|
Southeast Colorado | I sincerely do appreciate all of the input on this subject I brought up last night. It really helped settle my "stir crazy" mind. You can probably tell since half of the comments on this thread are mine!
Even though I still believe this parcel was priced extremely affordable..............I passed on another bid. I beat the bushes today and did find the fellow who was bidding against me. It was a legitimate bid so at least I felt better regarding that. He's a guy I know but not closely. He does live only 2 or 3 miles from this land so he is closer to it than me. ( I was 10 miles)
Farming has been good to me and we have been able to purchase a couple thousand acres through the years as well as rent a little over a thousand. Before anyone thinks I'm a BTO...............you have to realize that this desert is a world all it's own. I am a smaller farmer for this area but have enough to make it a full time gig.
I was really tempted to go for this deal because we had the financing in place to make it happen. (Actually could have bid a lot more) Typically when I line up all of my cards we fall short of the going price. However................a few comments above...............coupled with the last 15 years of being beaten up by extended periods of drought...............just got the best of me. I would like to say that I'm the proud 100% owner of all of our land but I'd be fibbing. We've done fairly well but have levered ourselves up at times to get where we are. This deal would have pulled a little too hard for my liking on the equity of what we have. Also as most of you know.............equity doesn't pay your bills! We do custom haying, grazing, and farming.............basically anything we can scratch up to keep the cash flowing. The problem with that is that there is a limit to how much EXTRA work you can do to cover poor crops on all of the land you farm. Especially the land payments that for some reason come due just like clockwork!
I know that some day I'll probably die rich. Getting there a piece at a time has required some pretty serious work and number crunching. I am very thankful to have a workaholic wife that has helped along the way. She does 90% of all the machinery operation and ALL of the combining. I'm in charge of spraying, irrigation, and baling wire!
I guess at this time with profitability seeming tight............and the fact that this farm was going to need a little TLC to get it back to irrigated status...........made for a no go at this time. I think that TLC factor is what actually made it a bargain but Oh well. Thanks again for all of babysitting last night! Funny how the mind runs all over the place when you're contemplating spending a few hundred thousand dollars!
| |
|
Bidding on new land and can't decide when to stop..........it still seems cheap!
