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land prices

JNRBronc is right. IMO the chart shown is for farmland, not rough ground. Rough ground, or recreational ground, has a different value. I know of numerous hunting farms (rough ground) in Van Buren county that sold for $300 - $750 an acre in the late 90's. Tillable farmland was higher. The deer craze had not exploded the recreational ground prices yet, but did around 99 or 2000.

I am anticipating being in the market for more ground in two years. I personally think ground will hold steady or maybe drop slightly in price in that time. I sure hope it drops a little.
 
I may sell mine for triple what I paid, that way I can improve the habitat on another farm depending on the given price of land at that time. Sweat and hard work sure drive up what I think my land is worth that's for sure!!
 
Instead of going in circles over minor details I will just say that this was a great discussion that actually brought out some great points. Like others have said I personally hope that I never see the day that the land I own is sold. I plan on leaving it to my kids and hopefully they will enjoy it as much as I did. Now back to my original reason for getting involved with this thread. I just wanted to express my opinion that recreational land investment is not bullet proof. For some reason people have this idea that land never goes down. If your purchase is for recreational purposes only and you plan on passing the land on to your kids then I think all the points made by everyone makes it pretty clear that purchasing land at anytime might be for you. If your buying for the same reasons but are still concerned with what its value might be down the road then by all means do your research and decide for yourself when its time for you to buy.
 
Wow, thanks for all the replies fellas! This is what makes this site so great! Anyway, to come full cirle from the original post, I wanted to give you guys an update on my situation. Today, I signed a counter offer to purchase an a piece here in SW WI for 2500/acre. About the going rate from the research I've done. The piece doesn't show signs of being logged for a long time and big tall oaks (good mix of red and white) make up the majority of the timber. It's mostly all woods with the exception of a couple of old 5-10 acre overgrown fields and also has a couple of really cool springs. All of this with coupled with the fact that it's right in the area I'd like to be along the Mighty Mississippi make it a match made in heaven for me. I can't wait to close so that I can get to work. Very exciting times (and a little nerve racking). Thanks again!
 
Cool!!!

When logging, are you going for a sustainable approach where you leave some of the best whites and reds to reproduce??
 
letemgrow said:
Cool!!!

When logging, are you going for a sustainable approach where you leave some of the best whites and reds to reproduce??
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and make sure you contact a forester and set up a plan and hire an independant to mark crop trees versus just sending a logger into "help himself"....;)
 
Congratulations, you will enjoy that parcel, sounds like you have some perfect spots (overgrown fields) for food plots.
 
Pasture Farm

I'm hoping to purchase a farm in southern Iowa sometime in the next year or so. Do any of you have experience with buying an old pasture farm with little timber and converting it to Deer habitat. Using Switchgrass, trees etc, how long does it take before a real change takes place and the hunting is good. How much is land going for in this region? Any comments are appreciated, I'm just beginning my search and can use all of the help I can get.
 
Overgrown pasture is some of my favorite habitat for holding big bucks. I'm probably the only person who purposely plants hedge. Hardwood timber is great, but there is something about tagled thickets of hedge, locust, and briars that big bucks seem to be attracted to. Letting pasture grow up will result in great deer habitat, but it will take some time. It all depends on what type of trees you want to grow. Hedge and locust can be big enough to hold deer in 5 years and will be prime habitat in 10 years. On the other hand if you plant hardwoods, they won't be very big in 5 years, but they will be worth a lot more in 75 years. Variety is the key, I'd look for a farm that has several different types of habitat on or even around it on other farms. Prices will vary from 1500-3000 depending on location and habitat. The further west you go, the cheaper things seem to get. Wide open CRP/pasture farms are the cheapest by far, but you may get what you pay for if there isn't much timber around you.
 
I just bought 22 acres in mahaska county for 1500 per acre. It is overgrown pasture with some steep draws and full of cedar and hedge. It borders 6-800 acres I have permision to hunt now and is across the section from where I live. I plan on pasturing part of it for my horses and improving the rest for deer habitat. The price was on the cheap side for my area but I bought it privately off a farmer that just inherited it.
 
Ridgerunner said:
I'm hoping to purchase a farm in southern Iowa sometime in the next year or so. Do any of you have experience with buying an old pasture farm with little timber and converting it to Deer habitat. Using Switchgrass, trees etc, how long does it take before a real change takes place and the hunting is good. How much is land going for in this region? Any comments are appreciated, I'm just beginning my search and can use all of the help I can get.
Click to expand...

If you are in the right area, I would say that you could turn a scraggly pasture into top flight, deer holding ground in very short order, a matter of months IMO. You obviously are not going to have an oak/walnut forest any time soon, no matter how much planting you might do, BUT you do not need an oak forest to hold a lot of nice deer.

Although I have not done this in totality, I sure think you could get aggressive and plant a good deal of switchgrass and even taller plants for cover/bedding and sprinkle in some well placed food plots and construct ground blinds and/or ground level ambush points and be good within the first year, definitely by the second year.

I can think of a farm right now that was for sale about 5-6 years ago and it was 95% rolling pasture with a few thinly timbered draws on it, which would have been the only place to find a tree big enough to climb. BUT, it was slam next door to a large section of timber, well known for big bucks, and lots of them. I am 100% sure that if you didn't mind not hunting a "classic" whitetail timber you could arrange that place to be a big buck killer every year. When all of the other ground was selling for $1500, $1800 and on up per acre, that place I think sold for less than $500 per acre.
 
Thanks everyone, all of your comments are very helpful. To follow up, is it difficult to start pine seedlings in these areas or will they be clipped by the deer right away. It would seem that since there is not much timber to start with on an open pasture farm, the trees might stand a chance to get established. Also, I hear often about some real dry summers in S. Iowa, would that make it tough on the pines or would it be no worse than the rest of the upper midwest when it experiences long periods with no rain. Finally, how much under realtor list prices does land typically sell for. If a property was listed for 2200 per acre would it be realistic to offer 300-400 less in this neck of the woods, at least as a starting point.
 
Forget the pines... plant cedars, hedge, and locust for bedding cover.

I don't think there is a set rule on how much a seller will move off the asking price. Every peice of land is different and every seller is different. Some may move a lot, and other not much at all.
 
Overgrown pasture

I think you can turn a pasture farm into a good hunting farm in 5-7 years depending on what you plant. My experience was in MN, so it is not exactly comparable. Trees will grow faster, habitat will sprout up quicker in Iowa, so maybe even sooner than 5 years.

I planted some switchgrass, yes that helps, but conifer trees are the key in my opinion. Cedars, spruce, pine. I also had great luck with American Plum an Chokecherry, thickets form fast. I do like to plant some hardwoods, they take longer, but will really pay off in the long run (oak, ash, hackberry, silver maple in wet areas, walnut, cherry etc...)

Create some food plots within the pasture as well, and you will have a great diverse property. I fully expect my 160 acre parcel to be the best hunting farm in that township in 2015 or so, which would mean the trees are 13-14 years old. Close to 40,000 trees planted. The government paid for many of my trees, CRP/WHIP etc... If you have a creek that winds through your pasture, it may qualify for CRP riparian buffers. Good luck it sure is fun.
 
If anyone is still looking, there are some good deals on land in Southern Iowa and a few in other areas. Prices have dropped. I have seen farms for sale in the $1300-$1600 an acre range, some with income and many have nice potential. It might go a bit lower yet, if interest rates go up. Something to keep an eye on.
 
I read the most recent edition of the Wallace Farmer last night. There was an article on land prices having cooled off, actually slipping by an average of 8% last year after double digit increases for a few years in a row. They also stated that the highest quality farm land lost less value than the poorer ground.

At the end of the article they directed people to: Iowa State Extension Land Value
 
I talked with a guy in SC Iowa who bought a farm for slightly over $1000 an acre at auction in December. It was mostly pasture, but had some timber on it, sounds like it has potential for some crop and has plenty of overgrown cedars and locusts on the pasture ground. That sounded like a fun project, as he was going to work on it and make it into a hunting farm, with food plots, tree plantings, have some tillable and he would keep some in pasture.
 
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