Rural appraiser selected to enter Hall of Fame

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Dan Legner received the highest honor from the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers during the group’s recent annual meeting.

Legner, a senior appraiser with Compeer Financial in Princeton, was inducted into the membership Hall of Fame.

The accredited rural appraiser has both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois.

“I was in the banking field for about five years and about 1998, I opened my own real estate and appraisal office that I had for around five years,” Legner said.

Legner then became a land appraiser for 1st Farm Credit.

“They merged and became Compeer Financial, so I’ve been with them since March of 2003,” he said.

Becoming an accredited rural appraiser was an evolution for Legner.

“When I was working at the bank, I thought I would raise hogs and do appraisals on the side, so I took an evening appraisal course,” he recalled. “The local bank was looking for an ag lender, so I went to work for them.”

This was about the time the hog market plummeted and the swine industry went through a transformation where many producers switched to contract finishing.

“I continued to take appraisal courses, so I didn’t plan as a young kid to become a farmland appraiser,” the award winner said.

Legner does farmland appraisals in Bureau, Lee and Putnam counties.

“We do internal loan appraisals and outside appraisals for attorneys, banks or individuals who are doing estate planning,” he said.

“When I first started, we didn’t have as many appraisers on staff so my territory also included Henry, Whiteside and Mercer counties, but now Compeer has added appraisers in all of the offices so each appraiser covers about three counties.”

When Legner first joined the ISPFMRA, he didn’t know anyone.

“When I attended my first annual meeting, Mac Boyd, who had a real estate appraisal company in Arcola, introduced himself to me,” he said. “I looked up to some of the pillars of the organization like Mac, Ray Brownfield and Dale Aupperle.”

The members of the Illinois chapter are a very helpful group, said Legner, who served as the ISPFMRA president in 2018.

“I can call any one of them if I have a question and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a member of this group,” he said.

“It is a very close group of friends and a great bunch of people,” Legner stressed. “The days are long, but the years fly by — it seems like yesterday when I met Mac.”