HANCOCK CO. — As more industrial businesses continue to pop up in communities outside the Circle City, farmers are being approached to sell their land so companies can move in.
In Hancock County, if you drive anywhere near the Mt. Comfort Corridor, you see big buildings, new construction, and bare fields all waiting for seeds to be sown or for buyers to buy.
But what is the fair price for flat ground in a growing area?
"Now is a good time to be a landowner," said David Shaw. He owns nearly 65 acres in Hancock County. He said the land has been in his wife's family since the early 1870s.
"They were the original land grantee of the land," said Shaw.
Now his farmland is being surrounded by new businesses moving in.
"It is good economically for the far east side and particularly Hancock County. It's a rapidly expanding area," said Shaw.
The rapidly expanding area has people knocking on doors making offers on land that wasn't even for sale.
"I always intended to sell it, but I was approached earlier this spring by somebody who made me an offer, and it sounded… well, it's a lot more than I expected," said Shaw.
After talking with a different broker, Shaw thinks his land is worth more than the original offer.
"There is a lot of demand in this area. We are on the east side of Indianapolis, and this is an area that's poised for a lot of growth that's driven by labor and good access to I-70," said Matt McGrady, a broker with collier international.
He said when it comes to calculating a reasonable price for your land, there are a lot of things to take into consideration.
"That's accessibility, what's it currently zoned, is there wetlands on sight is it in a flood plain. You know there are many things that you need to consider to basically give them a good value per acre price for that land," said McGrady.
After going through this process himself, Shaw recommends this.
"Take the time to give somebody a call who is an expert in selling farmland or land for development to get a current price because prices are continuing to shift," said Shaw.
