Best Chance of getting someone to sell some land

CTSNicholas · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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 · Nov 9, 2016

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.

prichard · Nov 9, 2016

Here it's 8ac minimum to build on ag land.

CTSNicholas · Nov 9, 2016

Lot of replies, and lot of good info. Thanks.

To clarify on a few things, this is land I am seeking out is not in the middle of some field. The field is a huge rectangle with a little tail maybe 1,200 feet wide of road front that then goes back about 400 feet before touching into the large rectangle. My idea is to emphasize that I would not interrupt any crop harvest or planting. I would essentially either make that little bumpout smaller or even non-existant if they wanted. I realize if this was geographically troubling, it would be much easier to say no way. But considering there is nothing that would be taken away, aside from the extra few acres of crops the next season. I'd even let them finish a full cycle of crops if desired while owning the land.

The area is not prime real-estate. It's agriculture with residential next to it because of the road frontage. Each house lot is 1 or 1.5 acres. It would not be desirable for most people to buy and stick a house or multiple houses on because the neighborhood is nothing near prime housing. The benefit is I grew up in the area and know it well along with having enough land to buffer from any neighbors. Minimum Ag classification for housing is 3 acres, which seems like a lot here but I guess better than most of you have it

(The neighbor houses are all 1 acre tracts doing just fine and dandy. New regulations and setbacks cause the larger acreage requirement, but it can still be reduced with engineer drawings of where utilities go and still meet setbacks.)

If it makes any difference, they are an older couple. More than likely leasing or hiring someone to farm the land. I'd really hope selling land for more than they paid doesn't raise their land value that easily. It never has before, so not sure why that would work that way. Land is always assessed at a certain value per average price in the county for agriculture use. Not because the neighbor bought it for 4x face value.

Deere Dude · Nov 9, 2016

"But considering there is nothing that would be taken away, aside from the extra few acres of crops the next season. I'd even let them finish a full cycle of crops if desired while owning the land."

It sounds like it is good cropland. I can't really see him selling it, but you never know.

Keep working on him. It could take years to break them down, but be ready to pay a much higher price than it is worth. Tell him you will pay for the survey and any legal bills involved. Then maybe you will have a shot.

I have a BIL with 80 acres with 2 or three fields. On one end of a field was a useless marsh. His neighbor wanted that marsh in the darndest way so eventually after coaxing he bout it from my BIL for what good cropland was worth.

The same neighbor bought a house an an acre right next to a 20 acre field of his. They had a bad septic they said, and needed an extra acre so they could extend their seepage bed. The only way was to buy part of a cropland field for their seepage bed. After some grinding and whining he eventually sold them an acre in the corner of a field for their bed. Not he needs to drive around this acre with big combines and tractors. That was twenty years ago and he never did extend his seepage bed to this day.

Good luck.

ovrszd · Nov 9, 2016

CTSNicholas said:
Lot of replies, and lot of good info. Thanks.

To clarify on a few things, this is land I am seeking out is not in the middle of some field. The field is a huge rectangle with a little tail maybe 1,200 feet wide of road front that then goes back about 400 feet before touching into the large rectangle. My idea is to emphasize that I would not interrupt any crop harvest or planting. I would essentially either make that little bumpout smaller or even non-existant if they wanted. I realize if this was geographically troubling, it would be much easier to say no way. But considering there is nothing that would be taken away, aside from the extra few acres of crops the next season. I'd even let them finish a full cycle of crops if desired while owning the land.

The area is not prime real-estate. It's agriculture with residential next to it because of the road frontage. Each house lot is 1 or 1.5 acres. It would not be desirable for most people to buy and stick a house or multiple houses on because the neighborhood is nothing near prime housing. The benefit is I grew up in the area and know it well along with having enough land to buffer from any neighbors. Minimum Ag classification for housing is 3 acres, which seems like a lot here but I guess better than most of you have it (The neighbor houses are all 1 acre tracts doing just fine and dandy. New regulations and setbacks cause the larger acreage requirement, but it can still be reduced with engineer drawings of where utilities go and still meet setbacks.)

If it makes any difference, they are an older couple. More than likely leasing or hiring someone to farm the land. I'd really hope selling land for more than they paid doesn't raise their land value that easily. It never has before, so not sure why that would work that way. Land is always assessed at a certain value per average price in the county for agriculture use. Not because the neighbor bought it for 4x face value.

Welcome to TBN!!!!

You haven't mentioned what you are willing to pay? Are you expecting to buy this small parcel at the same price per acre as large tracts of farmland go for?

CalG · Nov 9, 2016

You will have to make some plan to present to the present owners that will show a greater good than just your pinning and unfounded desire. That just sounds pathetic.

CTSNicholas · Nov 9, 2016

I think I would probably be willing to maybe double their price paid per acre which would be an above normal rate for land in this area. 7.5k is pretty common, maybe 10k if a really good local. I'd probably be willing to bend over backwards for the sake of my dream. Even if it's pathetic. And I am already planning on mentioning I'd make it as simple as possible, contacting and paying for any surveys needed, etc. Really hoping I just don't get shut down before I can give my presentation.

ovrszd · Nov 9, 2016

CTSNicholas said:
I think I would probably be willing to maybe double their price paid per acre which would be an above normal rate for land in this area. 7.5k is pretty common, maybe 10k if a really good local. I'd probably be willing to bend over backwards for the sake of my dream. Even if it's pathetic. And I am already planning on mentioning I'd make it as simple as possible, contacting and paying for any surveys needed, etc. Really hoping I just don't get shut down before I can give my presentation.

What's in it for them? What is your "presentation" offering?

Of course you are going to pay closing costs (title search, abstract modification, Warranty Deed, etc.)

Is this your first land purchase?

bigtiller · Nov 9, 2016

CTSNicholas said:
I think I would probably be willing to maybe double their price paid per acre which would be an above normal rate for land in this area. 7.5k is pretty common, maybe 10k if a really good local. I'd probably be willing to bend over backwards for the sake of my dream. Even if it's pathetic. And I am already planning on mentioning I'd make it as simple as possible, contacting and paying for any surveys needed, etc. Really hoping I just don't get shut down before I can give my presentation.

I have never seen this land but I can almost guarantee that 10K for one acre will be turned down. You'll probably get him to agree to think about it for 40k. Anything under 30K he will probably just smile and say "I'll call you if we decide to sell".

Like 95xl said, farmers don't buy land so they can turn around sell it, they want to work it and they want their kids and grand kids to work it.

oosik · Nov 9, 2016

Perhaps you are in a situation where the owners simply do not want to sell. About 15 years ago I was offered a significant amount for my 80 acres. It was going to be purchased by a developer from California. I have no desire to ever sell - irrespective of any offer. The CA developer finally gave up when he found out that my land is zoned agricultural. Minimum lot size for ag land around here is 20 acres. BTW - his offer was $25K/acre.

If I had sold to the developer and he was able to split my land into small lots - I don't think my neighbors to the North & South would have be able to find me in central Mexico - where I would be hiding.

I've lived here 34 years and in that time three new houses have been built within an eight mile radius of my property.

95XL883 · Nov 9, 2016

If you are not taking from the main field and maybe making dealing with a narrow patch easier, you might have a chance. I don't think I would mention specific money at all in the first contact. I almost bought one 10 acre tract when the old lady who owned it had a reputation of running people off her property, sometimes with a shotgun in hand. I wrote her a very nice letter, complementing her on the beautiful lot and saying my wife and I admired it so much that we would like to raise our family there should she ever want to sell it. I included my phone number and asked her to call me if she would like to show us the property and discuss it further. To my surprise she called. She was willing to sell to us, even after telling a couple of adjoining owners to go to H*** (They had been arrogant and were being PITA's). We eventually couldn't agree on a price but I got closer than they did. Of course, one difference is I was looking at buying the entire tract. Good luck.