The Land Report Summer 2012

Did you know that the Supreme Court just issued a landmark ruling? I’m not talking about health care. I’m talking about land. That’s right, the high court came down 9-0 for landowners in a suit that was brought against the EPA by Idaho’s Sackett family.

We’ve been following Sackett v. EPA for over a year. It’s one of the many eye-opening stories you’ll enjoy in the Summer 2012 issue of The Land Report, now on newsstands from coast to coast.

You can access the digital edition free of charge HERE.

Our summer issue also features the story of an innovative gift to the University of Wyoming, one that kicks in when Wyoming’s River Bend Ranch sells. It’s a great example of stewardship, one that Greg Fay brought to us and that we are proud to share. Learn five great ways to add value and beauty to your land by improving your waters. And be sure to have a look at our third annual roundup of the nation’s leading auction houses. No surprise here … farmland prices continue to best record highs.

So be our guest and enjoy our latest issue HERE.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Land Report March 2012 Newsletter

The Spring issue of The Land Report has arrived!

Right now it’s en route to bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and subscribers’ offices around the world, but thanks to the miracles of modern technology you can read right now right HERE.

Learn the stories of America’s Best Brokerages in our second annual survey. More than 70 are profiled from coast to coast. Read how Bernie Uechtritz pulled off 2011′s Deal of the Year by selling Camp Cooley Ranch in just 45 days. Find out why George Clooney has such strong ties to the land in the Academy Award-winning movie The Descendants.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter. Better yet, Land Report is now on Pinterest.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Land Report February 2012 Newsletter

More and more investors are turning to land. Not only is it a safe haven for their capital, but in many instances it can throw off steady revenue streams. The February edition of the Land Report newsletter showcases numerous properties with substantial income-generating potential.

Let’s start with Hudye Farm: almost 18,000 acres of dryland and irrigated farming along the Colorado-Kansas state line.

Add to this Montana’s Broken O Ranch, which features The Treasure State’s largest block of irrigated land as well as an impressive cow-calf operation and significant recreational income.

We also provide hyperlinks to eight other properties in The Land Report Top Ten, including several significant cattle operations with proven returns, including Hawaii’s Hana Ranch, Texas’s Rockpile Ranch, and Montana’s Dana Ranch.

For more up to the minute reports on listings, auctions, sales, and breaking news pertaining to land and landowners, be sure to follow The Magazine of the American Landowner on Facebook and Twitter.

P.S. Our award-winning quarterly magazine is available in a print version via subscription.

Fortune Reports Soros and Rothschild Invested in Land

As millions of landowners already know, investing in a piece of property does more than just bring piece of mind. It can bring an excellent return. This story is one worth repeating, particularly in today’s economic climate when Americans have witnessed the demise of blue chip investments such as AIG, Bear Stearns, and Circuit City.

But landowners aren’t the only ones with an eye to a good return. As the following article from Fortune attests, some of the world’s savviest investors recognize the potential for substantial returns, including hedge fund manager George Soros and banking scion Jacob Rothschild.

Pay particular attention to the paragraphs that focus on Shonda Warner, an ex derivatives trader for Goldman Sachs who launched Chess Ag Full Partners, an investment firm that acquires undervalued farmland.

In exchange for a seven-year lockup, a 2% management fee, and 20% of profits, she figures she can deliver the investors in her first fund an annual return of 13% to 16% – about 4% to 6% from crop yields, around 8% from land appreciation, and the rest from hedging.

Based on historical returns for farmland, that’s an attainable goal. According to research by Terry Kastens and Kevin Dhuyvetter, professors of agricultural economics at Kansas State University whom Warner recruited to be advisory partners in her fund, the average annual return on U.S. farmland since 1950, including crop yield and land appreciation, is 11.5%, vs. a 12% annualized total return for the stock market. And the farm returns actually came with about half the volatility of stocks.

Read more at:
“Betting the Farm,” Fortune, June 10, 2009.

Largest Drop in Rural Land Prices Worldwide? The Ukraine

According to this ABC Australia report, land values around the world are plummeting. The hardest hit country? The Ukraine.

The value of rural land in the Ukraine has plummeted a staggering 75 percent. The Australian news report indicates that the basics of the problem are the same there as everywhere else: thanks to the credit crisis the previously well-lined pockets of investors are no more. The report also references, but does not detail, a 5 percent drop in land values for the United States and Great Britain.

Brazil to Issue Deeds to Thousands of Landowners in the Amazon Basin

Brazilians have long feared that foreigners were exploiting great expanses of the Amazon River Basin, a story we covered earlier this year when the Brazilian government began to investigate unlawful land sales to overseas interests. Now the country has established a program to ascertain ownership of farms of all sizes and streamline the process by which landowners can get deeds to their property. The root cause of this initiative? Less than 4 percent of privately owned land in the Amazon is actually deeded. Read more

Mexico Opposes Ethanol

As we’ve seen over the last few months, skyrocketing commodity prices are pushing land values to record levels. They are also squeezing cattlemen and other producers who rely on corn and other grains to fatten livestock and poultry. One of the loudest voices protesting this trend has been Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who petitioned the EPA to grant a 50 percent waiver on the 9 billion gallon corn-based Renewable Fuel Standard. Now another vocal opponent of ethanol has emerged: south of the border. Read more

678,000 Acres for $20 Million?

For the price of a penthouse overlooking Central Park, an investor could also buy 1,000 square miles in Brazil. Prices such as this listing in the Amazon River basin’s Madeira River are one of the many reasons that many are looking overseas as well as here in the U.S. But as this article in The International Herald Tribune points out, price is only one of the considerations when purchasing in a foreign country. Read more