WHAT'S NEW AT MID IOWA?

Land Market

Well, it has been over a year since my last blog and a lot of things have happened.

The land market has absolutely exploded since last February. Surveys have shown that the market has increased 25-30% in Iowa. I was quoted in Successful Farming magazine recently regarding the land market and what I see coming in 2022. Jim Rothermich from Iowa Appraisal Research in Des Moines monitors the land market in Iowa very closely. The increases that I mentioned earlier and also in the interview with Successful Farming Magazine came from his research of the land market. This market remained strong all through the summer and fall of 2021, even though the pandemic was rearing its ugly head. When a property comes up for sale in your area, you may only have one chance in your lifetime to buy that property, pandemic or no pandemic.

For Mid Iowa, 2021 was a record setting year. I have been in the real estate business for over 40 years and 2021 was a record. Our company sold over $77 million in farm real estate or just over 7700 acres in Iowa. Normally, we sell about half of that. I have to give credit to my staff and salespeople that sacrificed a lot of time to accomplish this record, of which, I am very proud. We are not as large as other companies, but because of that, we are hands on with each and every farm that we sell. The responsibility for the sale of your farm rests with one individual and the work is not passed from one department to another. The buck stops with the agent that is selling your farm.

Jim Rothermich also recently released a list of the top 25 auction companies in Iowa based on acres sold. We feel honored and elated that we ranked 8 out of the 25 top companies. The companies that ranked above Mid Iowa have multiple salespeople and many support staff. Again, we strive to give each of our customers personal service and we will strive to continue to operate in that manner.

We have already booked 12 auctions from now until April 15. If you are thinking of selling, please give us a call. We will be happy to do a free, no obligation proposal for you outlining how auctions and listings work for start to finish. I feel that 2022 will be another great year for Mid Iowa, thanks to the customers that we deal with as buyer and sellers.

New Salespeople

We are proud to announce the addition of Kellen Suntken, a real estate sales associate. Kellen is a graduate of Iowa State University and is coming off a 5 year stint with Syngenta Seeds. Kellen is originally from the Alexander-Belmond, Iowa area and farms there with his brother. Kellen has already logged his first sale and has his first auction booked. Kellen is also an agent for AuctionTime, so if you have machinery to sell, give Kellen a call or email him at Kellen@thedirtdealer.com.

On-Line Bidding Available

Last January we started offering on-line bidding. I really didn’t want to and don’t necessarily like it, but to be competitive I felt we had to add it. Plus, in light of the Covid pandemic I felt we needed to offer that as an option for people who didn’t want to be in a crowd of people. We have contracted with HiBid as our on-line bidding platform. We started out offering online biding, added audio and now have visual for a complete live internet bidding webcast. It is not a perfect system, especially when we have live auctions in small rural towns with no internet service. We have tried to adapt as well as possible, using a hotspot. It is not a perfect system, especially when we have live auctions in small rural towns with no internet service. We have tried to adapt as well as possible, using a hotspot. Please be patient if the system is sometimes slow, but the lack of internet service is an issue out of our control.

New Office Staff

Because we got so busy in 2021 and started the on-line bidding, we brought on another staff member to handle all the online business, which includes the on-line bidding as well as our website. Becky Parrish is a retired US Air Force veteran and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, who happens to be my wife. She has been a welcome addition to our staff.