In case anybody was worried about land prices...

[Rich M]

Bill Gates and China live in NW Iowa?

I have heard that Gates has purchased several hundred thousand acres or more of tillable farmland and same for Chinese interest. Possibly more than a million acres.

Im sure some is in Iowa. Anyone who pays so much for 100 acres must have cash to burn. Hence Bill Gates came to mind.

Sorry if yer offended or whatever.

 

[Traveler]

I have heard that Gates has purchased several hundred thousand acres or more of tillable farmland and same for Chinese interest. Possibly more than a million acres.

Im sure some is in Iowa. Anyone who pays so much for 100 acres must have cash to burn. Hence Bill Gates came to mind.

Sorry if yer offended or whatever.

“I have heard…Possibly…I’m sure some is in Iowa” several hundred thousand possibly more than a million…

Some basic searches point to the buyer being a family farm local to the area.

 

[Rich M]

“I have heard…Possibly…I’m sure some is in Iowa” several hundred thousand possibly more than a million…

Some basic searches point to the buyer being a family farm local to the area.

View attachment 418354

As you can tell it really bothers me.

Glad you did the research. Trying to marry the daughter?

 

[Doc Holliday]

@jjohnsonElknewbie You for got to include the return when the land is sold. Speculation and flipping.
The buyer may just be planning on the price of the land going up 30% a year and then selling it. It's just an investment, not a farm.

Playbook in my neck of the woods is buyer buys land zoned for agriculture and lies to the real estate agents and sellers about their intentions with property...."want a compound for my family." As soon as the ink is dry submits plans to county to rezone to commercial/industrial and local business journal runs article on proposed new development, makes a killing, ruins the area, and moves on to next target. Rinse and repeat.

 

[CJohnson]

Playbook in my neck of the woods is buyer buys land zoned for agriculture and lies to the real estate agents and sellers about their intentions with property...."want a compound for my family." As soon as the ink is dry submits plans to county to rezone to commercial/industrial and local business journal runs article on proposed new development, makes a killing, ruins the area, and moves on to next target. Rinse and repeat.

^^^This. And, in most counties in rural SC there are zero impact fees, taxes, etc. on the developers. It's going to be interesting to see what the landscape looks like in my neck of the woods when people are selling 40-100 acre parcels left and right for 1/2 ac + 2,000sf homes when there's no public sewer available and the water water company begs people not to put in irrigation systems.

 

[HawkeyeHunter]

I haven’t read all the comments, but this thread highly sparked my interest as this in basically in my back yard. I was born and raised in small town, rural NW Iowa, still live here today.

Farm ground in our 4 county area, the very 4 northwest counties, is the best in the state. It has been going high and higher for several years now, minus a few minor resets 1-2 years ago. It is not uncommon for good dirt to bring 18-22k an acre, or even higher.

These prices are high and can be attributed to several factors. The dirt here is good, tracts don’t often come up for sale, neighborly biding war, as well as other factors. Small farms/farmers are becoming fewer by the year, but more, bigger farms/farmers all the time.

Yields here have and continue to do amazingly well, easily out pacing old day benchmarks of bumper crops.

Finally, these sales aren’t being done by the way of needing financing. They are being bought on the spot with cash. Old farms/money runs deep and they are grabbing what they can, if it fits their farming model and in their immediate area to secure the next generations future. Again, tracts don’t often come up for sale here.

 

[ShortMountain91]

It is truly nuts. I'm in middle TN and there is a large farm that went $40k per acre to build a new school. Small lots going at insane prices, think $80k for half acre lots

 

[CorbLand]

It is truly nuts. I'm in middle TN and there is a large farm that went $40k per acre to build a new school. Small lots going at insane prices, think $80k for half acre lots

You could try northern utah. 80K gets you a seat at the little kids table. 1/3 acre lots are going 200K plus.

The mid west is next. If you have the money, I would be getting my hands on some ground now or in the near future.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I haven’t read all the comments, but this thread highly sparked my interest as this in basically in my back yard. I was born and raised in small town, rural NW Iowa, still live here today.

Farm ground in our 4 county area, the very 4 northwest counties, is the best in the state. It has been going high and higher for several years now, minus a few minor resets 1-2 years ago. It is not uncommon for good dirt to bring 18-22k an acre, or even higher.

These prices are high and can be attributed to several factors. The dirt here is good, tracts don’t often come up for sale, neighborly biding war, as well as other factors. Small farms/farmers are becoming fewer by the year, but more, bigger farms/farmers all the time.

Yields here have and continue to do amazingly well, easily out pacing old day benchmarks of bumper crops.

Finally, these sales aren’t being done by the way of needing financing. They are being bought on the spot with cash. Old farms/money runs deep and they are grabbing what they can, if it fits their farming model and in their immediate area to secure the next generations future. Again, tracts don’t often come up for sale here.

Native here too and my relation lives in NC IA and we've bird hunted Hamilton and Story counties all our lives. That OG swamp ground with black dirt 5' deep has been going for over $10k for more than 10 years.

I just can't wrap my head around the business model and why the large corporate farms get the subsidies if they have this much cash on hand. In addition, I have no idea why farmers got PPP money during COVID when they were never out of business. There is a lot of "old" money around these parts too with the Garsts, Thomas', and the like. The guy the owns the surrounding land on the section my farm is on owns 5 or 6 sections in the immediate area. Big shot attorney from town that moved to Des Moines after college and inherited it all from his Dad. Nobody in the family has farmed in 50 years.

All I know is that all the big farmers lease the biggest and best green equipment every couple years. Million dollar combines with half million dollar 30+ row heads, half million dollar implements, half million dollar or more tractors, 30+ row planters, etc... Hell, the tires alone on the new combines are over $20k per tire. With all the costs per acre for tillage, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, seed, wages, insurance, etc..., I just can't get the numbers to work out. I forgot to mention that all the big guys have their own half million dollar green sprayers and mobile chemical plants mounted on semi trailers. Oh yeah and 4-5 semis with 1000+ bushel grain trailers. And multiple 1000+ bushel auger wagons... It's insane...

 

[KHNC]

I live on 6.5 acres in WNC. Mountains all around. My land appraised at 45k per acre several years ago. It has only increased since then. My house is only 1600sf. Would sell for 500k in less than a week if i listed it. Which i do not plan to do. I inherited the property from my mother and paid less than 100k to build the house in 1996.

 

[Cedarsavage]

I don’t know what to think anymore. Just saw good data showing Americans maxing out Credit cards this year and savings plundered. Real estate is still going strong here.

I have to imagine most are. We used to hear x percent was paycheck to paycheck, now everything is more expensive and there's just as many people traveling and buying stuff. I think credit card bills are gonna slap the average person in the face soon. We live in a dinky little house and our monthly expenses have gone up by $1,000.

 

[WRM]

I think credit card bills are gonna slap the average person in the face soon

FBN reported yesterday CC debt is increasing at its fastest pace ever. It's coming. Buckle up.

 

[Cedarsavage]

FBN reported yesterday CC debt is increasing at its fastest pace ever. It's coming. Buckle up.

Next thing will probably be credit card and car loan forgiveness.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Thing that gets me...where is this money coming from? I live in a very rural isolated area with not alot of good paying jobs and our housing market is insane. We look around at what people have and think it just doesn't make sense with what they're making.

 

[Thunt22]

Something has to give in the next year or two. It is not sustainable with how much houses/land are increasing while interest rates are raising and inflation

 

[Quadzilla32]

Patiently waiting on the next crash.

Wont work like that, the market will crash and the common folk wont be able to afford land, but the wealthy will buy it all up. China has already used front companies to buy up large plots of land as well as realty companies buying up houses/land. When people cant afford their land anymore or buying it they wont sell to other poor people they will sell to people who can afford the asking price, it wont depreciate.

 

[WRM]

Wont work like that, the market will crash and the common folk wont be able to afford land, but the wealthy will buy it all up. China has already used front companies to buy up large plots of land as well as realty companies buying up houses/land. When people cant afford their land anymore or buying it they wont sell to other poor people they will sell to people who can afford the asking price, it wont depreciate.

New(ish) thing here is entire subdivisions of SFR are begin built, not for sale, but to be held as rental houses. Some larger builders doing it and big investment firms getting in on it buying out the completed projects.

Folks, the end is beginning. Ignore at your peril.

 

[Bijoukid]

Lol makes my parents farm seem like a bargain, 480 acres with two houses, sheds etc. For 4.5 mil And we can't get any interest

 

[CorbLand]

Thing that gets me...where is this money coming from? I live in a very rural isolated area with not alot of good paying jobs and our housing market is insane. We look around at what people have and think it just doesn't make sense with what they're making.

Low interest rates, PPP loans, stimulus checks.

I did the math in another thread but the cost of a 30 year mortgage at 3% and 4.5% was something like 100,000 dollars. Meaning I can pay 100,000 more for a home at 3% and still pay the same monthly payment and it will actually cost you less by a couple hundred bucks over 30 years.

PPP loans weren’t really that hard to get and a lot of businesses took them. Go look at the business that did take them and ironically it’s the ones that have seen the greatest pricing increases.

Stimulus checks gave many people a down payment on a house or new vehicle. My uncle that has a net worth in the millions, made more money in 2021 than he ever has got stimulus checks.

People have to have a place to live and rent prices have increased dramatically as well. My wife and I close on a house this Monday. Yes, we paid a lot for the house compared to 3 years ago and we didn’t get it at the lower interest rates but to rent something equivalent would be about 100 bucks cheaper a month.

Time will tell what is going to happen with all of this and it doesn’t look good but times of high inflation don’t cause prices to decrease. Economies stagnate out, there is little to no growth for 10 or so years. If we follow what happened last time we saw inflation to this level, pricing as you see it now is here to stay.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Low interest rates, PPP loans, stimulus checks.

I did the math in another thread but the cost of a 30 year mortgage at 3% and 4.5% was something like 100,000 dollars. Meaning I can pay 100,000 more for a home at 3% and still pay the same monthly payment and it will actually cost you less by a couple hundred bucks over 30 years.

PPP loans weren’t really that hard to get and a lot of businesses took them. Go look at the business that did take them and ironically it’s the ones that have seen the greatest pricing increases.

Stimulus checks gave many people a down payment on a house or new vehicle. My uncle that has a net worth in the millions, made more money in 2021 than he ever has got stimulus checks.

People have to have a place to live and rent prices have increased dramatically as well. My wife and I close on a house this Monday. Yes, we paid a lot for the house compared to 3 years ago and we didn’t get it at the lower interest rates but to rent something equivalent would be about 100 bucks cheaper a month.

Time will tell what is going to happen with all of this and it doesn’t look good but times of high inflation don’t cause prices to decrease. Economies stagnate out, there is little to no growth for 10 or so years. If we follow what happened last time we saw inflation to this level, pricing as you see it now is here to stay.

Yeah I can see that. I remember the day the first stimulus checks hit, we were in WalMart and watching people walk out with TV's and a ton of nonessential items. I turned to my wife and said there's our tax dollars at work.