Just got notice my barn is for sale.... please tell me good things

[Obsidian_Fire]

As the title says. Our BO’s have decided to sell, the for sale sign went up today.
To say us boarders are shell shocked is putting it mildly. We are a group of adult ladies (one couple) middle to older age…and one gentleman.
I am in tears. I’ve only been there 4 years, others have been longer and some less so. But we are family. We are all pretty close knit, work together, ride together, etc.

In a perfect world whoever the new owner ends up being would let things stand status quo but we all know that won’t happen.

I could use some good karma right about now.

[BatCoach]

oh wow, sorry for this huge surprise. To be clear, they haven’t sold YET right? So no ones knows who the new buyer is. Fingers crossed they keep the status quo, but I would start looking and try to move with some of the boarders you are close with. Really a huge bummer.

Hopefully the horse world does not lose another equestrian property.

[TheJenners]

I just saw this exact scenario on a regional FB page What a bummer! Are you PNW area?

[Obsidian_Fire]

Yes, Oregon.

[Obsidian_Fire]

No property went up for sale today. Not holding my breath and have already put ISO’s out.
So worried about this and sure didn’t see it coming.

[Critter]

Good luck…that’s not easy. I figured I would jut give you a laugh from the other perspective…I’ve had a boarding barn and we’ve let it decrease in boarders over the past few years (I once ran the barn as a full time job…now I have a “real” job and the boarding is just more trouble and work than it’s worth). Anyway…we finally decided to close the business and gave our two clients plenty of notice that they would need to find a new place.

About a week later, we get a random call about a guy wanting to buy our farm…and he had cash and wanted to do it this month. Oh and that our neighbors told him the place was for sale!! I scratched my head and deleted the message. Later that night I got a text from a different neighbor who will help with the dogs/horses if I travel. She was very upset with me that I hadn’t told her we were selling!!

Umm…nope, not selling. Apparently word got out in the community and closing the business translated to we were selling the farm (I still have my own horses to keep). Amazing how that spread like wildfire!! Reassured friend we were not going anywhere…I mean unless someone wanted to drop a ton of $$$ to make it worth it! LOL Well, she then told us what the neighbors were telling everyone the farm was for sale for…about 1/3 of what it should be in the current market. At least now we know why the guy had cash in hand!!

Sorry you didn’t get more notice…we’ve put off doing this for forever as we didn’t want to disrupt our remaining boarders…so maybe there’s a bigger personal reason that your barn owner isn’t mentioning that is causing them to have to sell on such short notice?

[Obsidian_Fire]

I think this has been in discussion for awhile. This isn’t a “fire sale”. It seems typical of their handling of anything “controversial” that they wait until the day the sign goes up to tell us.

[shiloh]

Wow. I am sorry this is happening to you. BTDT - the lovely barn I was at with only one other boarder and a great BO - they sold.

I hope you find new and maybe better accommodations soon.

[clanter]

@Obsidian_Fire

I think this has been in discussion for awhile. This isn’t a “fire sale”. It seems typical of their handling of anything “controversial” that they wait until the day the sign goes up to tell us.

When I was on an acquisition team of a major company that bought ongoing companies nothing was to be disclosed to any of the companies employees until after the purchase was completed.

Since then (before I retired) I always maintained a current resume and had feelers out for potential jobs as one never knew just what was going on behind the scenes.

If I were boarding these days I would be doing just as I am preparing for a hurricane (the season opened June 1st) …I would have several places at least sort of reviewed thinking of maybe moving when needed. Contingency planning has been in my background ever since the days of the army.

[Obsidian_Fire]

@clanter I always have one eye out. Always. This isn’t my first rodeo by a long shot. But… so many barns have gone away, gone private, or any number of other stories. Land is at such a premium these days, just read the threads here…(I know you do).

One of the kids let it slip a couple days ago that ‘dad was pitching quite a fit’ and he didn’t want to have to tell him a horse had gotten into the fence and it needed to be repaired.
99.9% of the time, if the husband isn’t a horse person, these places fail. I’ve seen it too many times.

A good friend called me and offered a soft landing at her barn. I am damn grateful for said friend, and will keep that in mind while I sort this out.

[Texarkana]

I’m sorry @Obsidian_Fire. I’ve been there. The best farm I ever boarded at was sold while I was there. We were also a tight knit group. It was hard to go through. The only thing worse than getting the call that the barn was going on the market was the call saying it had sold and we needed to be out by XX date.

[clanter]

@Obsidian_Fire

so many barns have gone away, gone private, or any number of other stories. Land is at such a premium these days, just read the threads here…(I know you do)

I have my wife’s parents super 8 home moves of what “north of Dallas” was like in the mid 1960s. This was the land that is inside the LBJ Freeway…there was nothing but cotton fields and open range. Every three years they would build a new house “out in the country” which was two or three blocks north of the present house.

Just one stable remains until you get about thirty or more miles north that I am aware of

[Obsidian_Fire]

And even the best contingency planning means nothing when there is “no room at the inn” when you need it.

[Kyrabee]

Jingles you can find a good place.

I am holding my breath too and am going to start looking. My barn owners are in their late 60’s/early 70’s and I can’t see that they want to keep working 80 acres so hard and feeding 30 horses 2x/day. I have boarded my current horse there for 17 of her 19 years. The other 2…another barn that closed. We had 30 days.

The Boise area is insane for real estate. Acreages are disappearing at light speed. There aren’t many choices but I have to start looking.

Susan

[Texarkana]

@Obsidian_Fire

And even the best contingency planning means nothing when there is “no room at the inn” when you need it.

Don’t feel bad. People talk about their contingency plans on this forum and I can’t help but chuckle. It’s good to have a plan and all, but horses have a way at laughing at our best laid plans. And that trickles down to everything horse related.

We’ve all been there. And if someone hasn’t been there, it’s more a matter of luck that things worked out for them rather than their good planning.

[SuzieQNutter]

If you don’t want to move and don’t want things to change … buy it! You will not have this problem again until you are the one who wants to sell.

[candyappy]

@Obsidian_Fire

No property went up for sale today. Not holding my breath and have already put ISO’s out.
So worried about this and sure didn’t see it coming.

Can the boarders pool their resources and buy it? If you are all in for the long haul, why not??

[Obsidian_Fire]

@SuzieQNutter

again

OMG. . None of us have that kind of money, even if we pooled it all together.

[blue_heron]

This happened to me very recently. It was tough but all I can say is the new place is almost even better and we’ve made fast friends.

[Obsidian_Fire]

3 of us are going to look at a barn tonight not that far from where we are now. There are 2 openings, my one friend is bringing her checkbook and if likes it, is holding a spot right then and there.
I am not going to make any quick rash decisions that I might later regret, altho it seems there will be no good decision here. I have enough hay to see me thru until fall (when I usually stock up) so in that regard I’m okay.

But last night… I cried myself to sleep. I realized that for the first time in my entire boarding life, I am friends/friendly/talk to every single person I board with, almost every day, there is nobody I dislike or actively avoid, we all look after each other, help each other, talk laugh cry commiserate together; we are FAMILY. And our family is being split apart. Even the lady across the street, comes over to use the arena. She’s our friend too! And part of our family. (Plus she’s our acupuncturist)!
Feels like a bad divorce with the kids being shuffled here there n everywhere.