What to Expect When Selling Your Land

A simple guide to help landowners understand the process, decisions, and steps involved in selling farmland, recreational land, or rural property.

Selling land is often a once-in-a-lifetime event. For many families, it may be the first time they have had to think through a farmland sale, recreational land sale, estate transition, or ownership change.

Every property is different and every situation is different. There’s a lot to think through when trying to understand value, timing, family considerations, tax questions, tenant arrangements, sale method, and all the available options during a sale.

As you consider your decision, it’s common to question:

“What happens if I call a land broker to talk through my options?”

The first conversation is about understanding your situation.

When we have our first discussion, we will cover a few basic questions:

• Why are you considering a sale?
• What does a good outcome look like for you?
• Are there multiple owners involved?
• Do you have concerns about timing, tenants, taxes, family members, or the sale process itself?
• What do you know about the property today?

Once we’ve discussed some basic information, we will take time to learn about your land. That includes the county and township location, total acres, tillable acres, CRP, pasture, woods, building sites, soil productivity, drainage, access, leases, easements, improvements, income programs, and any known issues that could affect value or the sale strategy.

We compile all the information we’ve gathered and will schedule another time to review the information with you. During this discussion, we talk through what we found, provide a value range, talk about current market conditions, and recommend a sale method based on your goals.

The purpose of this step is to help you understand your asset clearly before making a major decision.

From there, the process transitions to the next step of making a decision to move forward with going to market. If you are ready, we will sign a listing agreement and start preparing for the sale process depending on your method of sale selected.

The different methods of sale that we offer include:

• Public Listing
• Auction (Single, Multi-parcel, Combination, Choice)
• Sealed Bid Auction
• Private Negotiation

The method selected will be tailored for your land and your desired outcome.

Once the sale method is determined, we begin preparing the property for market.

This includes gathering property information, reviewing maps and records, preparing marketing materials, creating the listing or auction page, coordinating photography and video when needed, and building a plan to reach the right buyer pool.

Our marketing plan may include:

• Professional property brochures
• Aerial maps, soil maps, and FSA information
• Property photography and video
• Wingert website listing
• Major national land websites including land.com & landbrokermls.com
• Postcard mailers
• Email marketing to our buyer database
• Direct buyer outreach
• Social media promotion
• Signage
• Radio, print, or additional advertising depending on the property

Once the property is on the market, we handle buyer questions, property information requests, showings, offer discussions, auction registration, bid coordination, and communication throughout the sale process.

The goal is to present the property clearly, create confidence for buyers, and help the seller understand what is happening at each step.

When a buyer is secured, the process moves from marketing the property to closing the sale.

This process includes preparing the purchase agreement, coordinating earnest money, working with the title company or attorney, gathering disclosure forms, addressing CRP or government program details, handling well or septic disclosures when needed, reviewing tile maps or drainage information, and helping coordinate any final items required before closing.

During this stage, we stay in communication with the seller, buyer, attorneys, title company, lender, tenant, and other parties involved so the sale can move toward closing as smoothly as possible.

At closing, the final documents are signed, funds are transferred, and possession is handled according to the terms of the purchase agreement.

Selling land involves a lot of moving parts, but it does not have to feel overwhelming when there is a clear plan and guidance.

Whether you are thinking about selling now or simply trying to get organized for the future, our team at Wingert Land Services is available to help you understand your options and take the next step with confidence.