Price of land !!
 

We live in North western Illinois, had a farm about a month ago a few miles North of us brought 6800.00 per acre on auction, I thought that was enough. It was a good farm ,but not a great farm. Well another farm was sold just the other day, just down the road from where the other one sold. Well this time a mega farmer that was running it did not want to loose it, ended up paying 8100.00 an acre for it. My goodness when will it end, I`m begining to see dollar signs when I`m sleeping, my wife says we could live like KINGS in Mexico for what ours is worth. > Thanks Marc

You Land Rich Dairy farmer, you.

If you do move south, go further then Mexico okay?
If you get down past Costa Rica I will come visit you. :D

You could do some good cattle ranching down in S. America.
Raise your kids bilingual and all that.

(halfway kidding)

Mmm. Come here for a shocker. Farm down the road is for sale. $1,000,000 per acre. Little high, but not wildly so, considering his location.

Commodity farmers have highly sophisticated computer systems that give them the go--no go answers before the land ever comes up for sale. Plus the capital assets that give them the leverage to do it when the time comes. If the New York Yankees or the New Orleans Saints do it, why not farmers, too?

geo

Anheuser Busch approached my sister about their farm a few years back ,in Missouri, and my sis did not want to sell. They came back to her 3 times, and she sold...made a MINT! Farm is on the Bluffs of the river, off teh highway and now has the Clydsedales housed on it. Good deal for them! They still own the land across from it and are now living closer to my brother in laws family, in Missouri still. They even got a accesibily grant to the land, since my Brothers ashes and urn are buried on the bluff.

Shoot, for that kind of money you could live like kings in central Nebraska. lol

Land
 

In Hancock Co. Tn land goes $1,000 an acre. :coffee:

Is that cheap?

The neighbors think we got "took" paying $400 an acre.

$1,000 to 1,500 an acre for good crop land here - and we have "some" trees. LOL

Problem is, the dollar is worth less and less EVERY day now, so everythings going to be going up, cost the bucks worth less.

Another problem with selling off......... you might make a mint... But, if you try to buy it back, or an equivalent tract, that one will cost more. You'd have to sell out and move to a locale with something less nice than what you already have, to break even.

Scrub pine plantations are bringing up to 5K/acre hereabouts. I've had people wanting to buy mine, but seeing as (yes, I know, the old cliche) they aren't making any more land around here (maybe Hawaii), I'll hold on to it.

New Jersey used to be the chicken capital of the East Coast.

Back in the 80s, developers bought the land from farmers for thousands, maybe even millions. Today there are billions of dollars in condos and McMansions on those plots.

The road network that make farming there efficient is now a great commuter network and shipping lanes for Fedex and amazon.

Local laws are changed to accomodate the new residents. Farmers are told to shut up their noisy, smelly cows and taxes increase - so they sell out too.

Paid about 2,000 an acre here, mostly woods but some good crop land. I think it was a little on the high side considering I've been seeing it going for less around here.

I don't plan on ever selling so I hope it stays low to keep the property taxes affordable. My biggest concern is being 'taxed out'. It happened to me when I lived in Long Island on property that had been in my family for almost 100years. Taxes kept going up and up until it hit 12,000 per year. I'm not rich so I had to sell, at a fraction of its tax assessed value, of course.

I saw that happen when I lived out in Hackettstown NJ, in Warren county. It went from all farms and woods, to subdivisions and mcMansions in about 8 years.

Lots of investors are buying up land around here because it's "hard goods" and few people are willing to risk their money on "paper" investments.

It all comes down to what Will Rogers said many years ago. "Buy land. They ain't makin' any more of it."

In the less populated parts of CT, Northeast and Northwest corners, I saw raw acreage listing anywhere from $20K per acre to 2K per acre. High end being prime cropland and lowend being swamps, parcels with access or zoning issues etc. Majority of parcels are listing for 4K-8K per acre.

If you get away from the NE and NW corners, acreage (if you can find it) gets very expensive, very fast

Connecticut prices are out of sight anyway, and the taxes are too high. I looked at CT before I looked up here and basically, what I could get here for the same money is like 10x more land.

Not much industry or social life to speak of but so what.

Pretty much anywhere other than Hancock Co. and Cocke Co. TN, East TN land is 6-10g an acre. Or more. Land here is no longer priced for Farmer Johnson. It's priced for MR. Johnson, the developer. :(

Yep you are correct. What I forgot to add was larger parcels 75+ acres are very rare and you have lots of competition from developers once you get into that range.

I used to do a lot of daydreaming looking at land listings in New York, VT, NH ,ME... but reality for us is CT is where home is. Family is here, solids jobs are here, and winters really arent all that bad here.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but that's perhaps a bigger reason food costs are going up rather than ethanol production or other things being blamed.

Therre were several counties of smaller dairy farmers, like the picture post cards, on the east side of the Twin Cities. Drove up there to an auction 12 years ago, and the bulldozers were flattening them all, putting up identical beige houses by the sqaure mile.

I about cried tosee that. How ugly those houses were to me.

Wonder how much milk production, food production, has been lost around all major - and minor - cities across the country?

I suppose homesteaders are not immune from my rant either. How many have 2-5 people living on 20 acres or more, not producing their share? :)

Sure was sad to see all those houses all identical, on what used to be productive farms. The sale Iwas at, the tar road was built right up to the edge of the farm site, they kept saying if you bought the silo unloader you don't have to be careful of the silo when removing, everything will be leveled anyhow. Haven't even gone through that area since, don't want to see it.

--->Paul

Spring Valley send em down my way Ive got 120 Id be glad to sellem for that....lt me know where you and the wife settle maybe I an get the farm next door?

In Michigan, we have "right-to-farm" laws. Don't like the smell? You shoulda thought of that before you signed the paperwork.

And where might that be, since you don't give us a clue to your location.

land here averages 5500-6500 per acre. for open corn land.

We have a home in Central Texas. I'm not too clear on the farming there, I do see some grain (not corn) farmed, maybe without irrigation, but anything else need water,, they do grow corn, but irrigated. It is pretty dry, scrub cedar, native grasses, and mesquite. There are some larger trees, but it's dry, at least in my mind.

When we moved there about 12 years ago, the land was $300 to $400 an acre - not it's $3,000 to $4,000 an acre. No one seems to know, or be willing to say why that is.
There is little or no industry - goats are plentiful, some cattle.

Who knows?

Golly, Sally- you know. Where property is expensive. :hysterical:

Reply
 

When I was a teenager in the early 90s, it took 2 full hours of driving to hit the first subdivisions of Toronto. Now it takes just over an hour. We aren't driving any slower.

When I bought this acre, no one wanted it. The county road department wanted rid of it and were asking $400.00 for it and no takers. I put in a bid for $100.00 and was surprised when they took it. I went around in the 70's and bought most of the cheap county properties near me. Now man oh man wish I had bought more. I had a realestate salesman stop by the other day and said he could get $100,000 for this place. I was tempted but where could I even get an acre to build on now. I might have a thousand in this place altogether, a lot of time but what else would I have done. My other place is small too but I have had offers over the years. It was worth keeping just for the times we could get away. My kids would kill me if I sold it now. And with the little cabin, they are really enjoying it now. Sweetie and I have to make reservations just to get a few days alone, LOL....James

Yep, if you don't have laws in place to protect you from changes that happened after you were there, you could easily get taxed out as they change the valuation; or get shut down by new neighbours objecting to what you were doing long before they moved in.

You can make it work for you though. Find a few acres of land in or immediately adjoining a small country town or village, fairly flat in and around your little town, within commuting distance of larger ones with industry, retail centre, college, employment. Hopefully your small town will have a doctor, maybe a dentist. If not maybe you have medical qualifications yourself, or nursing ones you can upgrade to NP.

Develop your land so you're fairly self-reliant. Plant orchard, build house, establish garden over towards one corner. Use the rest for pasture and crops. Maybe plant a shelter-belt/woodlot between your home block and your open land, choosing trees that grow fast and coppice well. This means that later, when age means you have to slow down, you can start selling-off blocks, still keep what you've established, and finance your retirement. By then expansion from the larger centres should have made your area more popular, and you can sell at a better price.

If TSHTF and everything falls apart, you're already part of a small community who can help each other. You're also close enough for farm-gate sales; and for quick easy trips that don't use fuel to get into town, maybe to a farmer's market. Bicycles, tricycles (google "Worksman Cycles"), supplementary internal combustion or electrical motor for a bicycle, moped, motor scooter, 50cc motorcycle, maybe a donkey or pony cart, buckboard or surry, even just a goat-drawn billy cart to get your produce to or purchases from market, even just walk.

A draught pony or cob horse (e.g. Icelandic horse; Welsh or Gypsy cob, highland or Irish pony) is very versatile. It's like a draught horse that shrunk in the wash. Once your land has been deeply worked, a draught pony can pull the tools necessary to work it each year, although maybe just one furrow at a time. They can also be ridden, and easily draw a wheeled conveyance for a family. If all you want is cart, buckboard or surry for say two people with no steep hills, a Shetland pony will do the job. If you have enough pasture for them, draught ponies will only need supplementary feeding when working, or when it's very cold or very deep snow.

Texican,

It's scary....Everytime you comment, it's like you're taking the words right out of my head. We think alike.
If you lived closer I think we could be good friends.
You give good advice.

It is scary. Where are we all going to live. human beings are trying to fill in any and all open space that they can with developements and malls.

I live in New York City and it sucks, it is over crowded, dense, unpleasent, impersonal, and basicly, the whole of america will eventually be as dense, expensive, unpleasent, and impersonal as new york city. Just wait, it might take 100 years but it will happen.

It would be cool if people on this site organized to make homestead villages and towns. it would be easier to cultivate and preserve this way of life if people who think and live this way had more legal control of the area they live in. Your town your rules, the same as the other towns, but the town charter would be based on homesteading principles.

Many of us already live in those places. We call them "counties." :shrug:

Seriously, though, there's really nothing special about what you're talking about, you just need to be in a different part of the US...
In my part of the world, entire states are "based on homesteading principles."
Because, of course, that's why we're states in the first place... ;)

i hear ya!! used to be we were way out in the stix!! now we are the first dirt road south of the city and they are paving fast!! land we were cropping up too 5 years ago is now houses!

Wogglebug what you described is basically what we did here on our farm in southren Nova Scotia. It was a run out property with run down house and buildings. It took years of hard work but it now is a very productive piece of land. The farm work was done with hand tools and a 700 lb shetland/quarter horse cross. He died at 28 yr. We have had a 1500 lb Clydesdale cross for ten years now. The house we repaired enough to live in, roof, foundation and things necesary. More didn't get done because of lack of money and time. But it is adequate.The barn got fixed up and built on additions so the animals are quite comfortable.

We wish we were closer to town but manage because we don't go often. My husband has a moped he built from old bikes. Our wood lot is five miles away so we take a cart pulled by the horse to go there. I still ride a bicycle in good weather. Now we are mid sixties we grow less garden and let neighbors plant on our land.

Our problem is rich people built half million and million dollar homes right near us and are driving up taxes. I had to fight to keep our assessment down. If we fix up this old house our taxes would go up to an amount we couldn't pay them. The rich folks call our place quaint. I think run-down is more appropiate!

Farm land here doean't seem to be sold so much an acre anymore. An assessment is done for the whole farm has a price attached. Most working farms are a 100 miles north of us in the Annapolis Valle and big or small can cost $100,000 to a half million dollars. Small acreages with a house sell for $100,000 or more. Only a few places have cheaper places under $70,000. 25 years ago we had to pay $25,000 for this run down place and ten acres and thought that was awful! Never did we ever believe prices would esculate.

This part of Canada is in economic hard times with lost jobs. A lot of homes are for sale but are over priced. The rich people's homes are only occupied summers except for a couple. Some are forsale but who would buy them? Taxes on some of them are $3,000 and $4,000 a year!

Assessments were capped for local people so assessments can only go up a little each year. The capped assessment is what we pay taxes on. Then there is the real assessment which is thousands of dollars more. If we ever sold this place the next owner would pay taxes on the real assessment.

Now the provincial government is talking about doing away with the capped assessment.This would double our property taxes. All of this because rich peple built expensive homes near us!

I tell people who want to farm to buy a small house in a less expensive area and learn how to farm on a an acre or two. Go bigger and eventually taxes will be too expensive. We just keep living the same no matter what goes on around us but taxes is one thing we can't do anything about.

Until we've been here for 5 years, our yearly taxes are right around $3500. We have to be here for 5 years before we can get an ag exemption, because the former owners allowed the old one to expire. Once we get that, our taxes will drop to right around $2000-- but thats still high considering how far removed we are from everything.

46 acres of farm land (38 or so tillable) in mid-missouri...$70 per year property taxs, there are not such as thin as Ag exemptions in MO...it either is a house, a house in a town, or farm/timber/pasture land.

BTW, I'm quite proud of it this year. Paid $79,000 for it last year and got a check for $3700 for my share (1/3) of the beans a couple of weeks ago. That's around a $100.00 per acre for marginal row crop land and I aint got no (big) tractor, combine, fuel bill, lime bill, fertilizer bill, etc. Better than the stock market. Now I just need a couple hundred more acres.

Just last week I read. 80 acres of farm ground in Iowa $13,800/acre. I can't find the article so price may not be exact.

Bought my 11 acres for about 6500 an acre this year. This week a neighbor put a few 2 acre lots up for sale around the corner for $15k an acre or so.

I can't see how they will get a return on that--20 ft of top soil, 250 bushels of corn and all-- still too much $$.

Problem is, land may come up for sale once every couple or three generations so if a farmer has his eye on it, they may pay more tnan is prudent. ? :confused::confused:

This is the price i've been noticing. I've been looking for land near Austin and still an hour away it's running about 10,000 an acre. :shrug: