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Real Estate Prices Still

Agricultural Economist Newsletter: Winter 2001--Farm Real Estate Prices Still Rising in Minnesota Farm Real Estate Prices Still Rising in Minnesota Steven J. Taff Average Minnesota farm real estate sales prices just keep on climbing (figure 1). This despite low output prices, rising input costs, and continued uncertainty about the future of federal subsidies. Sales price increases were seen in all parts of the state except in the northwest. In this annual sales price summary, I can provide only an overview, some cursory analysis, and--as always--a few opinions. I'll not bore you with text that simply repeats what's already shown in the charts. Instead I'll spend some time discussing how land transaction data are recorded, adjusted, and employed. I think it's useful to go through some administrative and procedural details to further our understanding of what these data are and what they are not. If this prospect makes you say, "Just show me the data, Steve," then you can stop right after the sales summary section. Or, if your impatience knows no bounds, go straight to the Minnesota Land Economics (MLE) Web site at http://apec.umn.edu/faculty/sjtaff/landdata/index.html and start working the numbers yourself. Farm Land Sales in 2000 Assessors are required to report initial assessments in late fall, based on sales data to date. That's why the data are reported on a "record year" basis: these are the sales that were, presumably, available for assessor scrutiny at the time the initial estimated market-values are calculated. Final values are set by summer, to be used in the succeeding tax year. So, for example, sales made in late 1999 are used by assessors to set initial values for January 2001. These estimates are adjusted in spring 2001, finalized in summer 2001, and then used for tax purposes in 2002. The adjusted record year 2000 sales data were therefore not available until April of this year. Figure 2 shows the distribution of all farmland sales in 2000. The bulk of the sales lie between $500 and $2,000 per acre. I excluded a small number of sales that exceeded $5,000 per acre as well as those involving parcels of land less than 20 acres in size. Both were excluded as not being plausibly "agricultural"--despite their designation on the Certificate of Real Estate Value (CRV) as "agricultural" land. (Although excluded from figure 2, these data are included in the MLE Web site data.) Even though MAE readers and MLE Web site users can view the full distribution of sales prices, most still ask for a single number that somehow captures the story behind the figures. Obviously, for a set of sales that span such a wide range in prices, any single number fails completely to accomplish this end. Movements in averages, while arithmetically correct, usually fail to tell the entire story. The particular average I use in this article is a location- and size-weighted mean (table 1). In last year's farm real estate report ( agecon.lib.umn.edu/mn/mae699.pdf ), I discussed the usefulness of such weighting as well as the desirability of examining sales data at the smallest geographic scale possible. Table 1. Minnesota farm real estate sales summary Record year Number of sales Acres sold Average price* 1996 2,504 263,728 936 1997 2,641 296,803 1,039 1998 2,724 303,968 1,113 1999 2,212 235,359 1,196 2000 2,258 250,979 1,222 * Location- and size-weighted per-acre mean Figure 1 compares the movements of actual sales price averages with those two other estimates of land value--the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) annual state estimates (based on a farmer opinion survey) and the average assessor estimates (the location- and size-weighted mean estimated market value). The University of Minnesota sales prices averages are location- and size-weighted means. The fact that all three (somewhat) independent estimates of farmland real estate values shown in figure 1 move in lockstep adds credence, I believe, to the conclusion that, on average, farmland values really are increasing in Minnesota. Geographic variations in real estate values for the past 11 years are shown in the box-and-whisker plots of figure 3. (District boundaries are shown in figure 4.) The range of sales prices for each district for each year is shown by the endpoints of the vertical lines. The ends of each box show the prices at which 25 percent of the sales were higher (or lower). The median is indicated by the horizontal bar within each box. So, for example, the median Central district farmland sale was about $1,200 per acre, with 25 percent of the sales lower than $750 and 75 percent lower than $1,850 per acre. In previous years' reports, I've noted the wide variation in average price movements among districts. Such differences were accentuated in 2000 by the continued climb of values in the South East district combined with the continued stagnation in the North West district (figure 5) . Farm Sale Data When a Minnesota property is sold, the transaction details must be recorded at the county courthouse on a form called a CRV. On it, the seller attests that such-and-such a property was sold to so-and-so on a certain date for a specific price. Other information about the property (its size, soil characteristics, prior year's estimated market value) is often entered on the CRV as well. Frequently, the per-acre prices that underlie this article and are also shown in the MLE Web site are not the prices entered on the CRV. Long before a land sales figure enters the official data base, it has been passed through an array of filters and adjustments designed to make comparison among transactions more meaningful and more reliable. Recording the Transactions There are many possible slips between an ownership change and data analysis. Of course, there is always the chance that simple recording errors are made. For example, numbers may be miscopied from bills of sale onto the CRV, or into a computer file, or into a spreadsheet. There is also a chance of misrepresentation. The person who fills in the CRV might have a reason to understate or overstate the actual sales price--perhaps to avoid a tax. This, of course, is illegal, but, as any courthouse veteran can tell you, it occasionally happens. Not every sale receives further processing. Local or state officials remove from subsequent analysis any sale not deemed "arms-length," because it was sold, for example, to a member of the seller's immediate family. Or, a sale might be pulled because the new buyer intends to convert the land to a non-agricultural use. Adjusting the Prices After this filtering, sales prices are frequently adjusted to make comparison among sales more appropriate. First, to expunge the effects of inflation, sales prices are deflated by an officially reported rate to January 2 of the year in which they were recorded. This "adjustment for time" is fairly minor in years (like the past decade) where inflation has been low. The second adjustment is "for terms." Not all farm real estate sales are for the full property. Some are made through a contract for deed, an arrangement that allows the buyer to pay a certain amount now and other amounts at stated intervals. Until the final payment is made, the property remains in the possession of the seller--even though it has been "sold." Because the full payment schedule is entered on the CRV, the Department of Revenue can calculate a present value of the initial and subsequent payments at an official discount rate. This becomes the official sales price of the property, regardless of what the buyer and seller had in mind when they sealed the deal. Adjustments don't end with a time- and terms-adjusted sales price, honestly reported and accurately recorded. In most cases, users of the data are interested in per-acre prices, not per-parcel prices. That means some chosen total price must be divided by some total acreage. But which price? Which acres? Should we use the total price or should we first subtract out the value of buildings, personal property, ancillary property, or machinery to get closer to the "true" land price? In this article (and on the MLE Web site), I choose to follow conventions established years ago in Minnesota. I report the time- and terms-adjusted total sales price, minus the value of personal property, divided by the entire acreage of the parcel. That's why, when I'm being careful, I speak of the average price of farm real estate, not of farm land . Employing the Data The sales reported here are only those recorded between October 1, 1999, and September 30, 2000. These "record year 2000" sales are so bundled because of the way real estate transactions are used to help local assessors value land for property tax purposes. Strange as it may seem, the Department of Revenue does not collect sales data merely to satisfy the data cravings of University economists like me. No, statewide sales data are collected principally to create statistics that are used to "equalize" property tax valuations across county boundaries. Each year, county assessors are required to assign an estimated market value (EMV) to each of the thousands of real estate parcels in the county. The estimate is supposed to be based on an examination of similar properties that were actually sold recently. (The combined valuations for each township, city, or county are the source of the Land Values--in contrast to the Farmland Sales--data on the MLE Web site.) Because every county has its own assessor who uses largely independent valuation procedures, there are inevitably discontinuities across county lines--even for adjacent properties. Farmer Brown wonders why Farmer Olson's land, just across the fence line in the next county, carries an assessed value that is lower by $200 per acre. The state has created an equalization procedure that is supposed to smooth over such discontinuities. Assuming that nearby properties really would sell for similar prices, any observed difference in assessed values for otherwise similar properties is presumed to be evidence that one or both of the assessors is either undervaluing (that is, assigning an EMV that is too low) or overvaluing properties. To test this, the state calculates a sales ratio (the EMV divided by sales price) for every property sold in a particular area. If an assessor systematically undervalues properties (shown by sales ratios that are consistently lower than some threshold), the state might demand the EMVs in that jurisdiction be uniformly raised, to better accord with what is thought to be "true" market conditions. How Accurate Are the EMVs? We can see for ourselves how close the final assessor estimates are by comparing actual sales prices against the previous year's estimated market values for the same property (figure 2). Each point in the figure represents one sale. For example, the rightmost point is for a property that was estimated to have a value of $4,900 per acre, but actually sold for only $2,900 per acre. While some of the estimates are obviously way off (like this example), the bulk are pretty close. In most cases, the EMV was lower than the sale price, but in a neatly predictable manner. A simple one-variable regression model, shown as the straight line in the figure, accounts for nearly 75 percent of the observed variation in farm real estate sales prices. Parting Thoughts What accounts for the ever-onward-and-upward movement of average farm real estate prices in Minnesota? We need only to round up the usual suspects, most of which I have discussed at length in previous issues of MAE . These include 1) perennial farmer optimism about future crop and livestock prices, 2) expected extensions of federal farm subsidy programs, 3) continued favorable local property tax treatment for farmland, 4) the desire of some farmers to increase the size of their current operation by buying adjacent farmland, 5) the desire of some non-farm buyers to use land as a hedge against inflation, and 6) inflation itself. An additional suspect that we need to add is the increasing prominence of location even in rural land markets. We simply can't explain current price levels on the basis of income potential (including subsidies) and speculation potential alone. Clearly, where the land sits with respect to job centers and what it looks like is influencing the price buyers are willing to pay for a particular parcel of land. As always, I caution potential land buyers and sellers about reading too much into the average land prices reported here and elsewhere. If you've got land to sell or if you have a hankering to buy land--look before you leap. The financial stakes are too high for casual empiricism. Hire an appraiser. Talk with your spouse. Check your finances. Think about the children. Be careful out there! Steven J. Taff is an associate professor and extension economist with the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. Return to Minnesota Ag Economist Newsletter Index Page University of Minnesota Extension Service HomePage

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Real Estate Listings: Home Sales Real Estate Listings Find real estate agents, houses, land for sale, home listings or check the latest mortgage rates and apply for a loan Real Estate Listings by State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington DC West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming International Canada Real Estate Law Link to Us Mortgage Interest Rates Mortgage Calculator First Mortgage Home Equity Loans Refinancing Second Mortgage Home Mortgage Interest Rates Links Bad Credit Loans Credit Cards Unsecured Unsecured Loans Bad Credit Auto Loans Homeowners Insurance Real Estate Foreclosures Let REALTORS compete for your business! - Whether you're buying or selling, find the right REALTOR and the right price for you. First Time Home Buyer Program - First time home loans offering low rates, fast approval, and no hassles. All types of home loans, A+ to bad credit. Reply.com - Find Your New Home Search MLS Listings Buying or Selling your Home? Get your Free Home Valuation - Get your free home valuation today! If you are buying or selling a home - or need to refinance - Easy Home Valuation can get you the facts in 60 seconds. You need to know the facts before you buy, sell or refinance - and we have the information. Multiple buying & selling options, all types of homes, any location, no obligation. Request your home value today!!! LowCostLending.com - Great Rates with No Hassle? Click Here! Win a $50,000 Dream Home Make Over - Dreaming of a new home? Dont wait any longerturn your dreams to reality when you enter to win * FORECLOSED HOMES: NO MONEY DOWN! * - Try a FREE search in your area. 650,000 foreclosed homes, starting at $25,000 with NO MONEY DOWN! Get 1% Cash Back on Your New Home Purchase - iNest Realty, Inc provides an easy way to view and compare new homes from leading home builders and get 1% cash back following purchase ($2,000 on the purchase of a $200,000 home). Click here to save up to 80% on lodging! Lower My Bills - Get the Lowest Rate on Your New Home Loan FREE Home Seller Evaluation Kit Netquote.com - Offers residence insurance quotes: homeowners, renters, condo/townhome Find out how much your home is worth ChristianMortgageUSA.com - Homeowners! Your credit score doesn't matter! A quick NO Obligation Quote from USA Christian Mortgages is the answer. Selling Your Home? - Let REALTORS Compete For Your Business! Find great deals on real estate at eBay - Residential (existing homes, new homes, foreclosed homes); vacation homes; timeshares; office commercial; land and more Apartments.com - Find apartments with Apartments.com. View photos, floor plans, take a virtual tour and more! Homes101 has a real estate agent waiting to help you find a home right now! Get the best price for your home MotorHome Magazine - subscribe today and get one issue Free! ReliableRemodeler.com - Find Custom Home Builders Get Your Home's Value! -Receive a free comparative market analysis plus neighborhood comps! Nationwide Insurance Quotes - Click here to get a free home insurance quote. Get your Garden started today with FREE SEEDS - FREE SEEDS are being offered for a limited time, so HURRY and get your FREE seeds today. Click here Kitchen appliance giveaway - Get a FREE name brand Kitchen Appliance: refrigerator, dishwasher, oven - worth $1700 by participating in our program. Start by submitting your email address. Click Yes to Sign up Today!

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Home Loans, Refinancing, and Home Mortgage Financing tag, as close to the beginning of it as possible-- Purchase Refinance Home Equity Apply Now Online Application Status -- Check Out Today's Rates Search Need Help? Home Quick Info Tools CUSTOMIZE ONLINE RATES Loan Product: Purchase Refinance State: -Select a State- Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware DC Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada N.Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Zip Code: Loan Amount: Est. Home Value: Loan Amount: Interest Rate: Term (Years): Estimated Monthly Payment: SHORTCUTS Today's Rates Local Branch Calculators Privacy & Security The Right Loan Program First-Time Buyer Guide Buying a Home Loan Programs Simplified Flexible Options for New Home Construction THE LEARNING CENTER MY ACCOUNT Registered? Forgot Password? User Name: Password: Log into My Account Build equity faster with the GMAC Mortgage Equity Rewards MasterCard credit card... more... -- Hurricane Relief Current GMAC Mortgage Customers: Call 1-800-766-4622 for assistance if you have been affected by the storm. Find out how we're helping customers Loan Applicants: If you applied for a loan in one of our Louisiana or Mississippi offices, you can check the status of your application by contacting your loan officer or processor directly, or by calling the regional office at 1-888-682-9844 . If you applied for a loan online or over the phone, you can check the status of your application by calling 1-800-876-4622 . Donate Now Donate Now GMAC Mortgage customers affected by the storm should call 1-800-766-4622 for assistance. If you have a loan application in process with one of our local offices in Louisiana or Mississippi, please contact your local office or call our Regional Office at 1-888-682-9844 . -- Start Your Online Application Find a Local Expert Privacy | Legal Information | Auto Insurance | GMAC HomeSolutions | Contact Us | About Us | Careers | Site Map © 2005 GMAC Mortgage Corporation. All Rights Reserved. GMAC is a registered service mark of the General Motors Acceptance Corporation Real Estate and moving services offered by GMAC Home Services, Inc. and GMAC Global Relocation Services, Inc. GMAC Residential Holding Corporation is the parent of GMAC Mortgage Corporation, GMAC Home Services, Inc., Ditech Escrow Services, Inc., GMAC Bank and GMAC HomeSolutions. Because of these relationships, any of these referrals may provide GMAC Residential Holding Corporation with a financial or other benefit. Close This link will take you to another site that is not affiliated with gmacmortgage.com. Therefore, GMAC Mortgage's privacy policy will not apply. For your safety, please check with the sites privacy policy before entering your information. Thank you. Close

Denver Real Estate Site

Denver real estate; How to Qualify for a Mortgage How to qualify for a mortgage in Denver Down payment for a mortgage Learn about the various allowable sources to obtain your down payment. Closing Costs Home buying costs vary by region, here are sample costs for Denver. Loan Approval What constitutes as loan approval in Denver? Interest Rates Lock in your rate with confidence, after you have read these facts. What is PMI? PMI, do you really need it? The Mortgage Loan Application Mortgage loan applications made simple, bring this list. The steps to getting a VA Loan The steps to getting a VA loan, do you need one? What does it take to get one? Reverse Mortgages Reverse Mortgages have many benefits for older home owners. Financial Glossary It's important to understand the language of finance. Common Mistakes to Avoid Common home buying mistakes can be avoided, you need to know what some of them are. search Denver Real Estate Site How to qualify for a mortgage A brief summary on how to get a home loan When a mortgage lender takes your application they are checking your ability and willingness to repay. It is said that "history repeats itself". Lenders look at your history to predict the future. This process can go as quickly as 24 hours or take several weeks. This is done by checking the following items: Your credit history (the past 2 years) Your checking account (bounced checks are not good) Your income Your FICO score (on conventional loans) Almost everyone who has some sort of credit, some money set aside for a down payment and an income can get a loan. Now whether or not you want that loan may be a different story. Mortgage rates are proportional to the amount of risk the lender must take. If the credit history is bad, the risk will be off set by a higher interest rate. The best way to qualify for a mortgage that you want is to have a nice clean credit report, little debt and pay all your bills on time, every time. Excessive consumer debt as in multiple credit cards lowers your FICO score . A hint to avoid this happening is to consolidate your debt on one charge card. Even if you have excellent credit it is a good idea to pull a credit report on yourself, prior to visiting the lender. In Colorado you are allowed to do this free of charge once a year. (If you aren't in Colorado or any of the "free" states, then you can pay a small fee to obtain a copy of your credit report.) There are more than one credit reporting companies and not all companies report to all credit bureaus, so be sure to request a credit report from all, just to be sure. Here is how to contact the credit reporting agencies: Equifax Equifax Information Service Center P.O. Box 740241 Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 1-800-997-2493 You can also order your credit report from a secure section of the Equifax website at http://www.equifax.com Experian Experian National Consumer Assistance Center P,O, Box 2104 Allen, TX 75013-2104 1-888-397-3742 You can print a credit report order from at http://www.experian.com Trans Union Corporation, Consumer Disclosure Center P,.O. Box 390 Springfield, PA 19064-0390 1-800-888-4213 You can order a credit report online from Trans Union's website at http://www.transunion.com Be Pro-active... By reviewing your credit report prior to visiting a lender, you will be able to straighten out any errors or disputed items and avoid any troublesome holdups down the road. If you see a disputed item, an error made by a faulty social security number, a name similar to yours, or a court ordered judgment you paid off that hasn't been cleared from the public records, clear it off now. By writing to the credit reporting agency, you can have them remove the items and save you time and aggravation later. TIP: Make sure any outdated derogatory entries are deleted from your credit file. By outdated, anything over 7 years should be deleted (except bankruptcy which is 10 years). TIP: Officially cancel inactive credit cards Even if you don't use a credit card, some lenders will assume that credit limit is available to you and use it in qualifying you. Therefore, if you don't use it and don't need it, cancel it. Too many credit cards even with no balance can keep you from getting a loan. TIP: Hold off on making any major purchases until after you close on the loan. Many times people obtain a loan commitment then go out and charge a new car or a houseful of furniture, only to totally destroy the ratios on their loan commitment. If you find you need assistance with any of these strategies, it's OK to sit down and talk with a lender. Explain your situation and what you are trying to do. A good lender will help you structure your finances, credit report and budget, keeping your best interest in mind. Continue to How Much of a Down Payment? . [ Click Here for More ] Home Buying Directory Buyer Broker Down Payment How to Qualify for a Mortgage Loan Application Locking in Interest Rate Earnest Money Loan Application Checklist Fico Scores Moving List Moving Pets What is PMI? Finance Glossary Financing Your Home Reverse Mortage Home Buying Process Closing Costs Kristal Kraft , ABR, CIPS, CRS Licensed real estate broker selling Colorado Since 1984 The Berkshire Group Realtors, Inc. 3801 E. 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