FARM LAND VALUES IN IOWA. 



15 



PAYMENT AT TIME OF SALE. 



It was found that the terms of sale tended more or less to conform 

 to established custom which prevailed in the period before the 

 "boom." In the Corn Belt it is a general practice to give possession 

 of farms both to purchasers and to lessees on March 1. Accordingly, 

 at the time of purchase a small cash payment is made to bind the 

 sale, and the greater part of the cash payment is made on March 1, 

 when possession of the farm is given. 



Only about 5 per cent of the sales involved an initial payment of 

 as much as 50 per cent of the purchase price. Nearly 95 per cent 

 of the purchasers paid 10 per cent or less, while nearly three-fourths 

 paid 5 per cent or less. 



CASH PAYMENT MARCH 1, 1920. 



Of a total of 918 sales 865 involved a cash payment March 1, 1920, 

 averaging 33.3 per cent of the total sale price. The remaining 53 

 sales were cases involving full cash payment at time of sale or the 

 initial cash payment plus the mortgage indebtedness left nothing to 

 be paid March 1. Of the 865 cases involving a March 1 settlement, 

 about 37 per cent agreed to pay less than 25 per cent of the purchase 

 price March 1, 1920. 



If we add the initial cash payment to the cash payment due 

 March 1, we obtain what may be considered the total amount of 

 cash, as distinguished from indebtedness, involved in the terms of 

 sale. This total cash payment averages 40.7 per cent of the total 

 consideration involved. 



Table VIII. — Total cash payment, including initial and March 1 payments. 



Number of 

 farms pur- 

 chased. 



Per cent of purchase price to he paid 

 in cash. 



Percent of 

 all farms 

 purchased. 



87 

 238 

 340 

 262 



100 



9.3 

 25.7 

 36.7 

 28.3 











As shown in Table VIII, more than one-fourth of the total sales 

 involved a cash payment of less than 25 per cent, while nearly two- 

 thirds of the sales represented cash payments of less than 50 per cent. 



MORTGAGE INDEBTEDNESS. 



The sales involving one or more mortgages were 839 out of a total of 

 927. The average of all classes of mortgages is 64 per cent of the sale 

 price of the farms mortgaged. As shown in Table IX, a considerable 

 number of buyers, about one-eighth of all, have incurred indebtedness 

 amounting to as much as 80 per cent or more of the purchase price, 



