Farmland tracts in Garfield County put up for sale after auction yields too-low bids

Jun. 9—Though nearly 550 acres of farmland in Garfield County were taken out of auction Wednesday after sellers decided bids were too low, realtors say the land already is getting competitive offers now that it's up for general sale.

The 12 tracts covering around 547 acres came to a total potential bid of $830,000 following a multi-parcel estate auction at Chisholm Trail Expo Center on Wednesday morning. During the auction, each tract was offered for individual bid, then as a whole and in tract combinations.

Auctioneer Ira Smith, owner of Smith & Co. Auction and Realty, said the auctioned tracts will be listed at $5,000 per acre on the Northwest Oklahoma Association of Realtors multiple-listing service website.

Smith, a Woodward broker, said with the $5,000/acre listing, the tracts would sell for a total $2.75 million if bought all together.

Smith said he'd received offers and counter-offers for both total and partial purchases, but said he couldn't disclose more information about potential buyers besides "two different entities" interested in whole ownership by Wednesday afternoon.

Jack Miller, a Mooreland farmer, purchased four deeds for the land for a total $1.253 million in 2011 and 2012, according to Garfield County Assessor reports. The now-late Miller's sons, Darrell and Devry Miller, are selling the four parcels.

Located next to Chisholm Public Schools sites just outside of Enid city limits, the tracts on the eastern half of the land are around 40 acres, while the western tracts range between 40 to 80 acres.

Smith said he and the sellers believed the property would sell better in tracts than as a whole.

Wednesday morning's auction bids, however, brought the cost to around $2,000 an acre, he said, so after a recess with the sellers at the end of the hour, Smith ended the auction.

Despite strong bidder activity in the latter half of the auction, he said, "It didn't go well. It didn't bring enough money."

Managing broker Buck Hutchens, Wednesday's bid caller, said real estate brokers have seen people not coming to auctions lately because property prices have increased so much.

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you know?" he said.

But shortly after, once he started taking sale offers, Smith said his phone started "blowing up." He said a man who didn't go to the auction approached him immediately after and started negotiating with him right there in the Expo Center parking lot.

"It's one of those properties that its best days are ahead of it, and it's going to take some time to get there," Smith said of the Miller land. "But I'll tell you what, it's got a ton of potential."

Ewald is copy editor and city/education reporter for the Enid News & Eagle.

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