Book on buying a farm

Press, 3 February 1984, Page 25

Book on buying a farm

Buying a Farm, by Ralph du Faur, published by the author, $8.50, 100 pages. With some prospect of the general financial climate improving along with the general weather climate, a book collecting the legal, ethical, practical and traditional wisdom on buying a farm is very timely. It may be that’ such a work has already been done in the past but lending conditions and legislation do change and Mr du Faur’s book appears to be as up-to-the-minute as it has been possible to get. He makes an odd refer-

ence to the provisions of the Income Tax Amendment Act, 1982 but the moves of the Prime Minister, Sir

Robert Muldoon, on interest rates appear to have come too late to be included.

When buying a farm a farmer is usually begging, borrowing or scraping together hundreds of thousands of dollars and an investment of $8.50 for this book right at the beginning of the protracted process would be very sensible. Conversations with solicitors can also often be very frustrating and unsatisfactory for farmers engaged in buying a property so it would certainly help to be as well acquainted with the nuts and bolts of the process as possible.

Mr du Faur has included advice on preparing for farm ownership, property selection, legal procedure, financing, sources of finance and sources of information. His writing style is clear and easily followed and check lists have been attached as aids to organisation and memory.

Most valuable will be the section on purchase agreements and the clauses that can be included to safeguard the interests of the purchaser.

The book can be purchased from the author, who is a farm consultant, at P.O. Box 251, Papakura, or at bookshops stocking agricultural titles.—H.E.S.