Farmland for Sale in Peoria County Illinois

Property review time! This is a property that I own personally. I bought it a few years back as a parking spot for some money to earn a good return while I continued to search for our next family farm. I can’t tell you how much we enjoyed this farm…so much so that we eventually settled on a family farm less than a mile upstream of this one! This land for sale in Peoria County comes with an amazing return on investment and some incredible recreational value for a farm that returns so well! Take a listen to the podcast for an informal chat about the property.

Agent Owned

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION
(these are fairly accurate but not perfect…please forgive any errors or inconsistencies)

Hey, guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today’s episode is a property review on 40 acres in Peoria County. So this is a property that I own personally I’ve owned for a few years now, so I’m very familiar with it. It is. I’m here in Dunlap, Illinois, so the farm is super close to me. So it’s just on the let’s see, West side. It’s kind of like Dunlap School district area. So it’s just down Grange Hall Road, if you’re familiar with this area just passed like Kickapoo sand and gravel. Once you cross that Kickapoo Creek on Grange Hall, it is just there on the north. It’s actually Corney Road. It it’s a dead end road that heads north, maybe a mile. And I am back there on the right. So I bought the property a couple of years ago when my wife and I sold our Canton family farm there just east of Canton. And like, we didn’t intend for this to be a long hold. We were just going to kind of hold it while we looked for a farm. When we sold that Canton farm, our goal was to move that money closer to our our home here in Dunlap. And we ended up finding something. I actually found a property in Dunlap that we could maybe build on someday and still be in the same school district. But now that we’ve found something else where we’re unloading this property and I bought it mainly because it was a tillable farm, I mean, of the 40 acres, it’s 27, I believe, tillable.

So it was just a good investment, pretty good dirt. I don’t I’ll put it on the website, but I want to say it’s like a 126 ish productivity index. So solid B plus farm, the soils are good. I get 350 bucks an acre cash rent. So you’re talking just under ten grand ish if you were to farm at all. I mean, of course I don’t because we play on it. So we had some in food plots, but you know, if a guy farmed all of it, you’re looking at just under ten grand a year. So that’s why we bought it. It was just kind of a good investment, a spot to park money. And but what we found is we used it like way more than we thought. You know, I knew that we would use it a little bit, just being kind of close to the house. And the south side of this is the Kickapoo Creek. So, you know, I had that in the back of my mind, like, cool. At least we have a little spot to go to to hang out, let the kids play, you know, play in the creek and run around, you know, while we wait to find our kind of like next next farm, next family farm. And we used it a lot more than I thought.

The tillable is pretty straightforward. Again, that’s why I bought it. But before we move on from that, like it’s it is floodplain stuff. And because the Kickapoo Kickapoo Creek is there, I’ve never seen it flood. I mean, it floods like. It’s the Kickapoo Creek certainly like raises a lot. But I’ve never seen it go over like the little I’m going to say a levee, but it’s not. It’s sort of a levee just on the the south side of that creek, like kind of where we use as the trail to drive in. It is elevated maybe, you know, four or five feet. So it’s kind of like a little levee. I’ve never seen it crossed that the dude that I bought it from said that he has seen it cross that once. I think in the last 20 or 25 years, it was never an issue to me. So that’s why I bought it again. Good productive, tillable land. But the bonus that we got was it did provide way more recreational kind of value than we expected the creek. I mean, so the Kickapoo Creek is cool. I had never owned a property or really on any creek. You know, I’ve always kind of like the Kickapoo Creek in the spoon. I’ve never owned anything on it. And it was super cool. I mean, so the south side of this property, when we back up a tiny bit, the property of the 40 acres again, most is tillable.

But the south side that remaining like whatever that would be 13 acres is it’s either the Kickapoo Creek or just kind of some timber down there. There’s a tiny bit of timber on the north let’s see, north east side. But the majority of that timber is kind of like on both sides of the creek. So the entire south side has is either the creek is either the property line or I kind of own both sides of it. There’s a tiny I believe there’s a tiny portion in there, like one of my actually one of my friends owns a piece to the south and I believe he owns part of the creek. But for for most of it, I either own to the creek or passed it. And so of those like 13 acres, we did put in some little four wheel trails. And you can cross the creek. But I’ll warn you, there’s times where you just can’t, like, you know, maybe with, like, a big jeep or something, but like with a four wheeler or like a ah, gate or like little kids razor, we there were certainly times where we could not cross it for like, extended periods of time, like weeks. I mean, you’re talking, I think, you know, in a normal. I’m finding that it changes. But like in general, that creek, like where our crossings are, it’s about a foot deep which, which the gator can handle, the razor can handle much deeper than that.

And. I just have never risked it. I’m not saying you couldn’t, but, like, especially my kids razor like this water gets up into the seat and on the ranger, it starts getting up over the floorboard. So, you know, when it rains, it’s. It’s. You can certainly walk across it if you’re going to go hunting or whatever. But like, in terms of the four wheel trails, you can only do that like half the year or something, maybe more than that. But those are there it is. You know, I don’t deer hunt. You know, nobody in my family different. So I’m not going to call this a deer hunting property. You could deer hunt it. The chunk to the east is mostly no, it’s entirely timber. I don’t think that dude hunts. There’s just not a lot of development area. So, like, we get plenty of good pictures, a lot of deer, a lot of turkey. So you you could do that kind of like as an added value. It’s not a trophy hunting farm. You’re not going to go and kill a 180 there every year. That’s just that’s not what type of farm it is. But there’s certainly enough timber there that if all you’re worried about is to go shoot a deer and, you know, fill your freezer, totally cool. That would work. There’s a pile of turkey there.

You could shoot a turkey. But again, what we bought it for was the tillable and the creek. So kind of getting back to the creek. It was awesome. We used it all the time. Again, it’s like a foot deep that is through, like spring through, like fall. And what we found in the fall is every year that we’ve owned it, like beavers dam up like certain sections of it and it becomes like a lot deeper. So like I waited out there to get some pictures last week and it’s probably, I don’t know, like thigh deep. So like you’re talking, what, three, three and a half feet deep somewhere in that range. So it’s really cool. And I kind of like stair steps down. I have not fished it like in the fall, so I bet the fishing would be a little easier because when I bought it, everyone told me it had good fishing and I just kind of like. Yeah, I’m sure it’s fine, but like, I doubt it’s that good. So I sort of dismissed it and it. The fishing. There is a blast. Like we did it way more than I expected. It’s again, it’s, it’s weird to me that it’s good because it’s pretty shallow, but like I would say every like 50 yards or 80 yards, there’s a little deep hole. So you kind of know where to fish. And when I see deep, deep hole, like in the in the spring, we might be talking only three feet.

These aren’t super deep holes. You know, my kids, while I’ve owned it, my twins, the youngest, they’ve been 4 to 6. They just turned six. And I was comfortable. Like last year I was comfortable just like letting them roll on the creek. Like even when they’re for like with lifejackets, because there was only a few spots where, like, they couldn’t touch and they knew where those were and they could go with their older brother. But like for the most part, you know, it was a it was a safe creek. You know, there’s no super deep parts. So when I say like deep holes for fishing, they’re not like, I think there’s only one spot on the entire thing where I couldn’t touch. Like, there’s one we call it, like the swimming hole. But there’s one spot they knew not to go to, but like, where it was like, legitimately deep everywhere else, you could walk all of it. And we caught a pile of fish. I mean, the fishing was surprisingly good. Like, listen, you’re not going to catch like £5 or £5 smallmouth. Like, it’s not like lake fishing. Most of the fish that we caught were like, you know, of course you caught a bunch of little tiny ones. But the good fish would, I would say were good fish, were, you know, £2 like was I think our biggest or like a normal, like big small mouth out there.

And I mean, I say that like it’s not a big fish, like it’s a blast. I catch a £2 small mouth and like a creek, you’re just waiting. It was it’s awesome. So the fishing was great. And it’s again, it’s not a lake, so it’s not somewhere you can go like fish all day. Like for whatever reason. I feel like once you kind of walk it, once you sort of disrupt it, so. You can’t like, At least we never had luck. Like, fishing at all day. Like, maybe if you were a cat fishing. So I suppose I should start there. Like we’ve caught, obviously, small mouth. That’s what we caught most of. There’s a pile of catfish in there. Like you literally see them. We’ve never fished for them. We caught a rock bass. There’s carp in there. I’m sure there’s more. That’s kind of what we’ve seen. And or caught. But again, the the bigger smallmouth, you know, anything from like 10 to 16 inches or so, it was just probably as big as we got. But like they were blast, they fight hard. But yeah, like you go to a deep spot and you fish for, you know, 10 minutes or so, 15 minutes and like once you catch one or two, it’s kind of like, I don’t know if they see you or they can like sense the water movement if you’re in the water waiting.

But eventually you kind of like out fish the whole or like disrupt it. So then we’d move on, we’d walk down or up, you know, 50, 60 yards to the next one, do the same thing. And so like a couple of hours and you could kind of walk our entire creek, you know, that that portion of the property and fish it and then you’re kind of done. I mean, we did have luck like turning around and doing it again, but it was never like as good as the first time. But again, the fishing was great. We did it all the time. We never went and didn’t catch anything like creek. Fish just seem a little different to me. I have no experience with that. But like they they seem a little more aggressive. Obviously, they fight harder. I don’t know. It was it was it was a cool experience. The property, in fact, after we owned this, we were like, you know, we want our next property to have creek as well, like the creek somewhat like this size, so that we enjoyed it so much. Like we actually added it to our list on the next property and we ended up just buying like literally upstream like. I mean, maybe a mile. It’s not very far from this property. So we loved the area and found something else close by. That was kind of like more what we were looking for.

A little bigger, a little more trees. But anyways, the creek was super cool. Good for the kids to wait around in. Fishing was good. We also built like a we use it more than we thought. So we ended up building like a little I’m going to call it like a campsite, but it’s like super primitive, like nothing fancy. There’s no power back there. But we found a, I don’t know, a couple acres section that was like. Mildly like the terrain down to the creek was like sloped pretty mildly. So it could kind of like, you know, the kids could play there and we’d doze the entire thing just to clear all the brush, made it even like a little more smooth down to the down to the creek, the top half, which is maybe. I don’t know. 6 to 8 feet above normal creek level. We plant some grass we put in for, like, RV pads, just gravel. Blair and I have a camper, and a few of our friends have them, so we just put those in so we could put those there and you wouldn’t be in the mud and that sort of thing. But we built that. We put in a concrete pad. I don’t remember the size I’m going to guess like. 18 by 34, somewhere in that range. But we built that just kind of like stay out of the mud and sand.

We’d, you know, girl out there and have a little bonfire and that sort of stuff down to the creek. You know, you can only control the creek so much so like we had envisioned like a sandy beach down there a little bit. But like, when that creek rises, there’s not a ton you can do. So that that lower area of like our camp section became like this rocky area that like the creek to sort of deposited there. It’s pretty cool. There is a little sandy area right in front of the right in front of the concrete pad that kind of stays sand like we didn’t even have to bring it in. That’s just like the that’s the soil that’s there. So there is a little sandy area and it kind of transitions to a rock. But it’s a cool area. Kept all the big trees. You can drive right to it like the main trail goes to it. So we use that quite a bit and turned out well. Again. We used it more than we expected we would. The we did plan to dump field out there, so I’ve owned it two years, the first year that we owned it. I bought it too late to plant Sunflower, so there was nothing down there but there were doves everywhere, like they were just there. We didn’t hunt them the first year, but I was I was super excited to put in like a dove plot because I’d never seen that many doves without, like, intentionally planting a dove food plot.

So it was excited about that and it was awesome. Like, so I think I took three or four acres that was in production, put it into a dove field, and there was just doves everywhere. Like I assume. I don’t pretend to be a dove expert, but I assume it’s because there’s water there, there’s sand. I believe they they like that sand. I think they’ll eat that to help them kind of digest stuff. So there’s water, sand and those rocks and then these like huge trees around there. Several of them were kind of like dead. But whatever the reason, they just seem to love the area. And they were doves everywhere. My field didn’t even turn out the best. Like I probably should have sprayed it later, so we’d have a nice clean, like mud or dirt bottom. About half of it was super weedy, but it didn’t like it didn’t seem to matter. You know, we shot a limit opening morning. The rest of the guys set a limit that afternoon. We even shot like, well, all the way through the at least through September until it got cold and we lost most of the doves. But the dove hunting, hunting, there was it was as good as I’ve had. You know, I’ve lived like a decade ago. We had one on Fulton. For whatever reason.

It was awesome. But this one rivaled that like, it’s as good of dove hunting as I have had on like a central Illinois farm. So that was awesome. So if you’re into, like, you know, bird hunting, it’s a cool farm and it’s, you know, it seems like it would be consistently good down there. I did also leave, so when I bought it, it had the lower four acres or so, like on the creek bank area in CRP and. And maybe she’d have left it. I bought out of it just because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. In fact, I was for a while I was thinking about putting the whole thing into CRP to work with my dog and like, you know, have some upland hunting area. But even though I took that out to farm more of it, I left about, I want to say maybe an acre like a strip that’s maybe, you know, 30 or 40 feet by like. A thousand somewhere in that ballpark, 1000 feet. And so there’s I just left it in prairie grass to train my dog. So, you know, once or twice a year, I’ll go throw some pheasant and chuck her out and just kind of train her since it’s close to my house. So that was kind of cool, too. There’s just nothing like it’s very remote back there. So it was kind of a cool spot to do that.

But so I used it for dove hunting, used it for upland hunting and. And the creek. So like literally for a for a property that I would say is just an investment property with like good tillable good return, it provided like a pile of recreational value for what it is. You know, it’s not like buying a 200 acre chunk of timber where you can, you know, trophy hunt, deer or turkey. You know, that’s not what this property is. But for being a tillable property with, with good returns, it provides a ton of recreational value. I think we did a podcast or maybe a vlog or something like years back on like the tracks that we like to buy for, like us and our clients are like those investment tracks that offer a little recreational value and they’re hard to find because typically, like the more the better the return, the more kind of like boring the property is. Like that’s generally the rule of thumb. Every once in a while you’ll find one that’s like, you know, it’s still a tillable property with a good return, but like there’s the recreational benefits are pretty good. And so that’s what I would say this is and they’re hard to find. I mean, sometimes you can find a tillable property with a tiny bit of timber that connects to like a huge chunk that like, you know, I would say you could kill a great deer every year.

Those are, you know, properties like that where it’s like, hey, that’s for the most part, this is just a, you know, not even for the most part. This is a property that’s just a tillable good asset to own. But that recreational value is there as well. Similar like when you buy a farm that’s tillable and you could like duck hunting or goose hunting, same thing. This is very similar to those in that like it’s mainly a tillable farm. The only difference is that recreational value here is more like the creek fishing dove, that sort of thing. But keep in mind if you if you do a dove plot, you’re taking away from the tillable a little bit. I also did have a food plot in the back for deer. I don’t know why I don’t deer hunt, but just it’s kind of cool to see him, like, walk out. And I know it’s kind of cool to see them on the property, but that’s it. On this property, it’s pretty straightforward. I mean, I think the the ideal buyer is someone sort of like me. Some of us just looking to park some money, like a safe asset with a good return, but like enjoys some some of these recreational benefits that this property provides. And you know I think you’re going to use those more of your you’re going to use them more if you’re local. So to me, like a local buyer makes a little more sense, you know, North Peoria, Dunlap, Principal Kickapoo Brimfield, that sort of area is all within five, 10 minutes.

And at least that’s what I would envision happening. You know, it’s not a property you’re going to build a house on. I don’t you know, you maybe could get power back there, but it’s you’re looking at a pretty a pretty long haul to get power. So it’ll probably be used kind of like we used it. And I think whoever buys it would love it Like it’s we, we, we enjoyed it again a lot more than we thought. We didn’t expect We, we would it was kind of a temporary parking spot but it was a it was a fun farm and changed what we, you know, changed what we wanted long term because we enjoyed parts of it that much. So that’s it. On this one, if you guys have any questions, give me a call. Shoot me a text message if you want to check it out. Same thing. Get in touch and we’ll go out and, you know, look around or if you’re in the area and just want to take a walk, it’s it’s no big deal. So that’ll do on this one. And I’m going to try to knock out a few of these podcasts today. So we’ll be coming back at you pretty quickly here with a few more podcasts. So thanks for listening.

The post Property Review | 40 Acres in Peoria County appeared first on LandCo - Illinois Land for Sale.

I have never hunted with anyone that doesn’t love dove hunting. But few people plant sunflower fields for doves. I get it though. On top of being expensive, they are super finicky…especially when it comes to the timing. In this episode, I chat about our experience when you cut sunflowers too early. Ideally, you wait until your flowers are dead and completely dried out…even if you have to hammer them with round-up to expedite that process. But what if you planted your flowers late and don’t have access to a sprayer? Or what if you have access to a brush hog and haven’t had time to spray them? What if you just decide to mow them before they are 100% ready? Then what?

Well, this is the scenario that we were faced with this year. And because it was one of our personal fields and not one of our clients, we rolled the dice. Partially because it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if it didn’t work. And partially because I was curious about what would happen. I will note some of the pictures below but for the full explanation, listen to the podcast!

In the pic above, the field is prepped and planted. Mid May. In these next few pics, you can see the field moving along through the year.

These next three pics are mid August when I was looking at mowing them for the season which started Sep 1. As you can see, it is still clearly green. The seeds are mature but that is it. The sunflower head is still white, fibery, and pretty sticky.

We went ahead and just mowed the field as is to see what would happen.

I don’t have any great pics of how the sunflower heads looked after it was mowed, but the seed simply did not separate from the head. Most of the field was just whole sunflower heads with all the seeds in tact. Some of the heads did tear or break apart…but even on those, the seed was still attached to the head. It took about a week to ten days, but eventually those sunflower heads did dry out entirely and that is when the birds started getting to the seeds.

Here are some post hunting pics for your enjoyment

The post What happens when you cut your sunflowers too early? appeared first on LandCo - Illinois Land for Sale.

As in nearly every industry, the entry-level conversation starts with a budget.  How much money have you earmarked for land investment? But that is usually the easy question.  Our clients know how much they have to spend.  Usually, it’s a range, but clearly, most clients have gotten this far in the process when they get to us.  The more important initial conversation revolves around preferred investment strategy.  It involves risk tolerance, position in life, predicted income.  And most often, these elements first display themselves when we discuss down payment strategies. For this exercise, let’s set aside the type of property someone wants…because 1) while that can reveal someone’s risk tolerance, that isn’t always the case and 2) we typically see no difference in down payment strategies between buyers of tillable or recreational land.  

In our experience, down payment strategies can be broken down into three main categories.  That doesn’t mean that each down payment falls 100% into one of these buckets.  In fact, most down payment scenarios are a hybrid approach.  But a confident approach comes from understanding each down payment strategy.  

Paid in Full

The easiest option to cover is a 100% down payment strategy. I am aware that this strategy is not an option for many land buyers.  And just because you can’t pay cash for a property, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get involved in land investing.  This strategy is most commonly used by individuals who are either in or close to retirement and individuals who have accumulated a significant amount of wealth early in life.  The thought process is simple…a land purchase using this strategy is no different than buying stock.  It is moving money from one investment to another. It diversified risk.  Typically, individuals who employ this strategy are educated on the historical performance of land values and see it as a way to decrease risk while enjoying some of their investments. 

Monthly Payment Calculation

This option typically incurs the biggest risk but also allows the investor to back into his or her exact comfort level in terms of the out-of-pocket expense.   It is the most common down payment strategy.  It is primarily used by buyers who are in the middle of their earning days.  The end numbers are different for everyone but the theory is the exact same.  The questions that you must ask yourself to begin this down payment are as follows.  

The answers to these questions reveal what kind and size of the property the individual can buy.  It doesn’t back you into an exact answer, but it reveals a range of properties you can buy.  

For example, let’s say a buyer has $50,000 to put down on a potential property.  And the buyer is comfortable with coming out of pocket with $10,000 annually.  The formula for revealing potential property targets goes like this…

Expenses – Income = Net Annual Payment

Each farm has its own specific expenses and income but most commonly they are…

Expenses

Income

The easiest way to get a range of potential property targets using this method is to run the formula on a property with zero income, and then again on one with 100% tillable.  Sure, you are going to have to apply some logic to your unique situation…if you are looking specifically for a deer hunting property, you may swap out that 100% tillable property with one that has the highest percentage of tillable that you are willing to consider.  For most deer hunters, that typically falls around 50%, but the exercise remains the same.  To start this exercise, it is easiest to make some ballpark assumptions…we can fine-tune these numbers when we start looking at specific farms but this will provide us with a range of farms that fit our financial capabilities. They typically go like this…

Assumptions
– 100% Timber Property with no immediate income
– Property Tax = $1200/annually ($100 Month)
– No ongoing maintenance costs

Under these circumstances, the formula would be…

Comfortable Annual Payment – Property Taxes – Maintenance Expenses = Target Annual Mortgage Payment

For this buyer, we know the comfort zone out of pocket is $10,000. So we then plugin that amount and the assumed property taxes to reveal a mortgage amount. For a 100% timber property, we are also going to assume no ongoing maintenance expenses. 

$10,000 – $1200 – $0 = $8800

So now we have backed into an $8800 annual mortgage payment ($733/month).  Now simply run that number against the current loan climate.  For example, banks now are around 4% interest on a 30-year amortization schedule.  If you plug in those numbers on a mortgage calculator, it reveals that a $150,000 loan has an annual payment of around $8600.  

This portion of the exercise reveals that this specific buyer has a ceiling of $200,000 ($150,000 mortgage plus $50,000 down payment) when there is no income.

Now we run the same formula on a property with 100% tillable.   

Assumptions
– 100% Tillable with $9,000 annual income
– Property Taxes = $2400/annually ($200/month)
– No Ongoing Maintenance Costs

To get to some of these assumptions, we ballpark some projections based on the first portion of the exercise.  For example, if the max spend on a timber property is $200,000, we know the max spend on a 100% income property is going to be greater than the $200,000 (based on increased income).  So let’s plugin $300,000 for a 100% income property to see where that number lands in terms of annual out-of-pocket expenses.  

Assumptions
– $300,000 purchase price
– Average 3% Return (This will change based on your local return averages…chat with a local broker to get some averages in your area) = $9,000 annual income

Now let’s plug in the same formula as above…

Expenses – Income = Annual Out of Pocket Payment

Expenses
$250,000 mortage ($300,000 minus $50,000 down payment) = roughly $14,400/yr
Property Tax = $2400 (assumed)
Total = $16,800

Income
$9,000

$16,800 (Expenses) – $9,000 (Income) = $7800 annual out of pocket expense.  

These projections reveal that $300,000 is well within the buyer’s comfort zone of $10,000 annual out-of-pocket expenses.  To get an exact number, we can bump up the purchase price a bit.   

Assumptions
– $350,000 purchase price
– Average 3% Return = $10,500 annual income

Expenses
– $300,000 mortage ($350,000 minus $50,000 down payment) = roughly $17200/yr
– Property Tax = $2400 (assumed)
– Total = $19600

Income
$10,500

$19,600 (Expenses) – $10,500 (Income) = $9100 annual out of pocket expense.

This purchase price reveals that even a $350,000 purchase price on a tillable property is within the comfort zone.  In fact, there is even a touch more room there.  But we are getting pretty close…so in terms of a ballpark starting point, this buyer should target properties from $200,000 to $350,000 depending on the level of income on that specific property.  The more income, the more that buying power goes up.  

Now, clearly, each buyer can modify these numbers based on their financial position and also apply more detailed information based on the type of property they are looking for.  

Ultimately, it is these formulas that will let a buyer find a range of properties within their comfort zone in terms of out-of-pocket annual expenses.  Once you find a range of properties, you can update these formulas to each specific property to see if it is a good fit. One thing that this exercise does illustrate, is that it is significantly easier to carry property with some tillable land as opposed to all timber. Keep that in mind as you begin your search.

Pay for Itself

This down payment strategy is very common among our land investing clients and admittedly, this is our personal favorite strategy.  When buying land personally, we aim to achieve this strategy.  It has a very similar formula to the previous strategy.  It starts with identifying how much money you are comfortable putting down on a property.  Then you apply the formula above with a specific goal…to get the annual out-of-pocket expense to net zero.  Essentially, these buyers have the goal of putting down enough money on a property that it will pay for itself.  These buyers always target properties with at least some income that will be used to cover any mortgage payment.  There are several ways to back into this formula but the easiest is to first identify what type of property you are looking for. For this exercise, let’s assume this buyer is looking for a recreational property with 50% tillable  Let’s also assume the buyer has earmarked up to $100,000 as a down payment.  To start, let’s get a baseline for the ballpark purchase price this buyer should be targeting. 

Let’s make the following assumptions…

– Purchase Price = $200,000
– Income = $5,000 / annually
– Mortgage = $5750 / annually
– Property Taxes = $1200 / annually

Expenses ($6950) – Income ($5000) = $1950 annual out of pocket expense 

In this scenario, the property does not float itself but costs less than $2000/year.  So we would see that number as a good baseline.  A $200,000 purchase price gets you in the ballpark depending on the income.  So we would recommend a $150,000-$200,000 range for this buyer.  

From there, we run the numbers specifically on any property that is appealing to that buyer.  For properties on the lower end of the target range, the buyer has a little more flexibility to increase the amount they put down on the property.  On properties that are at or above the target purchase price range, that flexibility diminishes.  At the higher end of the price range, the buyer must be patient and ready to miss out on potential properties that meet their needs.  

Conclusion

Each and every buyer is different, and their approach to down payments is different.  But typically, they begin with an understanding of these three strategies.  From there, they are tailored to meet the comfort level of each buyer.  Many times the down payment strategies fall exactly in line with one of the above categories.  Many times they end up as a hybrid.  Ultimately, down payment strategies are an indication of each buyer’s risk tolerance.  The less out-of-pocket expense involved, the less risk created.  If a landowner doesn’t have to come out of pocket to carry property, the only major risk is a decrease in property income, which historically is incredibly rare.  Even then, it is relatively minor in terms of decrease and tends to be very short-lived.  So when considering buying a property, think carefully through your risk tolerance and align that with what you want in a property.  The next step is where it gets more fun – locating potential properties! 

The post 3 Most Common Down Payment Strategies for Land Purchases appeared first on LandCo - Illinois Land for Sale.

New Video Podcast Up! In this episode we chat with Matt Lynch again. This time it’s about the deer that he shot! Nice work Matt. Solid deer!

The post LandCo Podcast | Matt Lynch Deer 2019 appeared first on LandCo - Illinois Land for Sale.

In this episode, we sit down with Glen Lynch and chat with him about the entire process of pursuing this deer of a lifetime! Glen and his family are LandCo clients who purchased this farm back in 2015 and we immediately put into action a plan to improve the whitetail hunting. The results left us all speechless. Take a listen and see some additional pics below!

The post The Lynch Deer | 213 6/8″ Trophy Whitetail appeared first on LandCo - Illinois Land for Sale.