Farmland next to house ( Warwickshire )

[superkartracer]

Morning

After some advise on what to offer farmer for land that backs onto our garden , seems the going rate per acre is around 8-9k for good farmland, so what would a decent offer price be without insulting them ?, only after quarter acre max, not a huge amount . Thinking 50k acre was a good starting point?

Help appreciated .

Edited by superkartracer on Tuesday 26th May 11:29

[Crumpet]

Depends how much he needs he money! A lot of farmers really don't need the cash and will end up paying a load of tax on it anyway. The farmer behind us turned down 100k for half an acre.

[superkartracer]

That seems insane , 200k acre and he turned that down... guess it also depends on how much land they own . Behind us they own 100's if not 1000+ acres so it's only a small area tbh.

[hornetrider]

You planning on having an orchard? Just checking you are aware of the planning restrictions that apply to agricultural land having been through it myself.

[superkartracer]

Yeah fully, just an orchard and maybe some bees etc

Any help on pricing?

[hornetrider]

Cool. Our 'orchard' consists of just 7 fruit trees but it's lovely to have

[PeterTTT]

Remember whatever you offer he will ask for more as he will assume you are low balling the initial interest. The trouble is the value it will add to yours (assuming you have a small garden already?) is much more that the value it detracts from his. Could you offer him upto the value it would add to yours as that is surely the "right price" from his perspective? (value could be agreed by an independent valuer?).
When I moved to my current house in rural Essex the local farmer approached me with an interest to sell 5 acres that were next door to my garden. He wanted "over £100k" for the 5 acres but I was not interested as I already had 3 acres.

Good luck
Peter

[superkartracer]

PeterTTT said:

Remember whatever you offer he will ask for more as he will assume you are low balling the initial interest. The trouble is the value it will add to yours (assuming you have a small garden already?) is much more that the value it detracts from his. Could you offer him upto the value it would add to yours as that is surely the "right price" from his perspective? (value could be agreed by an independent valuer?).
When I moved to my current house in rural Essex the local farmer approached me with an interest to sell 5 acres that were next door to my garden. He wanted "over £100k" for the 5 acres but I was not interested as I already had 3 acres.

Good luck
Peter

Thanks for that , well i based 50k an acre on a rough ( fag packet ) calc on what a 20th of a acre would add to my house ( not much i reckon ) , so 10k offer for the 800 sq/m plot sounded about right, failing that i'd settle for 10th @ same price so 100k acre.

[RobinOakapple]

Land-owning farmers sometimes have all the money they need, if that's the case with your guy then you have no chance at any price. Thing is, though, are you friendly with him? If you aren't at the moment, then it would be a good idea to make some moves in that direction.

[C Lee Farquar]

You'd be very lucky to get anything agreed for anywhere near £10k unless you have an ongoing relationship, it's not worth the hassle.

[Timmy40]

RobinOakapple said:

Land-owning farmers sometimes have all the money they need, if that's the case with your guy then you have no chance at any price. Thing is, though, are you friendly with him? If you aren't at the moment, then it would be a good idea to make some moves in that direction.

this is what it comes down to, in his minds he'd be doing you a favour/ being neighbourly to let you have a small patch like that even if you were giving him £50k. It will depend whether he knows/likes you or whether you're a total stranger. It's a mine field as often farmers get very prickly about someone coming along and asking to buy land out of the blue.

[N Dentressangle]

Have a look at the results of your local land auctions. Here is one from my area:

http://www.davidjames.org.uk/cgi-bin/properties-fo...

As you can see, results vary pretty widely, it depends who you're bidding against and what perceived potential there is to gain PP on the land. Note I say perceived - some people have bizarre and unrealistic ideas... As others have said, your ongoing relationship with the farmer is key.

[C Lee Farquar]

What other land has sold for has no bearing in this situation.

Generational farmers do not view their land as a commodity to buy and sell, they sell as a last act of desperation or for an amount that makes a significant difference. The size of significant varies from farmer to farmer.

you stand more chance if it's owned by an ex London businessman.

[Andehh]

I presume you have tried Rightmove etc for rough prices? It could honestly be how long is a piece of string though I imagine!
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for...

Would be very interested in how it goes for you though & if you get anywhere with it, please keep us updated!

[MJG280]

Before you contact the farmer check with the Land Registry that he owns the freehold of the land. The LR website gives guidance as to how to get the information.

Also any sale requires a solicitor to make sure it's documented properly.

[superkartracer]

Some great answers thanks.

I've been here 12 years and we've chatted before about it ( we wave and say hello and get offered cheap lambs! but i'd not class them as friends ) , others around here have purchased small areas ( about the same size ) from them over the years, so it was worth the *hassle* it seems.

I'll keep you informed and will do the various due diligence.

Cheers

[Condi]

If the farmer has sold parcels before he might be receptive, go round for a chat and sweet talk him.

To give you a clue, land for building (which if it backs onto a house it potentially is, esp with the amount of building planned for Warks at the moment) is valued upto £1m/ac.

[macar]

£ 50k sounds like a good initial bid, how about offering £ 100k for twice the area this would probably be more attractive and as you say he has 1000's of acres. £100k is a new John Deere and equates to a lot of potato sales to get this much profit.
We had the same problem a few years ago, started off £ 300k for 20 acres ended up settling at £ 200k for 3 acres. This was the amount we wanted for the price we were prepared to pay.

[C Lee Farquar]

Good news for you that they've sold parcels before - Good luck!

One other hurdle you may have is if they are using the land as security for a loan or overdraft.

[superkartracer]

Good point, thanks for that. It might well be better to simply purchase a wood somewhere ha!