Time is Short for Selling Assets Before Spring Planting
If there was ever any doubt that careful maintenance of machinery can pay off when it’s time to sell, the retirement auction in Oakville, Iowa, on Nov. 16 should have removed it.
A 2009 John Deere 9770 STS went for a whopping $214,000 – a price that left many scratching their heads. But Steffes representative Tim Meyer said key factors converged to bring that price – as well as strong prices on several other pieces.
“We’ve been seeing a vibrant market for a while now, but clean equipment with low hours has been commanding a premium. In this case, the seller had stopped farming in 2016, so the equipment had low hours and was exceptionally clean. Combine that with a very strong local market and you can see some remarkable results – even a price like this on a nine-year-old combine,” said Meyer.
That wasn’t the only item that made observers sit up and take notice. A 2014 John Deere 608C Stalk Master chopping corn head went for $59,000 acres, and 2008 John Deere 8430 with 1,960 hours sold for $141,000.
Even a 2007 John Deere 8130 sold to the highest bidder for $113,500.
“As we move toward the end or the year, prices continue to strengthen, especially on late-model machinery. That’s great timing for sellers who have auctions scheduled. Steffes has well over 30 equipment auctions remaining this year. We also have more than a dozen land and real estate auctions scheduled in 2018,” he said.
The land auctions include farms, recreational land, tillable farmland, and even some rental properties. We’re selling real estate in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, and Missouri, with both live and timed online auctions.
“The weeks pass very quickly between harvest and spring planting, and there is a great deal of land and equipment to be sold in a short period. This is when retiring farmers and others with assets to sell can find a solid market of those who are seeking to expand their land holdings and upgrade their equipment,” said representative Tim Meyer.
But Meyer cautioned that the prime time for buying and selling is limited. “Due to the wet weather, everything got delayed this year. For those with assets to sell before spring planting, there’s still time, but not much. Those folks need to be calling us right away,” he said.
