Iowa Wildlife Habitat Services    |    Home Land For Sale Looking to list or looking to buy Iowa Recreational/Hunting Land?  Give Rich a call at 641-919-9026 today!                                                    Questions for your Real Estate Agent: Perhaps you are in the market to buy or list your farm or recreational parcel (a.k.a. hunting parcel) with an agent to sell.  That's good -- there are plenty of choices in today's marketplace, as you probably know.  And, there are many excellent real estate sales people out there that can process the transaction or list your parcel.  However, not all are created equal -- especially when it comes to marketing something as complex as a farm or hunting parcel!  Make sure your agent is qualified to market or to sell you what he/she is selling.  By that I don't mean whether or not they are appropriately licensed to do so -- though you should make sure that they are if they are not selling their own property -- but are they knowledgeable ot what may be of critical importance?   Suppose you are buying a 40 acre piece of timber, for example.  Is your agent able to discuss the volume of marketable timber on the parcel or even tell if there is marketable timber present?    It is highly valuable information, whether you are looking to purchase or to list your property for sale. We have seen cases where the value of the trees alone are worth $2,000 - $4,000 or more per acre!  Please remember that the value of the ground underneath the trees is what is typically given on an appraisal.  Also, remember that if one does elect to do a timber sale, the trophy capacity for the deer hunting is normally raised -- that is, the hunting normally gets better -- often significantly better -- after a tree harvest, especially for big bucks!   As a minimum, we recommend that your agent be able to do the following: Be able to identify each tree species in your forest. Be able to determine quality of the marketable species, including possible veneer grade logs. We suggest your real estate agent be able to do the following as well: Be able to scale trees for volume of board feet. Be able to determine the volume of marketable timber, by species in your forest. Be able to calculate future market projections of value by growth rate of individual species according to area site-index factors The above are just a few examples of information that can be extremely valuable to someone who is listing their land for sale or who is looking to buy.  Other very important considerations are knowledge of available cost-share dollars to help fund projects to meet management goals, best management prescription for the forest, the ability to mark and conduct a timber sale, ability to recognize disease factors that may be present in a forest, etc., etc., Can your agent do these things?  If not, then you are getting short-changed, regardless of how well intentioned your agent may be! Knowledge is the key and can make or break you. With IWHS you can rest assured that you are covered professionally on every front when it comes to buying or listing your forest property!  We do this full-time, so this is all second nature to us! Other things you should ask your agent: How long have you been selling real estate?  (IWHS has been active in the Iowa recreational real estate industry for almost 10 years) Do you invest in the kind of ground you are selling? (If not, then we suggest going elsewhere.  You wouldn't buy stocks from someone who doesn't invest in the stock market would you?) What kind of advertising program do you have for my land listing?  Internet?  Newspaper?  Other?  Do you have good market position? Do you offer video marketing?  We were the first recreational land sales company in the state, that we are aware of, to offer extensive video showings of hunting properties.  This comes at no extra charge with suitable listings. Do you have the backing, support, and resource availability of other professionals and organizations in the field?  (Such as the Iowa Association of Realtors and/or the National Association of Realtors). Do you hunt for the type of game that you are buying the property for?  If you are buying a property to shoot an Iowa  big buck, for example, then it would be in your best interest to have an agent that knows how to hunt Iowa big bucks!  At IWHS our Realtor has 28 years worth of experience hunting big Iowa whitetail's and has taken numerous record book animals.  Rich has also written detailed tactics for taking big deer that hundreds of thousands of readers nationwide have enjoyed through different outdoor magazines such as Bowhunter, Bowhunting World, Buckmasters, International Bowhunter, Western Outdoors, Missouri Game and Fish, Iowa Game and Fish, Fur-Fish-Game, etc.  Rich has also authored fishing pieces and columns for In-Fisherman magazine, the Fishing Iowa website (when it existed) and others.  Turkeys -- we know 'em too and have shared many stories of hunting these big Iowa birds with readers across the continent.