5,000-Acre Working Riverfront Ranch
Includes Cattle, 2 Homes, Solar Electric &
9 km of River Frontage: US$399,000
Monte Coman, San Rafael, Mendoza
MULTI-MILLION-DOLLAR POTENTIAL:
For those of you with an extra $400k burning a hole in your pocket, this is
an exceptional opportunity to pick up good working farm and ranch land with 9 kilometers
of river frontage along the Rio Diamante for $80 an acre.
I don't know of nothing with the infrastructure this campo has in place for anywhere
near this price. This seller already knows the price is a extreme bargain, so he will not
finance or take partial payments and just wants a straight-up sale. He will not divide the
property into small units, so the purchase must include everything. This is how people get
very rich in Argentina.
Opportunities like this don't come up very often, and I am not expecting to see another
one like this soon. Show me arable land anywhere in the world for this price, and let me
know so I can consider moving there.
Possible uses include vineyard, orchard, annual vegetables, alfalfa, olives, forestry, cattle, etc.
This seller wants to net US$350,000 -- which is the actual asking price -- but I figure after
closing costs, survey fees, commissions and everything else it's going to shake out at
about US$400,000 total.
The big plus here is good soil and lots of water -- all you want from the River Diamante --
with unlimited rights at no cost and virtually no taxes. I say "virtually" no property taxes,
because right now he pays 29 pesos a year (less than US$10), which makes you wonder
why they even bother to collect it. Normally farms have to pay annually to maintain water
rights, but this farm is down-stream from the last irrigation canal on this river. If it were in a
different location, a property this size might have yearly irrigation fees of US$25K, or more.
The seller is an older farmer, one of those hand-shake-honest and down-to-earth fellows
who are an endangered species in this day and age. He's willing to leave everything on
the property except for his personal belongings in the main house -- which is rare in a country
where you have to fight to keep a few rolls of baling wire from the barn in the event of a purchase.
The owner is selling because his children have no interest in the farm (a common malady
in this computer age where young folks prefer chat and text-messaging to dirty fingernails) and
he's tired of doing it all himself. He has, however, agreed to aid in the transition period with
administration as well as "anything else I can do to help."
He's a great guy, exactly the type of individual who attracted me to Argentina, and why
I remain here now with no desire to pack up and leave after more than seven years.
These old-time farmers are the strength of this great country, and I hope they can hang
on as long as possible. Some of their kids still get it, and there remain a tremendous
number of young bucks that continue on in the same tradition,
but the times they are a changin'.
Below are some of the features and items included, and I don't mention them all:
-- 140 head of cattle
-- 2 Homes
-- Various farm animals
-- Tractor
-- Hydraulic shovel
-- 2 Bulldozers
-- 3 Plows
-- 1 Disc
-- 3 Seeders
-- 3 Well Pumps with Motors
-- Solar Panels & Equipment
-- 1 Windmill
-- Water Holding Tank (200,000 liters)
-- Misc. Tractor Implements and Hand Tools
-- Kerosene Refrigerator
-- Grain Mill (for turning dried corn into cattle feed)
-- Shoot Gates for Loading Cattle
-- Fencing for the Entire Property, Plus Lot Fencing
-- Canals Servicing Irrigation
There is no mosquito or bug problem, and the last time this farm was hit by hail was 17 years ago.
In the wilder part of the campo there are deer, ostrich, wild boar, partridge, piche
(a South American armadillo considered a delicacy, but prohibited from hunting despite
the fact that everyone seems to do so) and the occasional puma, which won't bother
you because they take off at the first scent of a human. There is loads of other wildlife,
some fish in the river and exotic native fauna in the virgin camp land portion of the property.
DISCLOSURE: At this writing I haven't seen this farm yet. I went out there in my
1990 Renault 12, which gets me about everywhere, but got bogged down in the sand
about a kilometer away and had to turn back. A friend had the owner take him out the
next day, snapped some quick photos, and despite a lousy camera did pretty good
considering the circumstances.
You don't need a 4-wheel-drive vehicle to get there, because the owner makes the
trip daily in a normal Ford pickup, but my Rocinante (as I call her, named after Don
Quixote's grand steed from the Cervantes tale) was just about six inches too low to the
ground. Usually it would have made it, but we haven't had rain in a
while and the alluvial sandy loam here failed to pack down enough to serve me.
The owner has two bulldozers, so why he doesn't bulldoze that last kilometer or two
of road himself is a mystery to me, but perhaps since he makes it fine in the pickup he
doesn't feel the need. And the upside may be that he's rarely bothered by door-to-door
salesmen, or women in long dresses handing out religious pamphlets.
PRODUCTION: Currently there are 50 hectares (125 acres) in corn. I don't see any
photos of this, just plowed land, but if he says so I believe him. He doesn't care enough to lie.
There is also another 200 hectares (almost 500 acres) of leveled land that just needs to be
cleared. It was previously in alfalfa, and he says he can easily clear 10 hectares per day
(25 acres) with the equipment he has, to make it ready for plowing and seeding.
I see no reason why this entire property -- 5,000 acres -- could not be developed. He has the
equipment to do so, which makes the cost very low. It's old equipment, but can get the job done.
You could do vineyard, orchard, olive, annual vegetables, pasture land or alfalfa for resale.
Alfalfa is an interesting option, because I have someone here (a spectacular farmer/rancher)
who would be willing to move onto the property and do an operation of that sort. He's in the
process now (with an American partner) of putting land into alfalfa for sale to the cattle feed lots
in San Luis because they're desperate for high-quality alfalfa (and San Rafael produces some of
the best protein content for that type of hay in South America) with good prices.
I spoke at length about the property with the owner when we met here at my house in
San Rafael -- about 75 kilometers (50 miles) from his farm. It's not remote, which is a big plus.
You can get a cell-phone signal there, and DirecTV works great in that area. Internet may
be another possibility since cell phone companies now give laptop Internet access and the
technology is increasing by leaps and bounds. He also has a unique radio-telephone with
at 50-mile signal that would be illegal in the USA, but is legal here because it's on a
frequency that is not used. He uses this to communicate with Monte Coman,
and elsewhere, because it's free.
*LOCATION
This ranch is located about 20 kilometers from Monte Coman -- which is east of San Rafael on
Route 146 (the road to San Luis). It is an under-potentialized little town where there is talk
about reviving the train station. Monte Coman has two small supermarkets, a couple of
farm-supply/hardware stores, 3 or 4 restaurants (one of which has an owner/singer who sometimes
serenades diners with opera), a medical clinic, 2 pharmacies, a gas station, 2 Internet cafes
and a bus station.
There is also a river and small recreational area there where local folks swim in the summer.
Monte Coman is about midway between San Rafael and General Alvear (a small city of
about 40,000) where over-night buses stop for more passengers on the trip to Buenos Aires.
Click here for Photos of Monte Coman
Various Photos of Ranch Property:
