Best Chance of getting someone to sell some land

[CTSNicholas]

I live in a small rural-ish town. I have had my eyes on a piece of land for some time now. The original owner didn't want to sell because it was a family trust and not worth the hassle. The guy I spoke with was willing but not the cousins. Since then, the entire cropland went for sale as a whole.

3 Different plots, totaling about 230 acres. Someone bought half the acreage from them after they acquired it back in April, and now they still own about 120 acres of cropland, mind you it's not a pivot but just dry ground for non irrigated corn it looks like. I *really* want this piece of land. I've obsessed over it far too long multiple times, which is what drives my passion but also makes this part so hard...asking the new owners to consider selling a small 1 to 3 acre portion along the road.

For you guys who are in the landowner stage with similar circumstances, what would be the most appealing way someone asked you to sell a small piece of land that you use for crops? I figured since it's not a pivot and between two residential areas (the part I'm lookin at) that it would not be missed.

The catch is, the landowner doesn't need money. At all. So in all honesty, the only reason they'd sell, is to just be nice enough to help me out. And unfortunately I think that's asking too much from some couple that are so wealthy. :confused3: I've read many suggestions and have came up with my own speel, but I'm looking for any tips from someone in their situation instead of mine...to get a view from the inside maybe?

 

[JRobyn]

Assuming that the current property owners are not resident, try to convince them that you WILL be resident and will be able to keep an eye on and care for the rest of their investment. Report or prevent any trespass. Monitor crop health. Monitor and maintain fencing. And try to convince them at the same time, you will be absolutely respectful of THEIR private property rights.

p.s. - What are your plans for the land? Might you be able to utilize just a very small part and then lease back a significant portion of it to them for crops? Make them a really GOOD lease deal!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a similar little section adjoining my property that fronts onto the highway. At one end it is only about 20 feet wide but widens to around 200 feet 1/4th mile down at the end of my property. A lot of it is lowland that floods when heavy rain so it isn't worth anything for building purposes with only high ground on the slender end that is only wide enough for a trailer house. I have offered to buy it but it is also tied up in a trust and the woman hasn't been interested in trying to get permission to sell. The only value to me would be that it would align my property line with the highway, but since the road frontage to me isn't worth that much, I wont be willing to pay more than current price per acre for tracts for it.

Your land may be worth considerable more per acre to you than what the original owner paid and if you offer a substantial amount more than the market price for the acreage, then they may sell it if it has no other value to them than just acreage. Keeping in mind that road frontage to some is valuable.

 

[MH8675309]

The most successful strategy is offering a good price for it. that's what I had to do but now its mine. If you try to get it cheap they'll probably shut down and you might never get it.

 

[9973720wb19]

are there one or more owners you could have a sit-down meeting with? Take them to a local restaurant for dinner. it will give you an opportunity to express your interest and find out their desires. I don't know the zoning, but if the parcels you'd like to buy have a more valuable zoning like "Residential" over "Ag"...and can be sub-divided with separate building rights for each lot, the seller might be thinking you're interested in it for an investment play. Since they don't need money, It might be important to them the land stays in farming. Not sure you can put that in writing and override zoning rights that run with the land, but they might be good with your word.

 

[roadhunter]

After hearing the situation I dont' see why the owners would even consider this. Buying land and then developing it into "rahchettes" in little pieces is what developers do. I can't think of many situations where I've seen a landowner sell off a couple of acres to someone unless it was a family deal. I doubt they will see much value in theservices being mentioned such as monitoring the crops, fixing fences, etc...

Back in the day you could buy pivot corners in some situations but that is not what this is. Might be better off to buy the whole thing and then piece it out or lease the farming rights. As you know land in Western Nebraska is not terribly valuable or high yielding for crops.

 

[MH8675309]

You could buy it with a deed restriction stating the property wont be developed. It limits your options down the road but would put their minds at ease since a restriction like this is enforceable.

 

[nybirdman]

Look at the owners perspective;O.K. I sold a two acre "building lot" for $10,000;guess what the rest of the property is going to be assessed at?You can bet $5,000/acre;so the taxes go through the roof.
Buy it all or forget about it.

 

[bigtiller]

To a farmer, separating out an acre or two of farm ground will mean extra work for him for the rest of his farming days. It would be similar to planting one flower in several different spots in the middle of your front yard. Think of all the extra trim mowing you'll have to do and all the maintenance the flowers will need to keep them looking good.

So you will have to REALLY make an interesting offer for him to even think about it. And I'm guessing you aren't interested in spending that much for it. I had a life long friend offer me $10,000 an acre for a building site 15 years ago. I smiled and said no thanks.

 

[95XL883]

I understand your obsession. I still think of several tracts that I have seen over the years that I would like to have had. What follows is going to sound a bit harsh. Don't mean to be harsh, just giving you a perspective from the owner's viewpoint.

My dad, and after he passed, my mom, owned some corn/bean ground in southern MN. The crops from that ground provided well for my parents and us, his children. Over the years, there was one person who kept asking us to sell 5 acres so he could build a house. Of course he didn't want the wooded corner with a creek (understandable, it was prone to flooding and right off a paved highway). No he wanted 5 acres of prime cropland. My dad and mom always told him no. They didn't buy it to sell it piece-meal and trying to turn a combine around a cut-out piece would be a hassle. We also would have had to deal with whatever encroachments would follow. When mom passed and the ground was in the estate, he made another run. We siblings all agreed, he should buy the whole 160 acre tract. Truthfully, he had proven himself to be a jack wagon over the years. (I couldn't believe it when he told some contractor to re-do the tiled area without even asking my mom. She found out about it when she got the contractor's bill in the mail. An attorney made it clear they shouldn't ever try that crap again.) My point is the guy trying to buy a portion of the ground became a PITA and if you want any hope of buying it, you don't want to be a PITA. If you are trying to split off a piece of cropland, my guess is your solicitations won't be warmly received. Selling a piece of cropland is contrary to what they bought the ground for. To do what you want, I suspect you will have to buy a much larger tract and then sell off most of it. Be careful how you do that. You may negatively impact the larger tract.

Out of curiosity, have you checked your county statutes? In the county where my ground is, any rural house has to be on a lot or at least 10 acres. It would really stink to go through a lot of hassle only to find out you can't build a house on it.

Again, I don't mean to sound harsh. Good luck but I don't think you have a chance of buying 3 acres out of a productive crop field.