Every farm family reaches the day when the legacy generation and the next one need a heart-to-heart. Fear on both sides keeps it from happening. I help you have it, and then I handle the land.
Most families wait for a fall or a nursing-home bed. By then the choices are fewer and the timing belongs to someone else. I start with families much earlier, when the first quiet signs show up.
She has hosted for forty years. This year she doesn't want to.
He forgets something for the first time, or the stairs to the shop get harder.
Everyone is thinking about it. Nobody wants to be the one who says it out loud.
I sit down with both generations and help get the hard conversation started: what Mom and Dad want, what the kids can carry, and what life looks like five to seven days after a move.
Most families want to keep the home place. I work with land surveyors to carve out the closest 5 to 10 acres around the house and prepare the rest for sale.
I work closely with elder law attorneys on trusts, transfer-on-death deeds and timing around the Medicaid five-year look-back. They give the legal advice. I make sure the land side fits their plan.
Forty years of equipment, tools and machinery deserve a proper sale, not a weekend of hauling. I arrange a licensed Indiana auction company to sell the contents on site, so the family isn't left sorting it alone and the farm is clean and ready when the land goes to market.
A lot of farmland never shows up on residential listing sites. I market it to the buyers who actually buy acreage: neighboring operators, investors and people looking for a few acres of their own. Then we pick the method that fits the ground.
My commission is paid from the sale proceeds at closing. I coordinate the surveyor and the county split approval, and we put who pays for what in writing before you sign.
Two good ways to sell farmland. Neither is right for every farm. Here is the plain difference.
I'll recommend the method that fits your land, not the one that pays me more, and I'll put the reasons in writing before you sign anything.
Every auction is conducted by an Indiana-licensed auctioneer under written terms of sale. Commission and costs are disclosed in your agreement before anything is marketed.
For a lot of families, the tractor, the combine and the shop tools go before the land does. It's an easier first decision, and it often starts the bigger conversation.
I'll connect you with a licensed Indiana auctioneer for equipment, tools and household contents. When the family is ready to talk about the land, I'm here.
Farmland auction results from Lake County to Tippecanoe, gathered from public sale results each month: acres, price per acre, and the company that ran it. No guessing, sources linked.
Based in Crown Point. I cover the counties the interstate runs through and their neighbors to the east and west.
Counties I-65 passes through
Tell me where the ground is and roughly how many acres. I'll look at recent sales and auction results nearby and give you my opinion of value, usually within 48 hours, along with my honest take on whether it should be listed or auctioned.
You don't need the whole family on board to ask. A lot of these start with one of the kids wanting a number before the conversation.
This is a broker's opinion of price, not an appraisal, and it can't be used as one for a loan or for tax or estate filings. For those, I can refer you to a certified appraiser.
Father and son. Two generations, like the families we serve. I've been licensed in Indiana since 1997, and I run Flatland Real Estate out of Crown Point. My son handles our marketing; you work with me. Here, it's land. Some days I'm more counselor than broker. I've seen what happens when a family waits too long to talk, and I'd rather help you avoid the mistakes some of your neighbors made.
High tech: the homework. Every price I quote comes from recorded sales and posted auction results, with the source listed. You get aerial maps of your ground and a written plan, including whether to list or auction. Brothers and sisters out of state can join by video call and sign online.
High touch: the kitchen table. You get me, from the first phone call to the closing. By appointment, at your table or mine.
The homework of a big firm. The handshake of a neighbor.
Live listings from the MLS, updated as they change.
Land & acreage in The FlatlandsLand for saleFarms for saleListings from the Northwest Indiana REALTORS® Association MLS, shown by Douglas Willems, REALTOR®, Flatland Real Estate LLC. Opens a live MLS search in a new tab.