My brother and I bought our family farm several years ago. We have two sisters who have no interest in farming it -- and they are completely in agreement with the arrangement.

Here is how we look at it. By selling the farm to us, and taking back a mortgage, our parents essentially converted one type of asset into another. We set it up on monthly payments that are higher than cash rent, giving them a steady income, while we have ownership of our operating base. We don't have to worry about medical bills taking it all -- and they know the land is in the hands of the next generation.

In the event of their deaths, the mortgage will be part of their estate -- a portion of which will go to our sisters, so it isn't as though they were cheated out of anything.