Selling the Farmette - What to focus on to get it sold?

[fatappy]

If you were searching for a farmette, would you pass up a slightly dated, but very solid home? What are your make.breaks when buying a farmette?

I think the time has come for me to sell my farmette.

I was going to rent it out for another year, but it’s just too much liability. I signed a contract with a property manager to get it rented, but since I’ve hired him, I am leaning more towards selling (the contract binds me to using him as my selling agent for 3 months). He’s not a horse person, he deals in high end properties but not horse properties specifically. That said, we are at odds on what price to list it and what needs to be done to get it sold.

He thinks it needs $5k in upgrades and while I know I could find $5k worth of stuff to upgrade, I don’t think the things he wants would make or break a sale given that there is not much in my county that is similar. If it were a suburban home, I would agree, but I think for a farmette, people are willing to overlook a few things in order to get the property they want. Looking for your thoughts here?

The property is turnkey - 3 stall barn with water and electric on 9 acres, 6 of them fenced (some of it done within the past year).

The house is in great shape. I have updated the kitchen cabinets with paint and glass fronts, put new hardwood floors downstairs, new carpet up, new black appliances. All the light fixtures and sink faucets have been upgraded in the past two years. There are definitely a few things that date it: galley kitchen, bathroom counters, wood spindles in loft and on staircase, Formica kitchen counters. It also needs some new flower bed time. Would you turn a farmette down based on these things?

For selling a farmette do you focus on the same things you would in selling a house in a neighborhood? Any opinions welcome. I can PM anyone interested the address to get their thoughts on where to spend my time and money.

[tbchick84]

The few I have looked at, I have always looked at the property and horse facilities first. I look at fencing, water access, electrical, and is it easy in/out for my trailer. The house for me is an after thought. It just needs to have good bones and not need and big time repairs, such as an old roof or furnace. It doesn’t sound to me that you need to do anything major with that. Then again I’m in an overpriced area, so a slightly outdated house actually helps my chance of it being affordable.

[clanter]

[QUOTE=fatappy;8949533]
He’s not a horse person, he deals in high end properties but not horse properties specifically. .[/QUOTE]

might be just the guy to sell your place as it is possibly worth more as a none horse farm… a person could install a three hole golf course have room for a helipad, a go-cart track, tennis and swimming … yeah just the retreat away from city work place

We built our barns to have dual use incase we sell, one can easily be converted into a workshop/garage… the other a studio of some sort

As a horse operation, fencing would be my first concern as it is expensive but you do not pay much if anything for it when buying the place.

But we are acreage inside a city, our place would be cleared then rebuilt… nine of our neighboring properties have gone through that … the land is just worth so much more than house/barns.

Neighbor’s place on the east side has been turned into pretty much a holiday retreat home for its new owners… only time they are there is for the holiday parties

Neighboring place on the west… I forgot about as it was bought as an investment property, house was gutted… new owners rather than lease it out just let us rent the land for $1/year

House to rear owner died leaving it to his kids who live back east so its is empty… our nearest real neighbor is across the street some 300 feet away (huge distance for being inside a city, and we are in the middle of nearly 20 acres with about 2 million people nearby)

[JanM]

Clanter is absolutely right. Don’t limit your buying pool by appealing only to horse owners. Your ‘horse’ farm might actually end up without farm animals of any kind on it. The same property would appeal to someone who wants a hobby farm, a dog kennel, a car collector, or a number of other uses.

Another thing about doing upgrades to sell is, what if your upgrade is something the new owner doesn’t like? They won’t pay extra for something they don’t like, and you have wasted your money and time.

[AKB]

I would put money into painting anything that looks worn, getting everything really clean and sparkling, and making sure everything is well repaired. Then, I would work on the curb appeal. The front door might need a decorative wreath. The shrubs at the front of the house should be trimmed. A new doormat might be a plus. Look at comparable sales to determine your asking price. Have your realtor go over his marketing plan.

[The_Centaurian]

With real estate, it’s about first impressions, and it’s emotional. It’s almost impossible to turn a “no” into a “yes.”

I think the flower beds and countertops are inexpensive upgrades that will make the photos look nice and get more potential buyers in the door.

We recently purchased a home, and looked at a few farmettes along the way. One was a deal breaker based in location-- nowhere to ride, far from town-- lovely home, nice property, but didn’t work for us. One was a horrible deal breaker house, just poorly laid out, dated, and dark. A few were not safe for horses, poorly fenced, no grass in the pastures, barns full of rusty junk, etc.

We wound up moving closer to our boarding barn to a midcentury suburban home with a huge yard where all the neighborhood kids come over to play soccer.

Agree with posters who say you may get a horse person, maybe not. Selling is a PITA. Good luck!

[js]

Formica counters, while not a deal breaker, it might effect any potential offers as something a buyer would have to upgrade, so might see a little lower offers if they factor upgrades they’ll have to do. I personally like galley kitchens, so that wouldn’t bother me. Spindles on stair cases might be considered a safety issue if missing, broken or loose. A fresh coat of paint is always a good idea. As a horse property safe enclosures whether stalls or run in sheds and safe fencing are my first priority.

[caper]

[QUOTE=AKB;8949570]
I would put money into painting anything that looks worn, getting everything really clean and sparkling, and making sure everything is well repaired. Then, I would work on the curb appeal. The front door might need a decorative wreath. The shrubs at the front of the house should be trimmed. A new doormat might be a plus. Look at comparable sales to determine your asking price. Have your realtor go over his marketing plan.[/QUOTE]

Paint is an inexpensive fix. It can really spruce up and update the inside and outside of a house. Curb appeal is important too. When we moved 20 years ago from suburbia to our farm we listed in spring. We kept our lawns nice. I just went and bought/planted some huge flower geraniums for pops of colour. It was early but they are hardy. Some sales do better with good photos and a good agent.

Personally I would want my place to continue to house horses and market it as a small hobby farm. I think there is a demand.

[shelly]

When my friend was looking for her new home the non-horse person realtor was amazed that we would walk past the house and go right to the barn and then check out the ring, paddocks and fences. If the horse part didn’t pass her muster we woldn’t even look at the house.

I agree with the other posters a very good clean, declutter, some nicely placed planters and a coat of fresh paint will do wonders and not break the bank.

[ElementFarm]

[QUOTE=tbchick84;8949543]
The few I have looked at, I have always looked at the property and horse facilities first. I look at fencing, water access, electrical, and is it easy in/out for my trailer. The house for me is an after thought. It just needs to have good bones and not need and big time repairs, such as an old roof or furnace. [/QUOTE]

When we were farmette shopping, this is how I looked too… I was buying a farmette for the horses so the horse facilities were the most important to me–decent barn, safe fencing, a place to ride–these were non-negotiable. Since we were on a budget, that meant the house that went along with those was somewhat dated.

I think scrupulously clean and decluttered are the most important things when showcasing an older home. A fresh coat of paint to cover dingy or damaged walls will make it look less dated, even if the fixtures aren’t new or trendy.

I am not handy enough for big projects, nor imaginative enough to see the potential behind a major reno (I’m the “before” client in Property Brothers or Fixer Upper) so any major work was a deal breaker for me. But things like painting and swapping out fixtures or cabinet handles is well within my capability, so I needed the older-but-turnkey home to have good bones and a sound roof, HVAC and enough space to work with.

Maybe I’ll change priorities when I eventually want to sell the property, but for now I romantically envision handing the keys over to an enthusiastic young couple wanting to bring their horses home for the first time. I would like to think I would market only to the horse-owners in the area, and would prefer a fellow horse person of the next generation takes the property, as opposed to the couple who plan to tinker with old cars in the barn area, or have kids who race dirtbikes around the pastures. But I live in a horsey area, and know from experience how the horse-friendliness of the neighborhood decreases when farms are sold to non-horse-people. I don’t want to contribute to the decline of the horse community, so would only market it as a horse farm. I do think there’s enough demand in our area to make that feasible.

[NoSuchPerson]

It’s always a good bet to do whatever you can to make the best first impression possible. That’s the standard real estate stuff: neat, clean, tidy, no clutter, etc.

But, I’m not sure there is any single best approach to selling a farmette. My current place was not set up for horses at all, but I loved the house and I could envision how the property could be turned into a good horse place.

The place I had before was exactly the opposite. I fell in love with the property and when friends asked me about the house, I said, “Oh. Yeah. It has one.” It was actually a really nice house, only a few years old, but that wasn’t what sold me on the property.

[Simkie]

Where are you? What you need to do to find the right buyer and get a quick sale is going to be SOOOO dependent on your local market.

We’re moving across the country from a HOT HOT HOT housing market to a pretty DEAD one, so have seen the two extremes recently. Our place here was under contract in under a week with multiple offers and I think we probably could have done nothing to it at all. Sellers where we’re going are struggling to get any interest at all, so have to prep in a different way.

You’re probably best off finding the local horse property specialist and listening to that person when they do a walk through. Some things, like having it clean & decluttered, are table stakes. Whether or not you need to refresh all the paint or put in new counters is going to be dependent on your market.

(Also, don’t discount non-horse people. Not a SINGLE one of our potential buyers had horses currently, and only one set was thinking about getting into it. They all still loved the fencing and the barn for kids and/or livestock. Didn’t ask if the people who liked the perimeter fence for their herd of kids was planning on leaving the line of hot at the top on to contain them :lol:)

[JanM]

De-clutter ruthlessly. If you have to, put stuff in storage so the kitchen cabinets are spacious, closets are neat, and unnecessary furniture is out of the house, then get a storage locker. Countertops should be emptied, and everything should be clean. Make sure all light bulbs and other fixtures are working. If you have good views, open the windows blinds or curtains.

When I’m touring houses, I like to see a neat, clean well-maintained property. If I walk into a messy, cluttered house, I wonder what maintenance hasn’t been done either. Make sure the list of what conveys with the property is available to agents and buyers.

I also remove or lockup financial information, medications, portable electronics, and store anything personal that might clutter the property, or disappear. In fact, my property will be going on the market by the middle or end of February, so I just ordered a couple of lockable storage bins for materials I need to keep in the house during the marketing period.

Figure out what to do with any pets, and secure gates so larger animals don’t get loose. Have a super picky friend go through the house, and tell you if it looks ready for sales visits, and if there are any unpleasant smells. Some realtors are good at this, but they might have limited time to visit, so a friend might be better for quick visits.

[Bluey]

Get the best real estate agent you can find and let them do their stuff.

They are the ones that know your area and the market, everyone else is guessing.

How to find that best real estate agent, that I can’t help you with.

Maybe ask a real estate attorney to give you some names?

[IronwoodFarm]

$5K for improvements can make a big difference on the price you will receive. I am very happy that the estate that sold my farm wanted to do nothing to the house. The house did not show well at all. We got it for an excellent price and have made many changes over time. If they had put in $5K of improvements, the price would have gone up by $25K. Their loss, my gain. I have owned the property for 18 years now.

[snowrider]

The main thing to me would be riding facilities. I have horses to ride them so an arena and good trail access? I’d be willing to do a lot of work to the house because that is priceless.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=fatappy;8949533]
He thinks it needs $5k in upgrades and while I know I could find $5k worth of stuff to upgrade, I don’t think the things he wants would make or break a sale given that there is not much in my county that is similar. [/QUOTE]

What did the realtor recommend you upgrade?

Without any specific recommendations from the realtor (e.g. if he said ‘you’ve got to upgrade this bathroom or it will never sell’), I’d clean, repair anything broken, paint and curb appeal.

When we bought our farmette we were not horse people yet…so we looked at the house more than the property. But if I were to buy again, I would put up with a lot of things for the right property. Make your barn look clean, organized and inviting. Fix fences, drag arena if you have one; use a weed-eater around everything.

[ladymcts]

I’ve been shopping seriously for about 6 months and haven’t found the right place yet. I am now in love with the word turnkey … if you really mean it, then yah, I don’t give a flying flip about formica counters, spindles, or outdated bathrooms. I want to not have to fix stuff.

Now is an excellent time to sell! I’ve been seeing articles about how interest rates are expected to go up, and that the market is turning slowly toward the seller’s favor. In the time I’ve been looking, I missed out on one property completely by waiting a few days to see it. It got a cash offer for full price within a week. For another property I liked it, went back for a second look, but talked myself out of making an offer. It too was gone within a week. That was only the second turnkey property I had seen in person … all the others needed major work. Of the properties I’ve been tracking in a spreadsheet for 6 months, all of them have gone for 90-100% of their asking price. (Altho some of those may have been prices that were lowered to sell.)

I’m with tbchick84 … I check out the property and outbuildings first, and house last. Unfortunately that did bite me in the butt just once with one where I liked everything outside, then found the house was a wreck inside. Its problem was that someone had attempted updating, but it was poorly done Do-it-yourself projects that they didn’t even finish. Missing moldings, half painted rooms, flooring taken up but not replaced. Much of it looked cosmetic, but I’ve lived in a house once already where a DIY dude had screwed up a lot of stuff that was expensive to repair. With the property already being over my budget and having high risk of unexpected repairs, I had to leave it.

You’ve gotten some good advice above, but I’d like to add some comments about photos. We have one agent around here who takes fuzzy photos. I swear I’ll be looking at a listing, see the fuzzy pictures and think, “Let me guess, it’s listed by [name]” and I’ll be right. I’ve seen one listing the main picture of the front of the house has been taken crooked. With it being a manufactured home that is long and low, it really looks a lot like a ship sinking. So have a photographer come in with a good camera and get photos of the inside during the day when it’s sunny out and have all your lights on anyway. For that front-of-the-house shot, start taking them now, every day you have that’s a bright and sunny day, even if it’s with a phone, so that after the photographer has left, you can decided to use yours or theirs, in case they were there on a not so bright day. Please please please pretty please include photos of your outbuildings!!! I don’t understand why so many listings fail to do this? Fencing, stalls, anything that can give a good perspective on your layout.

Providing an aerial view with outlines of your property line may also help. I have seen quite a few listings that do this, and always find them helpful. They usually include a disclaimer about it being for a guideline only. I also don’t know where they get the aerials from. I’m guessing many are from google earth, but if so they aren’t giving credit to the source which probably means that’s not a legitimate use of the image. Just saying it’s helpful to the buyer.

One last item of note … some people like me had it in their heads that 10 acres is a bare minimum of what I need (I’ve changed now). Since you’ve got 9, this means there may be people out there who will never find your listing on a search because they plug in a filter saying 10+. Once you’re officially listed with an agent, you might want to also put an ad on Craigslist where you say “just under 10 acres” or something like that. And in any listing, be sure to emphasize that 6 acres is fenced. Before I found my current agent, I had one who kept saying “but it has 17 acres!” for something that was 16 acres wooded. Could not get it thru his thick skull that trees matter. A lot!

If you want to PM me the addresss, I’d be happy to offer any more specifics I can think of. Best of luck to you in selling!

[cdalt]

There are many good suggestions already made in the posts above. Neutral paint (which lately tends towards light gray rather than beige- I love a color from Behr called Rhino) will help, especially if you have any rooms already painted with really dark or bright colors. The de-cluttering is very important - makes small rooms look much larger. One suggestion is to be sure all windows are really clean inside and out and I have always taken off screens (and stored them away) while selling. The sparkling clean windows let in so much more light and give a good first impression. A clean tidy well organized barn is a very good thing too!
All that being said, we purchased a farmette (13 acres) that needed almost everything changed (fencing, barn, the whole house) because we were on a budget, needed to move soon and had few choices. I did like the setting, style of the house, and area it was in. It had sat on the market for 4-5 years before be bought it because it was overpriced and had dreadful decor (think english country cottage gone wild). It took a lot of work and $$$ but it is beautiful now and I’m very happy we bought it. Good luck with selling your farm.

[msj]

One other thing you might want to consider would be to have the home and barn inspected for any major or even minor problems. We have a guy that’s a home inspector that has a TV show with another fellow about how to fix things around the house, like faucets, insulation, heck, just about anything.

Somewhere within the next 1-10 yrs I’ll be doing the same thing you are, putting my place on the market and at least a yr before, I’m planning on having him come and do an inspection so I have the time to repair any significant problem that could be a dealbreaker.

I think the previous posters have given you good advice so I wish you the best of luck.