If a residential appraisal has been ordered do you consider it's commercial value? Get real
OK......I don't want to get Appraisal 101 with you, but here it goes.
One of the parts of the appraisal process is to determine the Highest and Best Use of the property.
The subject is 40 acres. What is Legally permissable for the property? Can it be divided? What is financially feasible for the land? What is physically possible for the property? And finally, what produces the maximum productivity?
I happen to appraise rural properties quite frequently, AND many of them are a house and 20 or 40 or 80 acres. FWIW I am from Iowa....we had a few farms there.
If a home with 40 acres has tillable acres (that are productive) then you most likely have a a Highest and Best Use of agricultural assuming it has decent access. If only 20 acres are tillable then my question of what is contiguous is very important. If the land contiguous to the subject property is being farmed then you can most likely rent the land to Mr. Farmer next door. Then you must figure out the land rent and the value of that rent. If you can get $100/acre in rent and you can establish a 4% cap rate then the tillable acreage has a value of $2,500/acre. The other 20 acres will most likely have a lower value and different comparables should be used.
Now if the 20 acres is not contiguous or proximate to another agricultural property the Highest and Best Use is most likely not for agricultural production because Mr. Farmer is not going to drive his $350,000 John Deere five miles to only farm 20 acres.
HOWEVER....in rural Illinois and Iowa there is a bunch of "useless" land that is wooded, maybe a little swampy and to most is considered worthless. A recent trend of the rich Chicago folks is to buy this land for their yearly hunting trips and I have seen "worthless" land sell for $5,000/acre when 15 years ago you couldn't get $500/acre for it.
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When I get any residential assignment I always consider what the HIGHEST AND BEST USE is........sometimes it takes two seconds, other times it takes a little homework. If a house is sitting next to a Wal Mart on five acres the house is a bulldozer problem, I don't care how nice it is.
That is real.