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Real estate professionals are adapting to conduct safe sales while practicing social distancing.

P.J. Griekspoor, Editor

April 17, 2020

9 Min Read
Combine in wheat field
SELLING LAND: Holding auctions in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic has its challenges but real estate professionals say they are finding ways to handling sales. P.J. Griekspoor

Handling land sales has taken on a new dimension in the era of stay-at-home orders amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Real estate professionals have been scrambling to allow land sales to proceed with internet or telephone bidding, and any live events are scheduled for venues large enough to maintain safe social distancing.

Jeff Dankenbring with Midwest Land and Home at Washington, Kan., says he has conducted three auctions in Republic County with both online and live bidding. The live sales were moved to outdoor locations or into large buildings with overhead doors that could be opened to increase ventilation.

Dankenbring added that the company is restricting live participation to bidders only.

“We tell those who are just interested in the sale to wait in their cars and we will have someone fill them in on the details of the sale or return home and we will call them with the auction results,” he says. “That’s just a safety precaution.”

He says Midwest Land and Home is in the process of developing an app that will enable bidders to participate without going to the website and expects that to be ready for use in May sales.

One Republic County sale, which featured 59.2 acres of Cuba, Kan., land in crop production, was moved from the American Legion Club to a nearby park.

Online bidders from Nebraska, Florida and Arizona joined live bidders in a sale that brought $4,054 per acre. The sellers were Lee King and Sherry McCune.

In a second Republic County sale, 158.9 acres, 97.2 in irrigated cropland and 61.7 in native grass and home sites, brought $4,657 per acre. The seller was the Mark A. and Richard L. Stenson Revokable Trust.

In a third Republic County auction, 146 acres of land was sold. About 100 acres was dry cropland with the remainder under pivot.

The land brought $4,178 per acre. The seller was Strickler.

Midwest Land and Home also reported the sale of 150 acres of good quality cropland by private treaty. That sale closed April 2.

The land brought $3,333 per acre. The seller was not disclosed.

Marshall County

An auction in Marshall County also saw both online and live bidders for 69.7 acres of land, 62 acres in farmland and the balance in waterways.

That land brought $4,298 per acre. The seller was Smith. Midwest Land and Home handled the auction.

Wallace County

Mike Campbell with BigIron Realty says he held one auction of land in Wallace County on April 2. All bidding took place online, with 18 bidders from seven states: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia.

Campbell says online bidding can be challenging for some farmers who aren’t comfortable with the technology involved, but he has been able to help bidders navigate the process.

In the sale, the bidding was for about 626 acres of dry cropland, sold by unreserved online auction in three tracts. The land was located about three miles northeast of Sharon Springs.

Tract 1, about 316 acres of wheat stubble sold for $1,200 per acre. Tract 2, about 155 acres with 50 acres planted in wheat with balance in corn stubble, sold for $1,000 per acre. Tract 3, about 155 acres with 50 acres planted wheat with balance in corn stubble, sold for $850 per acre.

There was one buyer. The seller was Jackson Legacy LLC. 

Reno and Rice counties

About 425 acres dry cropland sold by unreserved online auction Feb. 13 in Rice and Reno counties, near Sterling. It sold in five tracts and there were no crops planted with immediate possession at closing. 

Higher bids were for better soil types. Tract 1, 120 acres in Reno County, brought $1,800 acre. Tract 2, 78.15 acres in Reno County, also brought $1,800 per acre. 

Tract 3 was 76.56 acres in Rice County and brought $1,650 acre. Tract 4 was 78.61 acres in Rice County and brought $1,600 acre. Tract 5, 72 acres in Rice County with mineral production, brought $1,900 acre.

There were 20 online bidders participating from three states: Kansas, Nebraska and Florida.

There were five separate buyers. The seller was River Valley Farms Inc (Gary Proffitt).  Mike Campbell with BigIron Realty handled the sale.

Finney County

About 1,600 acres of cropland and producing mineral rights in Finney County were sold at auction March 12. The property was sold in six tracts and drew strong interest and bidding.

Tract 1, about 160 acres of cropland, brought $2,400 per acre. Tract 2, about 320 acres with 307 acres of cropland and the balance in grass, brought $2,250 per acre.

Tract 3, about 640 acres of cropland, brought $2,050, while tract 4, 320 acres of cropland surface rights, brought $2,200 per acre. Tract 5, the mineral rights to Tract 4, brought $75,000, while Tract 6, was bid in at $2,450. 

The seller was Kester Brothers Farm LLC. Farm and Ranch Realty of Larned handled the sale.

Cheyenne and Sherman counties

About 620 acres of dry cropland sold by unreserved online auction in four tracts on March 12 in Cheyenne and Sherman counties. The land was located south of Bird City and northeast of Goodland. 

Higher bids were for better soil types. Tract 1, about 159 acres in Cheyenne County planted to wheat paying $60 per acre cash rent sold for $1,750 acre. Tract 2, about 161 acres in Cheyenne County, planted to wheat paying $60 per acre cash rent sold for $2,225 acre.

Tract 3, about 148 acres of corn stubble in Sherman County sold for $1,800 acre. Tract 4, about 150 acres of corn stubble in Sherman County sold for $2,225 acre.  

There were 23 online bidders from three states, Kansas, Illinois and Nebraska, with four separate buyers. The seller was Winnifred Wamhoff Heirs. Mike Campbell with BigIron Realty handled the sale.

Barton County

About 240 acres of cropland, grass and farmstead in Barton County was sold at auction on March 24.

The farmstead includes a remodeled three-bedroom, one-bath home with a full basement.

The property sold for $1,200 per acre. The sellers were Dennis and Sue Funk. Farm and Ranch Realty handled the sale.

Logan and Scott counties

More than 1,180 acres of cropland, grass and land enrolled in CRP was sold at auction March 26.

The property sold in four tracts. Tract 1, about 160 acres of cropland, brought $1,500 per acre. Tract 2, about 580 acres with 434 in cropland and the balance in grass, waterways and roads, brought $1,175 per acre.

Tract 3, about 228 acres of cropland, 36 acres in grass and the balance enrolled in CRP, brought $800 per acre. Tract 4 about 228 acres, mostly in CRP, sold for $625 per acre.

The seller of that land was Bridges Family Farm Inc. Farm and Ranch Realty handled the sale.

Labette County

About 57 acres of Labette county land sold in a March 2 auction.

The property sold in three tracts. Tract 1 was about 44 acres of fenced pasture with a pond and excellent access from two roads.

Tract 2 was 3.5 acres with an older farmhouse, outbuildings, large yard and highway access. Tract 3 was about 8.6 acres offering a clean, level building site that could also be fenced in and used as a hay meadow.

The three tracts sold together for $2,368 per acre. The seller was the estate of M. Joan Long. Farmers National Co. handled the sale.

Decatur and Sheridan counties

Farmers National Co. handled the sale of 3,600 acres of land in Decatur and Sheridan counties in an auction that closed April 1.

The land was sold in multiple tracts offering quality farmland with 659 irrigated acres, 2,125 dryland acres and 751 acres of native grass. The irrigated acres are not restricted by Groundwater Management District 4’s Local Enhanced Management Area.

The property sold for a total of $6,362,740 for an average of $1,767.42 per acre. The seller was the Abercrombie Marital Trust.

Pawnee County

About 680 contiguous acres of Pawnee County land was sold at auction March 3. The land included about 330 acres classified as cropland and 329 CRP-enrolled acres, with the balance in homesites and outbuildings. The property brought $1,060 per acre. The seller was William H. Howery II. Carr Auction and Real Estate of Larned handled the sale.

In another Pawnee County sale on March 24, about 320 acres of land was sold. The land was terraced dry cropland and the sale did not include mineral rights.

The property brought $895 per acre. The seller was the Ditus Family. Carr Auction handled the sale.

Edwards County

About 240 acres of Edwards County land sold at auction March 16.

The land sold in two tracts. Tract 1, 160 acres with 80 acres in wheat and 80 acras of open ground brought $1,200 per acre. Tract 2, about 80 acres planted to wheat, sold for $1,200 per acre.

The seller was Newsom Farms LLC. Carr Auction handled the sale.

Rooks County

About 685 acres of cropland and grassland were sold at public auction on Jan. 30 in Rooks County.

The property sold in three tracts. Tract 1, about 365 acres with 194.5 planted to growing wheat and the remainder in grassland, sold for $900 per acre. Tract 2, about 160 acres with 76 in milo stubble and the remainder in grass, brought $875 per acre.

The final tract, about 160 acres with 94 acres in growing wheat and the remainder in grass, brought $700 per acre.

The sellers were David and Jennifer Mongeau. Farm and Ranch Realty handled the sale.

Comanche County

About 160 acres of cropland in Comanche County was sold at auction Feb. 14.

The property, which has not been in production for the last 10 years, has good fences on two sides and is less than 10 miles to markets in Coldwater.

The quarter brought $800 per acre. The seller was the Anna Lou Einsel Estate. Farm and Ranch Realty handled the sale.

Ness County

Farmers National Co. handled two separate Ness County sales that closed in February.

In one sale, about 154 acres of non-irrigated land with good soils brought $1,169 per acre.

In the second sale, about 400 acres of land was sold in two tracts. Tract 1, about 156 acres of dryland cropland, was sold for $1,294 per acre. Tract 2, about 242 acres of dryland cropland, brought $1,219 per acre.

The sellers of the two farms were not disclosed.

Kiowa County, Colo.

About 320 acres of land were sold by private treaty in January.

The property brought $630 per acre. The Ruby N. Schmidt Trust was the seller. Faulkner Real Estate and Auction of Ulysses handled the sale.

Cheyenne County, Colo.

A big sale of 2,400 acres of cropland and grassland including a farmstead was sold in six tracts Jan. 24 in Cheyenne County, Colo.

Tract 1, 320 acres of grassland, brought $850 per acre. Tract 2, about 320 acres of cropland, was bid in at $1,100 per acre. Tract 3, about 640 acres with 615 in cropland and the balance in grass, brought $900 per acre.

Tract 4, about 640 acres with 624 in cropland and the balance in grass, brought $900 per acre. Tract 5, about 160 acres of dryland cropland, brought $1,150 per acre. The final tract, about 320 acres with 204 acres in cropland and the balance in grass, brought $850 per acre. That tract included the farm home, shop building and a detached garage.

The seller was Boswell Trusts. Farm and Ranch Realty of Colby handled the sale.

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Covid 19

About the Author(s)

P.J. Griekspoor

Editor, Kansas Farmer

Phyllis Jacobs "P.J." Griekspoor, editor of Kansas Farmer, joined Farm Progress in 2008 after 18 years with the Wichita Eagle as a metro editor, page designer, copy desk chief and reporter, covering agriculture and agribusiness, oil and gas, biofuels and the bioeconomy, transportation, small business, military affairs, weather, and general aviation.

She came to Wichita in 1990 from Fayetteville, N.C., where she was copy desk chief of the Fayetteville Observer for three years. She also worked at the Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn. (1980-87), the Mankato Free Press in Mankato, Minn. (1972-80) and the Kirksville Daily Express in Kirksville, Mo. (1966-70).

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