Need help - how much should farm land sell for?

[Rueg]

The farm land behind our house has been put up for sale. I thought it would be nice to have an additional acre or two. This land is zoned as agricultural and because of the tough township rules - it probably always will be. Plus Dane County and the State of WI rules - it is very hard to convert land from agricultural to residential or commercial now days.

Does anybody know how much an acre this land should go for being it is just crop land? No trees, no water - nothing but mud. I made an offer and they said it was way too low. I really have no idea what farm land that cannot be used for anything else should go for.

Thanks for any input.

[bradhass87]

I know it's not the same, but down in shopiere my parents farm land is about 5,800 per acre.

[skanderson]

it all depends on the land. up around baraboo the land can go for between 2 and 10 k per acre. the higher numbers are for land that is buildable though. never know what the land use nazis down by you have done to the price of land. best bet is to go onto some realty sites and see what nearby comparable land is selling for. remember they arent making any more of it and once the inflation gets started up your debts will shrink.

[Rueg]

Looks like it is going to be out of reach for us. I found this listing which is within a mile of us and it is selling for around $16,000/acre. http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16535806 ... Forest-WI/
Well, I should say it is for sale for that amount - nobody is going to buy it for that amount. After making a few phone calls that chunk of land sold many years ago for $11,000/acre to a developer and the developer tried to get it re-zoned and failed. It would have to be annexed into DeForest and then a few additional approvals would also be needed to get the land re-zoned from agricultural. The farm field behind my house is even less likely to ever get re-zoned from agricultural because of its location. It is going to stay a farm field for a very long time if not forever - and that makes me feel much better.