5 Acres or 10?

[fantasymaker]

I have my farm up for sale. Its the prettyest 120 acre farm in IL but there are 20 acres of it that is different in nature from the rest and probably should be sold seperately. That 20 acres are a long thin strip with road access along one side.Its 330'x2640' so it could be broken into either 5 or ten acre lots.
I have the farm for sale at $3500 an acre so if Im going to cut out smaller lots Id want more..Chances are Id get stuck with one of the 5 acre lots for a while.
One of the 5 or 10 acre lots would be a south facing end of a ridge with a nice veiw and creek frontage, maybe the second nicest place on the farm ,I nearly built there rather than here where Im at it was a close thing.
My thinking on priceing in this area is that smaller tracts tend to be worth land value plus $5000 for living in the country and in this case at least that for a veiw and waterfront.
for the best part that would work out to,
So 5 acre = $3500x5 +$5000 +5000=$27500
and 10 acre=$3500x10 +$5000 +$5000 =$45000
For the rest it would be.
So 5 acre = $3500x5 +$5000 =$22500
and 10 acre=$3500x10 +$5000 =$40000
I would appreceate any thoughts on the subject.

[suitcase_sally]

Pictures would help.

What type of farm? Hay and crops or cattle and pigs - not to mention chickens and roosters....

Around here, 10 acres is going for around $90,000. That would be the typical 330 x 1320. The smaller the parcel the higher price it is per acre. For example, if 10 acres is going for $90,000.00, then the 5 acre piece would go for maybe $55,000 - $60,000.

Water frontage is generally considered something you could boat on (lake or river). A creek around here is just a stream, maybe 30' wide and usually doesn't add much to the value unless you depend on it for watering the crops or animals.

You would need to check with the township to see how many splits are available and the minimun frontage on each. There would have to be a minimum road width put in also. If it's just a farm lane (two-track pig path, as we call them), the parcels other than the one on the road would fetch lower prices.

If I was going to divide property into smaller parcels I would put restrictions on what could & couldn't be done on them . Nothing unreasonable for the average person but one trashed up parcel would destroy the value of any unsold parcels . I think I would divide into five acre parcels & if someone wanted ten they could buy two .

[ThreeRivers]

Originally Posted by WV Hillbilly

If I was going to divide property into smaller parcels I would put restrictions on what could & couldn't be done on them . Nothing unreasonable for the average person but one trashed up parcel would destroy the value of any unsold parcels . I think I would divide into five acre parcels & if someone wanted ten they could buy two .

While I am no fan of HOAs ec I agree completely.

I had 57 acres I subdivided in another state I used to live in. All the folks seemed nice,clean etc. I sold and didnt think much about it. I broke it into 2 ten acre tracts 6 five acre tracts and a 7 acre tract.

I sold the first three five acres like wildfire. Then one of the five acre buyers drug in the most dilapidated junker of a mobile home that I ever lay eyes on. Set it up with no underpinning. Within a month trash was every where as well as several junk cars and trucks etc. It looked like one of those on the "Great mobile homes of" type sites.

Before they moved in I was receiving calls daily. It went to zero. Three people that were ready to buy with owner financing walked away from a 500 dollar deposit. It was that bad.

Luckily the guy was caught doing something illegal and went to prison. Once the financing defaulted I served all the right papers and spent 2800 cleaning the place up with a loader etc. You could never tell they had even been there.

I re worked the financing contract. I sold all the units in seven months. Its mostly mobile homes but they are neat and clean yards etc. I wouldnt hesitate moving into the middle of them myself.

[sheepish]

Does it cost something to register the smaller lots? Survey costs, land registry, environmental assessment... are all costs of severing in our area.

Is there any restriction on severing lots from a farm in your area? Where we live, years ago, a farmer with sufficient tenure, coud sever lots for retirement or children, and then do when he wanted with them. But in the past few years that has changed. Have you checked this out?

[Jennifer L.]

Most homeowners don't want too much acreage. I'd go with the smaller lots. If they want a horse, for example, that's plenty of room for a pasture.

Jennifer

[fantasymaker]

All of this land would border the road in the long demintion.
I can divide it as small as I care to.
No survey costs and water and electricity to each.

Divide into smaller, sell for higher amounts each.
But say that the price is negotiable for anyone interested in buying more than one lot, at the same time.