Whitetail Properties affecting Land Values

[BJE80]

Slowly but surely Whitetail Properties has gotten a stranglehold on the recreational land market in Wisconsin. Their face is everywhere now in marketing. Go to landwatch.com and every area you look for theirs is the "sponsored listings" and come up first. They are at every deer show around. They are all over in Wisconsin Outdoor news.
My neighbor up north and I were talking about it. They do a great job listing and marketing properties but they definitely ask top dollar for what the land is really worth. Often times they get it because they market so well.
We have had three properties on our road alone sell through WP in the last two years. One more is for sale. All sold above what most in the area would consider what they are worth. Now the latest to list their property is asking way more than he should as he compares it to what has sold through Whitetail Prop.
Has anyone else seen W.P. directly affect land prices in your area? I am watching it take place.
Other properties that have been aggressively priced for sale have not sold in the area. It is hard to deny the impact they are having.
This is a double edged sword for sure. If I wanted to sell how could I not at least consider W.P.?

 

[j-bird]

If you where going to sell you would be foolish not to at least consider WP. You would want to maximize your investment. My question would be what of that selling price does the land owner see? Now if your on the buying side of the coin - then the elevated prices will concern you. Like november said - marketing only gets you so far. Somebody, somewhere is shelling out the bucks for these places. As we see prices climb for ag land we will see it happen for recreational land as well. The old saying is "Buy low and sell high" - maybe we need to adjust our defenitions! WP site lists 31 properties in my state - with 9 acres being the smallest 310 acres being the largest. Wisc has many more listing with WP! If I was to sell - I would want to start over (from scratch) on a new place - not pick up where someone else left off - some folks are not looking for that however.

 

[bwoods11]

They may have had some effect on land prices. I heard the same thing in Iowa. In good times they may add a few hundred dollars per acre to the price. To me, the market will always revert back to what it is really worth. The marketing helps, they seem to flood the market with ads. Right now they have some overpriced listings sitting stagnant (referring to Iowa and MN)

 

[BJE80]

The market not marketing will drive price. Tim Nolan in Marion does a fine job listing hunting land for insane prices and gets it.

http://www.nolansales.com/listing.php?cat=rec

To some degree yes. But WP is finding buyers for properties that others cannot and getting top dollar. Once that word hits the street everyone wants that same top dollar. It is just reality in our area.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I think its safe to say they have defiantly contributed to a hole different breed of people being in the market for recreational land which has affected land values. They have built an awesome company buy replicating themselves. That's the secret to business. Wish I had a clone haha. Seems like they try to hire the right guys. Hell I interviewed with them and didn't get the job lol. You win some you lose some. Prolly for the best. United country guys seem to have just as many listings if not more in my are. WP has a pretty high turn over rate of guys that venture out and do their own thing once they learn the tactics. ALL in ALL though one must admit. They have built a bad ass company and carry themselves well. Dan Perez is a class act guy that worked his way up in the industry

 

[SD51555]

I think the biggest opportunity is in the marketing. It may be that I'm not great at searching, but it seems like bare land for sale is very poorly marketed compared to residential homes. There are aggregator sites out there, but it doesn't mean everything for sale is actually on them either. I would absolutely use a top marketer if I were selling my property. The biggest beef I have with land sale listings is that the pictures and descriptions on most are just terrible.

 

[shawnv]

The listing price and sold amount are usually never the same so their mark up allows a little more wiggle room for the seller. Regardless of who is selling, I always get a kick out of reading that every single property in WI has "great hunting".

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I have never had a piece of property sold by WTP, a friend of mine has and they did a good job for him. They do spend a lot of money on marketing, and are know by almost everyone looking for hunting land. Wonder what they charge for commission? I am not apposed to using any real estate agent to sell a piece, as some of them have a lot of contacts and can get it sold in a short period of time if needed. I have had good luck selling a lot of our properties myself, but weeding out the dreamers from the actual buyers can be a pain in the arce sometimes.

 

[MN Slick]

I'm not so sure they are driving prices up directly but they do a far better job of reaching the target customer who has changed from local buyers to a much more national customer in some areas. As mentioned above I can't believe how horrible some listings are when I search for land and how hard it is to get information from the agents. Just brutal! Whether it's an agent from Whitetail Properties or not they don't get paid for listings so it's in their best interest to list at competitive prices so the properties move. Often times during good seller markets I see folks list properties that they aren't really interested in selling so they throw a huge number on it and see if it sticks. There are plenty of these listed on WP as well as others these days.

I've sold a farm through WP and had a great experience. Listing price was reasonable and the agent was willing to accept a lower commission to help get the deal done.

Side Note to MoBuck: Seems I sent you more of a dreamer?

 

[SD51555]

The listing price and sold amount are usually never the same so their mark up allows a little more wiggle room for the seller. Regardless of who is selling, I always get a kick out of reading that every single property in WI has "great hunting".

There's genius in claming what cannot be disproved.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

A 120 acre piece of cedar swamp with a raw cabin(no elec/toilet/shower,ect) is going to auction next week. I know an exec with too much $$$ is going to buy it for $500/acre more then it's worth. Tuff property to hunt but the area" mystique" of bruiser bucks gets guys batshit crazy. Too funny really.This property borders mine and a 194 was taken their 6 years ago. Best of luck to the newb. The habitat list has only 1 item anyone could do in this swamp.Eradicate 7 acres of poison sumac.....Goodluck with that.prime example that it simply takes 1 guy with more $$$ then brains to drive local market price up.How did he find this property? From me on the darkside having a similar thread discussion about hunting land prices. Marketing? This guy would have never found the property without my post on a similar thread.

May go cheaper than you think. If it was hooked to mine, I would be standing in the room ready to make the last bid! Hope he is a good guy that buys it!

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I'm not so sure they are driving prices up directly but they do a far better job of reaching the target customer who has changed from local buyers to a much more national customer in some areas. As mentioned above I can't believe how horrible some listings are when I search for land and how hard it is to get information from the agents. Just brutal! Whether it's an agent from Whitetail Properties or not they don't get paid for listings so it's in their best interest to list at competitive prices so the properties move. Often times during good seller markets I see folks list properties that they aren't really interested in selling so they throw a huge number on it and see if it sticks. There are plenty of these listed on WP as well as others these days.

I've sold a farm through WP and had a great experience. Listing price was reasonable and the agent was willing to accept a lower commission to help get the deal done.

Side Note to MoBuck: Seems I sent you more of a dreamer?

When he told me he could not get 7 other farms bought before mine, should have been a warning to me.

Oh well, comes with the territory! Been there before!

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Also, for buyers and sellers, know the market in your area. It can change fast up and down. Some real estate people will get a listing and purposely under price it for a quick sale. Because the difference in commission from say $350,000 to $325,000 is not much. It has been going on for years. But also you don't want your property on the market over priced either. The longer it stays on the market gives it the stigma that something is wrong, thus making it harder to sell in the future.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

No thanks. He is a buddy from a darkside contributor. It's worth $1,500/acre, not paying $2,500/acre.

I have been to those high priced auctions as well. But I still stand there....or at least have the auctioneers in my back pocket to call me just in case no one can come up with the non refundable deposit for the auction. And that has happened! As I said, hope a good guy gets it bought then if he wants to pay too much!

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Sherrifs auction. I know 1 guy that tops out at 240k, 1 guy at 290k, and the exec who will go $1 higher then anyone. 240k is a fair price. We would pick up 3400 yards of wire, 7 new neighbors to deal with and I already have land I don't hunt.

Sheriffs auctions are pretty easy. Usually a dollar over what is owed at the bank can get them bought. Unless 2 idiots start a bidding war in the sheriffs lobby. But....you have to have all the money up front and deposit it through the sheriffs office for one year(I think in MN) until you get to take possession. And a lot can happen in that one years time to have it bought back and leave a guy hanging, just ask me!

 

[bwoods11]

Whitetail Properties hires die hard hunters and that is why it works. I actually considered working with them at one time... I'm busy enough with our small town (mom and pop shop) real estate business with insurance.

If the real estate agent is not a die hard hunter or landowner/habitat guy, they will struggle selling land and will probably make mistakes that will cost them, or false statements such as .....these are a few I have read---

The property has feed plots!

CRP is guaranteed renewable

Several Boone and Crockett Bucks live on the property (this was a 40 acre parcel)

CREP contract is renewable or can be converted back to farm land (nope not true)

Never been hunted!! (ha ha)

Land values just keep going up and up

...................All a person can do is laugh

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Whitetail Properties hires die hard hunters and that is why it works. I actually considered working with them at one time... I'm busy enough with our small town (mom and pop shop) real estate business with insurance.

If the real estate agent is not a die hard hunter or landowner/habitat guy, they will struggle selling land and will probably make mistakes that will cost them, or false statements such as .....these are a few I have read---

The property has feed plots!

CRP is guaranteed renewable

Several Boone and Crockett Bucks live on the property (this was a 40 acre parcel)

CREP contract is renewable or can be converted back to farm land (nope not true)

Never been hunted!! (ha ha)

Land values just keep going up and up

...................All a person can do is laugh

Funny you say that. been some agents that have over priced some parcels for a slow sale on purpose, in southern Iowa, just so they can go after a certain buck on film for the tv show. Does not always happen, but it has!

 

[MoBuckChaser]

This is not a typical sherrifs auction. 9 family members owned this for 30 years. Pissing match ensued over deer hunting and xmas tree cutting, 5/9ths sued for control of the sale. The sharks have now forced an auction. Class A dumpster fire.Nice family reunions no doubt.

The BuckChaser reunions................. Me and a 24 pack of beer!

 

[Tree Spud]

7% fee which is low. A buying realtor with a hot client does not like this as the norm is 10% on raw land.

I would differ with 7% being low. The last 3-4 properties I have bought/sold have had comm at 5.5-6% and they all were large acreage parcels.

 

[Tree Spud]

No thanks. He is a buddy from a darkside contributor. It's worth $1,500/acre, not paying $2,500/acre.

I think I know that guy ... think he'll ever get his 150" incher ? :)