Considering selling... realistic $$$ evaluation to set price?

[Lucky_P]

Retired, in our late 60s, sold the cows 5 years ago. I've been considering selling out, but yesterday was the first time the wife mentioned it. None of our kids are coming back, or have any interest in operating it as a farm or hunting property. I'm sure the Amish/Mennonites in the area would snap it up in a heartbeat, but she wants to work a deal with a young local couple to buy in an owner-financing deal... but there's been no discussion as to whether they're even interested or could ever afford to buy it.

Was wondering if any of y'all had sold properties in the past, and how you came about setting a price... have you used a property evaluator, realtor, etc.?
I've mainly considered selling as a farm property... but its value as a potential hunting property is an unknown to me. Have received some flyers in the mail from outfits like 'Whitetail Properties', etc., in the past, but never considered them. I just don't want the wife 'giving away the farm' for far less than it is worth.

Christian Co., KY, 5 miles from Hopkinsville. County water, private septic,
~2500sq.ft., 5bedroom/3 bath home built in 1994, sunroom addition 2003, Three pole barns (40x60 stall barnw/ 12x24 tackroom/workshop, 40x60 hay barn, 50x80 polebarn with concrete floor, all enclosed on sides/open on ends. ~5 acre home orchard/nutgrove, with in-production grafted northern pecans, hickories, persimmons, pears, black walnuts, mulberries, few apples & plums. Collection of grafted & seedling low-tannin oak selections.
192+/- acres total; ~85ac. mixed hardwood forest, last timber harvest ~ 1987. Two 3/4-acre ponds - one at house, one up in woods, creek forming the eastern boundary.
100+ac open ground, most in novel-endophyte fescue/orchardgrass/clover/annual lespedeza and mixed warm season grasses (Johnsongrass, crabgrass, dallisgrass) etc. 35 acres is good creekbottom ground, converted back to pasture from long-time no-till corn/soybean production around 2000. 7 acre riparian bufferstrip, 100 ft wide, with ~500 select 25-y.o. northern pecan, black walnut, and grafted hickories and 3 or 4 small areas I've maintained for planting winter foodplots.
Bordering properties are a mix of hardwood forest, open CRP ground, several hundred acres of corn/soybean fields.

Great deer & turkey populations. Last 10 years, I've had one young man & myself(rarely) hunting, but no others (except interlopers). Not unusual to see 50+ deer from the back porch, of an evening, out in pastures/crop fields - and that's just on the 1/3 of property you can see from the house. Have seen some very nice bucks (game cam photo from last fall & turkey from this spring), but all I care about, anymore, is putting a yearling doe or two in the freezer.

Thoughts/recommendations welcomed... probably not going to move very fast on this, if at all, but just sort of starting to feel it out a bit.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Bummer that you want to leave that life. But you are right next to me. Market is good in that area as you know. I wouldn’t use an agent if you can help it. They are going to take a disproportionate amount of your money. I would list on landwatch and if you want to try to increase visibility, opt for the most premium option. Still pennies compared to the guys with the antler hats. Find a real estate attorney in town to handle to paperwork, they will know exactly what to do even if you don’t. Also use that site and others to gain info on comps. Even if you can’t find something with a house like yours you can back into the number based on similar land prices. Being close to Hopkinsville gives you a couple advantages. One being someone making it their personal residence over a purely recreational property. I think the ag route is going to be a tough sale at that scale. Hard for someone to justify that basis to run some cows. But either way I’m sure you will sell if you choose to. Good luck.

 

[Turkey Creek]

If you do put it on the market and you are not in a hurry start at a price more than you personally think it is worth. Unless you get folks into a bidding war no one is going to offer you more than you list it for. If you can find a buyer with a personal connection to your family all the better.

 

[bwoods11]

Good luck on your sale ! Sounds like a nice property.

 

[Oleo]

Property prices are super localized. In my county, it’s $10k/acre on the east and $5k/ acre on the west, and neither are substantially closer to a metro area.

You could start by searching online for currently listed, nearby farms without houses to get an idea of the value of the land, then search for houses nearby without much land to get the sqft value of the house. Then add them together.

I’m not a huge fan of paying big fees to realtors, but if you’re not confident in your valuation, it might be worth getting one that specializes in rural land in your area. To clarify, whitetail properties is just specialized real estate agents. To my knowledge, they don’t buy and sell property, so you wouldn’t have to worry about them low-balling you, because they’d earn a commission that is proportional to the sale price.

Also, owner financing can be a blessing or a curse. I’d personally push for the local couple to pursue a bank loan before offering the owner financing. If the bank won’t approve, should you?

 

[Brian662]

My in-laws sold off their dairy farm about 6 or 7 years ago in north central WI to a mennonite family. They sold the ag land, buildings, and dairy cows and kept about 160 acres of timber for hunting. It was when I would say real estate values and demand was flat if now outright low, especially in that area.

Anyways, different times for sure, but they listed it with a local agent and had some tire kickers until the young mennonites came along. They didn't quite get their asking price but it was a fair deal all around. Sold their tractors and equipment at auction separately.

Sounds like you have a great place, best of luck with the sale. You've reached the sunset (or near it), I hope you have the health and happiness to enjoy it.

 

[Lucky_P]

Some stuff is priced - and bringing - crazy $$$ right now.
Siblings and I sold a 0.6 acre lot with 100 ft of lake frontage, partially cleared, no house, no septic, at Lake Martin (Tallapoosa Co., AL) that had been in the family since the 1960s, 2 years ago. Local realtors had appraised it at $125K. Put it out for sealed bids SBO, and one motivated buyer bid $240K... outbid closest bidder by $60K.

104 acres of flat, open crop ground, five miles farther out the state highway from us - split by the road - brought $800K from Amish/Mennonite buyers last year.
A 200-acre cattle farm right on the edge of town, with home and several barns/outbuildings, just went on the market, priced at $3 million +... but adjoins a residential neighborhood, and already has 12 lots platted out, and the property will support more, if someone buys that tract for development.

 

[homerj]

No idea of a value, but it's gotta be 7 figures +

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Stuff is also sitting too. I watch it pretty hard and there’s a lot of decent properties that have been listed for a decent amount of time. I think we are seeing a bit of a normalization of demand.

 

[Tree Spud]

Sounds like a great property! Regarding your wife's perspective, she sounds like a kind person, but is looking at this emotionally. The question you should pose to her is, ... Honey, what happens if the young couple stops making payments and we have to go to court to take the land back? Land contracts can a nightmare and would require legal action to break and you may be tied up legally for 2-3 years.

Getting back to your question, your property would be a great recreational hunting property. Having ~100 acres for the new owner to lease out to a local farmer gives them some income, buildings to store toys in, and a nice house. As mentioned above, I think trying to sell as farming property would be hard. Not enough scale to produce the income required to offset purchase price.

Regarding valuation, it can be tricky to do yourself. Hard to remove the bias and it is a skill that requires some experience. You can try doing it your self to see what # you come up with. I would definitely still talk to the Whitetail Property guys. I don't like paying a commission when there is not much value in the service, but they are really good at maximizing valuations, marketing, and selling properties like yours. They also have a big network of folks who are looking for rec properties. Not unusual for these folks to be cash buyers at this level.

Based on the many rec properties I have looked at, yours is not marginal, it sounds like a gem.

There is an old saying in real estate ... don't get emotionally tied up in the property and worry about it after you have sold it. Focus should be on getting best price you can and new owner gets to do whatever they want.

Good luck!