre, or one of the two at their winning bid per acre price and then the other would go up for auction again.

I couldn't get the day off work, I asked if I could have someone go down and bid in my place for me, that was good to do. This was just before I had really started to play with loan calculators and realizing what I could actually afford. I was going to have my dad go down and bid for me. I ended up telling him dont bother, i probably can't afford it, or it will go for to much, or there will be so many people there I wont win. That was a mistake, the winning bid ended up being $2246 per acre. Absolute steal. Had I bought that I could have flipped that pretty quick and probably double acreage size by now.
It wasn't done nearly as well as it could have been. Century 21 office out of Moberly that usually does above average auction sales, but the two agents doing the sale were predominantly residential property agents. I am good friends with one of the sellers grandsons (chased turkeys on that farm with him 15-20 years ago).
It has an access issue they failed to remedy-attempted adverse possession affidavit that wasnt executed properly prior to the sale, the other access was going to need some dozer work to get it done the right way. Neighbors stood down knowing the family dynamic that was going on. They had two breaks and had to call in 2 phone bidders to get a single bid.
 
Interesting, poorly advertised auction or something?

Just a few months before I bought my farm the end of 21' i nearly went to an auction for a 79 acre piece in southern IA. I called the auctioneer and spoke with him. Even went down and drove around. Didn't end up going to the auction. Not a very well advertised auction, sort of a an ol'boy small town country auctioneer type. It was actually 278 acres going to auction in two parcels. Whoever won the per acre bid could chose to purchase both parcels at that price per acre, or one of the two at their winning bid per acre price and then the other would go up for auction again.

I couldn't get the day off work, I asked if I could have someone go down and bid in my place for me, that was good to do. This was just before I had really started to play with loan calculators and realizing what I could actually afford. I was going to have my dad go down and bid for me. I ended up telling him dont bother, i probably can't afford it, or it will go for to much, or there will be so many people there I wont win. That was a mistake, the winning bid ended up being $2246 per acre. Absolute steal. Had I bought that I could have flipped that pretty quick and probably double acreage size by now.

Yeah that was definitely a steal for anything pretty much other than WRP ground. Do you happen to remember what county that was in?
 
clarke. Was not wrp
Definitely sounds like someone got a steal.

The world of land selling has changed a lot in the last 20 years, in the era of widespread internet use. Mom & pop small-town "old school" real estate brokerages used to dominate, but that has changed drastically, in southern Iowa anyway. Now a lot more land is sold through land-specialist brokerages, and I think that's a good thing on balance because it means sellers are getting more value out of their land and buyers are getting more information ahead of time on their raw land purchases than they used to.

Now it seems like a lot of the old school small-town brokerages are selling mostly residential stuff with maybe a little land mixed in. I've got a bit of a pet peeve about small-town brokerages trying to sell land if they're not land specialists. I actually just did a video last week and posted on my agent web site about why you shouldn't use a residential realtor to sell land. Seems like some of the small-town brokerages have made a conscious decision not to advertise in a way that has a larger reach, or maybe they're just ignorant, I don't know. Last year I had a small-town realtor in south central Iowa tell one of my selling clients that there is "no way" they'd be able to sell their land at that price *to a local landowner*. You won't be surprised to learn that we weren't specifically targeting local landowners, a local landowner didn't end up buying it, and we did get *every bit of that price*. Age of the Internet.
 
Definitely sounds like someone got a steal.

The world of land selling has changed a lot in the last 20 years, in the era of widespread internet use. Mom & pop small-town "old school" real estate brokerages used to dominate, but that has changed drastically, in southern Iowa anyway. Now a lot more land is sold through land-specialist brokerages, and I think that's a good thing on balance because it means sellers are getting more value out of their land and buyers are getting more information ahead of time on their raw land purchases than they used to.

Now it seems like a lot of the old school small-town brokerages are selling mostly residential stuff with maybe a little land mixed in. I've got a bit of a pet peeve about small-town brokerages trying to sell land if they're not land specialists. I actually just did a video last week and posted on my agent web site about why you shouldn't use a residential realtor to sell land. Seems like some of the small-town brokerages have made a conscious decision not to advertise in a way that has a larger reach, or maybe they're just ignorant, I don't know. Last year I had a small-town realtor in south central Iowa tell one of my selling clients that there is "no way" they'd be able to sell their land at that price *to a local landowner*. You won't be surprised to learn that we weren't specifically targeting local landowners, a local landowner didn't end up buying it, and we did get *every bit of that price*. Age of the Internet.

My assumption is the selling party was likely an older person that didnt know what they had, probably not aware of the demand for what they had and all the recreational land companies that exist today. The auctioneer company I usually just see doing like estates sells or selling off old farm equipment etc. I dont think ive actaully seen them have another land sale since.
 
My assumption is the selling party was likely an older person that didnt know what they had, probably not aware of the demand for what they had and all the recreational land companies that exist today. The auctioneer company I usually just see doing like estates sells or selling off old farm equipment etc. I dont think ive actaully seen them have another land sale since.

Very likely that is exactly the case.
 
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