Seasoned farmers know that a lot goes into maintaining farmland, a lot more than most people realize. If you are breaking into the farm business and are looking for farm property to buy, you need to take your time and work with an experienced real estate company that has access to great listings at all prices. Buying farmland for use as an actual farm is a lot different from buying open recreational land or residential-use land. You're not just buying open land, nor are you buying land to simply live on, which means you have to take a lot more into account before you sign any contracts.
The Land May Have to Be Amended and Cleaned Up
Agricultural use of land usually involves the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and more. Not just "any material is technically a chemical" types of chemicals, but non-organic, potentially polluting chemical materials that keep away bugs while adding nutrients to soil. This is the stuff that forms runoff that can pollute nearby waterways if you're not careful.
This might not seem like a big deal if you're looking at lots that are not currently in use. If nothing is being sprayed or added to the land now, then it looks like there's no runoff to worry about. That's not the case. These chemicals are in the soil itself, and depending on what you want to grow and what methods you want to use, you may have to amend the soil or even remove and replace some of it. Make sure that you are either prepared to work on that land to get it into the shape you prefer, or that you find land where prior use is more in line with what you want to do. For example, if you want a small organic farm, look for land that was used for organic planting or at least for planting that was more environmentally friendly. Look for land where the soil pH is more in line with what you want to plant.
Your Budget Needs to Include the Land and the Buildings
Another issue is that farmland can be more built up on some parcels than on others. You can find land with houses, barns, corrals, storage buildings, and more; you can also find land with nothing on it. When you look for farm property to buy, you have to remember that you'll need to pay for anything you want to add to the land or remodel. That's going to change how much you have available to purchase the land and could reduce (or expand, if you thought you weren't going to be able to find land that already had structures on it) the number of listings you can consider.
Your real estate agent can help you locate farm property that is in your price range. The two of you can make sure you know about the condition of the soil and what work needs to be done on the land to bring it up to the standards you need. Learn more from farm property buyers in your area today.
