Your Country Homestead

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             You’re ready to start looking for a quality farmstead, but just where do you start?

Realtor and land auctioneer, Silas Deane, who lives with his family on 230 acres near Owensboro, Ky. increasingly turns to the Internet.

Most rural land in America is sold at auction. Deane says that auctions are the fairest and best way to buy land and recommends looking for auctions when you are ready to buy.

         The Internet is an easy way to do an initial search. The net is an especially valuable tool if you’re looking far away from home—another state or another part of your state. Or to save a lot of gas chasing dead-ends.

           In Illinois, for instance, Deane recommends the web site agrinews-classifieds.com. This site functions as an unofficial multiple-listing service for farmland.

       If you are buying at auction be sure to contact the auctioneer with your questions before the sale. If you are looking at listings, the most important thing is to make contact with a seasoned professional that knows something about land. Many real estate agents are trained and focus on residential property and often don’t even have a good idea of land values . Finding a good farm and land broker to represent you. is important to save yourself lots of time and trouble and costs.

           Here are a number of web sites Deane likes with either national or regional listings.

His own AllianceAuctions.net lists auction and brokerage properties in the local northwest Kentucky area, and has links to The NationalAuctionList.com, AuctionZip.com, the local MLS listings as well as the largest real estate database Realtor.com, and LandandFarm.com

LandandFarm.com This is one of the best, most interesting sites around. You can peruse the featured properties or conduct your own search. There are also links to Deane and brokers in dozens of states.

Eaglestar.net   This service lists property in numerous states. The site had 65 new properties listed the last time Deane checked.

Farmers-National.com  Farmers National has gotten into recreational land in a big way. Farmers National also offers landowner work shops, news on land ownership, even information about natural resource leases.

FarmCreditBank.com  This is the web site of the Farm Credit Bank of Texas, a federally sponsored lender doing business in a number of southern states. This bank carries its listings on the web site, in addition to the listings of other realtors/brokers.

WilliamsAuctions.com   This site for Oklahoma-based Williams & Williams does business in states from Vermont to Nevada. They specialize in rural and small-town properties, farms and ranchland.

 They also conduct auctions featuring high-end and not-so-high-end properties.

UnitedCountry.com As extensive as any listings in the country, this alliance of rural-oriented realtors has representatives/branches in nearly every state.

RedfieldGroup.com Based in Alabama, The Redfield Group finds and markets some of the most unique country properties in the U.S.

The best method just might be ask. Let a professional like Silas talk to the locals. Whether it’s a professional connection with a local broker, or the coffee group at the local store. Experienced brokers like Deane knows its often those friend-of-a-friend connections that result in the best buys.

Silas Deane,

Owensboro, Ky.

270-689-1717