Emily Oberbroeckling, a farmland appraiser with Iowa-based Peoples Company, says there’s always an uptick in properties for sale during the fall. For the landowners who may considering selling some of their land in the next few months, she joins the Top Producer podcast to dive into a few ways to approach it.
According to Oberbroeckling, there are three main methods used to sell farmland:
- Sealed Bid
- Auction
- Listing
Which of these strategies is used depends largely on where the land is.
“It really depends on the location and what drives properties to move in that market,” Oberbroeckling says. “In northeast Iowa, it tends to be more of a sealed bid, quieter market.”
By quieter market, she means it’s more private, where sellers may not want neighbors and others in the area to know the details of the sale as they would with an auction.
“It is almost a driver from the seller standpoint of what they want to see happen and who they want to have at that auction,” she explains. “If you’re really serious buyer, you’re going to be at those sealed bids.”
As for listings, Oberbroeckling shares there’s currently more properties for sale this way than going to auction in Iowa. This could be due to “no sales” that have been happening in the area where the auction doesn’t meet the seller’s reserve price.
Paul Neiffer, host of the Top Producer podcast and Farm CPA, adds this method is often used when a seller isn’t confident an auction would hit the price they have in mind.
“They figure they can list it, and if it works that’s great. If it doesn’t work, then maybe they do an auction next,” Neiffer explains.
Oberbroeckling says the type of property plays a role as well.
“We tend to see more listings on the more recreational or pasture use of a property,” she says. “We see that the good tillable farmland sales selling at public auction.”
