Buying a Horse Farm - Some Humorous Stumbling Blocks


I have sold Real Estate now for about 13 years. Having lived in the country for many years I do well with the selling of farms, country estates, and cottages. These particular types of Real Estate do have extra areas of expertise required to help you close the deal. Over the years I have found that the real stumbling blocks are not so much the added areas of expertise that the salesperson requires, but the attitudes of the various family members involved in the buying of the property, especially in the buying of a property to be used as a horse farm. Sometimes you just have to sit back and shake your head in wonderment.

Mother or wife of the family wants the perfect house. It has to be modern, spacious, and be in move-in condition. Now if mother happens to be the key horse person, then the barn or stable has to be perfect. The stalls have to be just the right size, the alleys have to be more than adequate, there has to be an automatic watering system, and the stable has to lead to a large, in-door arena without having to set foot outside. If mother or wife's main focus is the running of the horse operation, then she may overlook some of the short-comings of the house in favor of the perfect horse set-up, but don't count on it.

Let us look at father or husband of the family. If he happens to be the horseman or horse enthusiast then the horse accommodations of the property are key. House features are probably secondary to him which can make the real estate agent's life somewhat easier, but again, don't count on it because wife and children will have plenty to say about the house and suddenly a mansion is required while typically the house on a farm property may well be 100 years plus and although it has been completely renovated it just does not cut it for our would-be state-of-the-art horse endeavor.

Teen-age kids, bless their hearts, have the capability to make the deal a sure thing or go completely south, whichever way the wind is blowing that particular day. If the teen happens to be all for the horse operation, has a horse or horses of his or her own then the barn has to be the very best that it can be and house will probably be OK as long as the teen-ager has a private area, complete with 4-piece bath, for themselves. Keep in mind that if the kids are not horse oriented then a rural area is the very last place on earth that they want to live, so nothing will be right with any property you show the family. It's hard to believe that so many dwellings could possibly have so many faults.