Bummer - and it won’t end there. Sad to see America fall down like this.
I’m not sure how much of this to believe. Farm commodities prices are at record highs. Agricultural land in most states (certainly in the mid-west) is selling at record high levels. USDA reports farm incomes have never been higher. Friends tell me there is a one-year waiting list for new John Deer combines. Seems there are a lot of farmers doing pretty well.
“The empty houses are vandalized.”
The person or bank who acquires the property at auction would be wise to let the former owner stay there at an affordable rate until the new owner is ready to exercise their plans or has an active live-in buyer. There could be laws passed that would allow quick eviction in such a case.
What a deceptive story. The “mortgage crisis” they cite had almost nothing to do with this particular forclosure. They do mention it later in the article, but then why use this case as an example of the problems caused by the “nation’s housing meltdown” in the first place?
B.S. People lose their family farms in a few different ways, but NOT due to the “housing meltdown.”
First, they’re dumb@sses that overextended themselves and then this happens:
a. No one in the family (usually the kids) wants to farm anymore or,
b. They didn’t know enough about their market to grow and change with consumer demands and just kept doing the same-old, same-old, losing money every season for years on end.
c. Their farming in a state like CA that couldn’t care less about them.
d. There’s no mega-farm in the area to buy them up and absorb them.
I know of dozens of young couples that would LOVE to have a small farm to run. People really are returning to the land, and that’s what I’ll cash in on within the next decade. I don’t care if I sell to Hippies, as long as they have cash in hand, Baby! :)
This author was just looking for a sad-sack story to tell about a poor cow farmer and tie it to the housing melt-down. Boo-Freakin’-Hoo.
I haven’t heard of anyone losing their farm here in Wisconsin due to “the housing market.” Most farmers already have their HOUSE and LAND paid for. They may still owe on machinery, some of which starts at $500K for a used piece of equipment. But the house is sell-able, as is the land if you’re in that dire of straits.
But, that’s life in the Midwest. We’re pretty well insulated from the horrors of life on either coast, Thank God! However, the number of Liberals surrounding us makes us VERY nervous for the future of Ag in Wisconsin.
Full disclosure: I married into a farming family. We’re small ‘taters compared to most, but on our road (from one town to the next, about 15 miles) we have two dairy farms, a self-supporting prison farm, five stables, and close to a dozen farms that produce corn and soybean. My in-laws plant about 200 acres of seed or feed corn each season. The 700 acres around my “farmette” (I only own two, but I look very “land wealthy”) are either soybean or feed corn or sweet corn; it rotates.
It’s not just in the rural areas, its everywhere. Unfortunately, some of this stuff is just another scam and more people gaming the system.
Your argument
No way would everyone let homes fall to that level. Everyone would start buying and buying because we would never see such an opportunity again.
Sound like you can start getting that cash warmed up. We are at 50c on the dollar in some area and headed lower. That Govt. bailout of 1200.00 aint going to work with 3.50 gas prices. In most cases it will be like throwing gasoline on the fire.
There it is. They refinanced, i.e., they borrowed money against the inflated value of their farm and couldn't pay it back. Now the congressional mealy mouths want to make all of these spendthrift borrowers whole with the taxpayer guaranteeing the new financing. Isn't it great to be an American!
California is dying because of liberal control!
Just look at thier track record in other states.