2 Things to Look into When Buying Farmland

One of the hardest types of real estate to buy is farmland, mostly because there are so many more considerations to keep in mind than if you were to simply buy a house. Listed below are two things to look into when buying farmland.

What's Included?

One of the biggest things to ask your real estate agent about when buying farmland is what is included beyond the basic structures and the land. In many cases, the person selling the farmland may be willing to include a large portion of the farming equipment that is on the land as well.

This is an important consideration because being able to include that equipment in the purchase can end up saving you quite a bit of money, mostly because modern farming equipment can be extremely expensive. In addition, the last thing that you want is to end up buying the property and counting on the farming equipment being included only to find out after the purchase is finalized that the equipment is leaving with the previous owner. 

How Many Acres Can Be Farmed On?

Another thing to keep in mind when buying farmland is that the amount of acreage that you can use to farm on may not actually be the same as the total acreage of the property. Sure, a house and other structures on the property are going to cut down on the usable acreage, but there could also be other issues that are cutting down on the acreage that you can use. For example, there could be sections of the property that are simply not fertile enough to support crops or that are subjected to frequent flooding that washes the crops away every time it rains. 

In order to avoid these issues, you can always hire a service to come to the property and check the soil to determine how much of the land can actually be used for farming. You should also have someone come by and survey the land in order to tell you if there is sufficient drainage to keep the nutrient-rich topsoil from being washed away during a storm. 

Speak to a real estate agent today in order to begin your search for your next piece of farmland. When considering buying a piece of farmland, it is important to make sure that you know exactly what is included in the sale and that you determine how much of the land can actually be used for farming.