Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-09-26

HARRIED INVESTORS AND CITY
PEOPLE ARE INVESTING
IN ACREAGE
Farms are selling faster than at any
tine since the REPRESENTATIVES, to
tenant farmers who can't find salts
factory land available for rent: selling
20 factory workers who want to raise
part Of their food: selling to initiation
minded business men and harried in
yestors and to city families who want
. customary retirement spot in case
OF personal or national economic trou-
bles.
But, according TO a survey OF farm
realty agencies by Northwestern Ma
tional Life Insurance company, few
present farm owners are adding 10 their
acreage now because the combination
of the draft and industrial labor de-
mand IS making 1t difficult for them
10 get enough help TO operate the acres
they already own. Therefore unim-
proved land generally has not shown
the rlIn-up in sales enjoyed by farms
complete with buildings the study
finds.
Nationwide Trend
The improvement in sales Of farms
is nationwide: over three-fourths OF
the farm realty agencies reporting in
the survey. with sales offices in 80
agricultural states, report sales def
nitely increased compared with pre-
ceding years, with more all-cash deals,
with adequate down payments easier
70 get, and with dealings active in the
better class farms instead Of being
largely confined to distress properties
as in years past. A notable increase
IS reported in the number Of city peo-
pie seeking farms
Says the vice president of New
York farm realty company with sales
agencies from coast to coast:
April. May. June and July Of this
year gave us the largest number of
sales we have had during any like
period in the past nine years. Approx
imately 80 percent of the sales We are
making are cash on delivery Of deed.
"A great many people want to pur-
chase fairly good properties that may
be operated by a tenant or manager,
with the idea that later on they may
use this farm property as a so-called
security home"
A Florida farm realty concern states,
I'VE note that many city people who
never thought of owning a farm are
becoming interested"
From a Baltimore real estate firm:
We are literally flooded with inquiries
for small farms and small country
properties, and We find the supply to
be scarce"
A Fort Worth, Texas, realtor OBJ
serves: More than half of the farm
t,n~ k>oi,,
purchased by people who are fearful
Of initiation
City People Buying
From. Fresno, Calf, realtor: Many
city people are buying nearby small
ranch homes, often improving them
with new residences"
From g. central Illinois realty COM
pany: Considerable demand from
city people for farm lands to diversity
their investments and hedge against
initiation; also from working people for
subsistence tracts Of 10 to 40 acres"
From southern Minnesota farm
realty agency: The trend Of farm sales
is definitely upward; this fall will see
a considerable increase in sales to for
mer tenants on account of a scarcity
Of rental farms in southern Mime
sofa"
Comment from a Detroit, Mich, real
estate investment firm: There is an
ever-increasing tendency in this COM
munity for city people to seek "a plot
of land of their own, outside the city
limits. High taxes are partially re-
sponsible: another contributing factor
IS the steady decentralization of bust
ness districts, with shopping centers
farther and farther out. A third fac
tor is the desire of industrial workers
for subsistence plot as a safeguard
against future unemployment"