Land Auction

We went to a land auction last night at the Elk's Lodge.  We saw something that we and the auctioneer and I assume everyone there have never seen before.

The piece of land was a scenic 84 acres near us.  We pass the property nearly every day or whenever we go to Wilmington, our county seat of government.  It's scenic because it is very rolling with 26 acres of woods on it.   The woods is split by a creek, Little East Fork of Todd's Fork, that runs through the farm(and also this farm).  It does have some excellent bottom ground on it.

We walked into the room and there were about 8 potential bidders sitting there.  We looked at all the maps and papers and confirmed what we had seen that afternoon walking the property.  We didn't take the time to walk the far reaches of the back of the parcel with our little creek that becomes a mighty river during heavy rains. 

We saw what we needed to see, though and the maps confirmed it.  It is over half tillable with Sloan, Ockley, Miami and Xenia Silt loams.  12 acres of it is in CRP and the rest is creek and woods.

Soon the bidding began and someone opened with a reasonable $2500 bid and the bids quickly went to $3,000 per acre before the bidding slowed down.  The auctioneer started taking $50 bids and it got to $3250 per acre when the bidding stopped.  The auctioneer went into his close looking for someone to up the last bid.

There was an elderly couple sitting behind us.  The gentleman raised his hand to bid $3300 when his wife exclaimed, what are you doing?  I am not signing any papers!  This caught the auctioneer and the crowd off guard so the auctioneer suggested they discuss it.  She said even louder, I am not signing any papers!

I think that ended the bidding!  The auctioneer sold it for the $3250 per acre bid.  I have never seen anything like that and the auctioneer said the same thing.

Who do you think the final bidder was?

Ed