Sold my mother's farm, tractor, etc. today.

[dmccarty]

The wife's family farm is being subdivided starting after her great, grand parents died. The land is being sliced and diced up. After some of the grand parents generation dies, no one will live in the family farm house and the land has been leased out for decades. Some parts of the family continue, and will continue, to own the farm land, but it is leased out and the owners live a long drive from the land. I get the attachment to the land, but at some point, the attachment is gone...

There are sooooo many nice homes in rural areas in NC that are empty. Not McMansions but nice sized homes. The grand parents lived in the house, raised a family, which almost always has to move away for work, and then the grandparents die. Nobody CAN live in the home because there are no job nearby and the house is remote. Even if there is land, there is not enough land to make a living any more, so the house sits. Sometimes the house is maintained but often it just rots away. It is sad to see.

Near my wife's family's land is a number of HUGE old farm houses, well, mansions. Just huge. They are just rotting away because nobody could/would live there. Sad.

Let go and sell it to someone who else who can be the next caregiver.

Having said that, there are two large parcels very near to us that are up for sale. It is not obvious the land is for sale since there are no signs. One 50ish acre parcel has been subdivided and approved. Another parcel that is much larger is also up for sale. The grand mother died a few years ago and now the family is selling. They have lease the land for decades to run cattle but no money has been put into the pasture which gets more and more weeds every year. The current zoning if for housing but it might go commercial. Either way, there will be a lot more traffic on the local roads and no real way to handle the cars unless many homes, and some businesses, lose land, if not the entire parcel to expand the roads. With our growth it is inevitable but it is going to be ugly.

Later,
Dan

 

[Jstpssng]

My paternal grandfather built the house my mother lives in back in 1927. He lived there until he died, then my parents moved back. It's been kept up and is in good shape but my brother seems to think it will be torn down once it's sold. He may be right, but they're going to pay full market value first.

 

[dmccarty]

My paternal grandfather built the house my mother lives in back in 1927. He lived there until he died, then my parents moved back. It's been kept up and is in good shape but my brother seems to think it will be torn down once it's sold. He may be right, but they're going to pay full market value first.

So often one is buying the land, the structure is an expense.

There is a two acre property near us that has a trailer and they are asking $400,000. The trailer is an expense. One is buying the land. Hard to believe the land is worth $200,000 an acre though.

Near by was a parcel(s), I am guessing 2-5 acres, that had two houses, some old out buildings and a pole barn. I have no idea on the price received for the property(ies) but I suspect, due to it's location, the offer could not be refused. One house was maybe 50 years old and the other house was around 100 years old. We only ever saw one man, 50-60 years old, living there and I am not sure which of the two houses he lived in.

Nothing new in this though. As the price of land goes up the structures may not be worth anything. Back in Florida, people were buying up 1950/1960 homes on canals, tearing them down, and building much larger houses. The people were buying the lot, the house was an expense to tear down. This was many decades ago...

Later,
Dan

 

[Jstpssng]

So often one is buying the land, the structure is an expense.

There is a two acre property near us that has a trailer and they are asking $400,000. The trailer is an expense. One is buying the land. Hard to believe the land is worth $200,000 an acre though.

Near by was a parcel(s), I am guessing 2-5 acres, that had two houses, some old out buildings and a pole barn. I have no idea on the price received for the property(ies) but I suspect, due to it's location, the offer could not be refused. One house was maybe 50 years old and the other house was around 100 years old. We only ever saw one man, 50-60 years old, living there and I am not sure which of the two houses he lived in.

Nothing new in this though. As the price of land goes up the structures may not be worth anything. Back in Florida, people were buying up 1950/1960 homes on canals, tearing them down, and building much larger houses. The people were buying the lot, the house was an expense to tear down. This was many decades ago...

Later,
Dan

I understand but still intend to get fair market value. Eventually she will be in some type of assisted living. At that point we are not going to let things go at fire sale prices, the way that we've done with a lot of the other things my father had.

 

[Diggin It]

There's about 10 acres just a few miles from me I'd like to have. But even if I could afford the land, it doesn't have water, power, telephone or septic. And I would need driveways on two sides, one a county road, the othera state highway. They both charge access fees to 'connect' Those might not too prohibitive, but even smaller doublewides are ridiculous now.

And I doubt this place would sell and bring enough to offset those costs.

Pretty sure it would be a lot better for me though. No major slopes like I have here that are getting harder for my knees and back to deal with.

 

[ovrszd]

Pretty hard to discuss land values in a forum like this. Acre price varies 50% depending on which direction you go 50 miles away from me.

Land value is what someone will give.

Don't price anything unless you are ready to let it go.

Around here an auctioneer and/or realtor is unnecessary.

 

[ultrarunner]

Interesting to hear about Real Estate around the country...

Here in East Oakland an original maintained hundred year 3 br 2 bath of 1050 square feet on a 4000 square feet lot is still bringing 600k

Its amazing to hear of land with large homes just sitting vacant.

East Oakland is not exactly location, location, location either... crime, window bars, etc...

 

[RSKY]

Cash has a way of disappearing. Now you have to figure out how to reinvest it.

That may be the next problem. CDs aren't paying anything. Hate to put it in the market but guess I will look at mutual funds.

 

[RSKY]

Between the auctioneer, taxes and other fees and costs, they'll only get about half. And that's assuming there aren't a bunch of legal/probate costs.

Wrong,.... buyer pays 10% fee to auctioneer, inherited property so no taxes to us. We pay half of survey and fees for deed. Rest is ours.

 

[RSKY]

Pretty hard to discuss land values in a forum like this. Acre price varies 50% depending on which direction you go 50 miles away from me.

Land value is what someone will give.

Don't price anything unless you are ready to let it go.

Around here an auctioneer and/or realtor is unnecessary.

Our auctioneer made us a lot of money. He had people lined up to bid on the place. We would have gladly sold for $420, instead we split $775+ after everything else paid for. We had people coming up to us wanting us to give them a price right up to when auction started. Auctioneer said to not give a price to anybody, not even to each other. I had sisters write the lowest we should take down and I did too. We unfolded the papers and were all within 10% of each other. That number was surpassed when the second of the seven plots was bid on.

I doubt if any other area auctioneer would have got us that price. Do your research and pick the one that gets the most from the property. The rest of the stuff was grouped together in boxes and sold in a hurry. After the property sold you could have thrown all the household goods in a dumpster and I would have still been happy.

One daughter sold a house last year. At my insistence she priced it 20K over what the real estate said. Price was met by first looker two minutes after it went on sale. She could have got 50K more if auctioned.

RSKY