I think I used to ride there! There were Morgans in it at the time. I almost drove off the road on my home from work one afternoon when I realized the horse being ridden had a bright red browband!
There can’t be as much no where as there was 20+ (OMG!) years ago when I was there.
Mid Atlantic & those requirements are tricky on that budget…
Can you go North (NY State) or South (Aiken, SC or somewhere in NC)? I can ask a horse farm owning friend near (within 2 hours) the Richmond, VA area if that is a location you’re interested in. Would be 3 or so hours from DC…
Don’t do flood zones in the mid Atlantic - especially in Maryland and Virginia. You will run into trouble with site permits and expensive restrictions related to Chesapeake Bay resource protection area regulations. I can not emphasize this strongly enough.
If you all can afford to buy your property in cash… maybe consider buying the right piece of land and location that has part of the infrastructure you want/need in terms of barn, arena, etc, and then taking out a line of credit to finish it out in stages? The reality is 1.5 million is a tough price point for a turn key property with capacity for 20-30 horses in many parts of the mid Atlantic region that are within commuting distance to major suburban areas, much less major employment areas. $1.5 million is a decent budget if you are looking for a farm that is smaller - around 10 acres with space for 5-10 horses, a house, and an outdoor arena. But 20-30 horses plus an indoor? That’s gonna be expensive to build or buy.
OP this is kind of adjacent to what I do for a living- I’m a lender and used to do a lot of horse properties. I know you’re paying cash, but I’m happy to discuss in more detail privately since I have been through the process with several clients. The flood zone concern may or may not be an issue at all. You will want/need an elevation survey to ensure that the portions of the property in the floodway do not contain buildings etc and have an idea of how that water table is going to affect your drainage, but I find non rural-savvy agents and lenders often pull the flood services that say yes/no as far as the property being in a flood zone without taking into account on a 50 acre property, that might be one acre of it or all 50 and those are two very different propositions.
You are almost certainly better off finding something with most of what you want and renovating, since what already is there has the benefit of being built with yesteryear’s labor and material costs. Right now there is such a shortage of skilled labor that building anything is a tough proposition and this project size is basically no mans land where you would need contractors with the skill set to put up large commercial buildings where your project is competing for the same labor pool with much bigger and more lucrative ones.
I will also note just because you don’t need a house, you may have better luck with looking at houses with enough land and appropriate zoning. For resale, there are more lending options available for residential properties with horse facilities than a strictly commercial facility, and you may find that staffing appropriately is a lot easier when you can provide housing even if you don’t plan to live on property.
As much as you’re going to hate to hear this, I think your best bet is driving around where you want to be and knocking on doors or having an agent do the same. The kinds of properties you want are prime for development and developers have full time staff looking for these and doing just that, so what hits the market is whatever they passed up in some areas.
FYI wetlands and flood zones are separate things. Wetlands are covered with water either permanently or seasonally whereas floodplains are just areas that can be covered with water during precipitation events. Advising that someone should not buy a property for horses with a flood plain in it would rule out at least half the farms in Virginia. Ex: I have a client right now building on a waterfront property- 50 acre parcel with a flood zone surrounding the water to show the lines of where a 100 year event would have the water coming over the usual water line. The rest of the property is fine and buildable. Protected wetlands are another bag of chips. Virginia has soil and water conservation districts that provide consultants and funding related to preserving the ground water and soil and I always encourage my clients to reach out to their local department to see if there’s funding available for water management or planning best practices.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
