Seus Land Exchange Inc.

Buying real estate of any kind is always a significant undertaking. There are so many “bases” to cover and things to think about. Buying land is no different. In fact, there may be more to think about when buying land depending on what your personal goals are. If you’re thinking about buying land, then you definitely need to check out LandFlip's blog post, “Six people you should have on your team before submitting an offer."

Curtis Seltzer does a fantastic job of laying out 6 very important people to gather information and advice from. While it is a very thorough list, I would suggest also talking to a trusted banker.

Whether you’re paying cash or financing, it never hurts to talk to a lending institution you trust. One that our company finds extremely beneficial is our local Farm Credit institutions. They major on land and agricultural lending, so they understand the special needs of land buyers. There is sure to be one in your community, so get online and check it out.

Several comments were made about this blog post on LandFlip, one in particular that mocked the idea that there are people available to “join” your team when making an offer. In our experience, the majority of land buyers we have are within a 100 – 200 mile radius, just a short drive to the tracts they are interested in. And many of them do have relationships with folks in our area or theirs that are very willing to get on their “team” and offer help and advice.

Why do they do this? It’s called “good business."


Most savvy business people understand the value of building relationships. An attorney may help someone with one offer that falls through, but they know that person will be interested in buying land in the future, and when they are, they will want an attorney involved. The attorney will also want the seller to tell all his hunting buddies what attorney to use when they buy their hunting tract. The consulting forester may spend 3 hours on a tract and not get paid for it, but when that guy needs someone to help manage his timber or hunting land after the purchase, who do you think he’s going to call?

We believe Mr. Seltzer’s list is very feasible and realistic and clearly great advice to potential buyers. And this may come as a shock to some, but while business is business, there are good people out there who want to help. Kudos to LandFlip for helping educate buyers.

Labels: hunting land, hunting land for sale, Institutions to Trust, People to Know

According to McGinnis Auction and Appraisal Service, an absolute auction is "an auction where the property is sold to the highest qualified bidder with no limiting conditions or amount. The seller may not bid personally or through an agent. Also known as an auction without reserve."

The “absolute sale” in Morgan County on April 5 was indicative of current market conditions and illustrates who the buyers are today. The sale took place in the Morgan County Civic Center on a rainy Saturday morning that brought out everybody in the land business in the area and several from out of the area, approximately 120 people in all.

The auctioneer explained the terms of the sale with some new and confusing rules to snatch money from the bidders in combining tracts.

The parcels ranged in sizes of 32 acres to 179 acres in size:

• 6 of the smaller tracts were 32 to 69 acres consuming most of the road frontage
• 4 tracts were 130 acres to 179 acres being accessed by private drives with cross-over easements

The highest bidder could choose which and how many tracts to purchase.

3 bidders started the bidding at $2000 per acre, not a good sign, since this tract would have sold for between $5500 and $6000 per acre two years ago. A $4050 per acre bid prevailed and the high bidder took the entire 923 acres. All that anticipation and excitement about the “absolute auction” and it only lasted 3 minutes!

After the buyer’s premium, the high bidder ended up at $4455 per acre. The gentleman who purchased the property bought a tract from us just a few months ago at a fair price. There are a few buyers who want to warehouse money with a reasonable appreciation in land, but the auction bidder pool, at this time, is predominantly bottom feeders.

So where is the competition when the rest of the market believes that we haven’t seen the bottom? Waiting anxiously on the sidelines until they see evidence of consumer confidence rising and that is the time to call your auctioneer for an “absolute sale,” no reservations, no restrictions. When optimism is on the rise and the people are excited about the immediate future is when you sell recreational land by auction, that’s when you create a feeding frenzy of bidding fast, bidding last, and selling to the greater fool.

When would I do this? The spring of 2009 is the best I could say today.

Image from John Dixon and Associates

Labels: aboslute auction, hunting land for sale, land for sale, land real estate, Morgan County, recreational property

Labels: Cabela's, Cabela's Trophy Properties, hunting land, hunting land for sale, hunting lease, land, land for sale, land real estate