A Splash Of Paint And Some Elbow Grease Go A Long Way

You might be a good enough horse trader to sell a Miniature Horse to a basketball player, but can you sell your farm?

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, as the saying goes, and never more so than when someone is looking to make the biggest purchase of their life—real estate.

If you’re in the market to sell your farm, you need to do everything you can to make your property attractive to potential buyers. Horse properties are a special niche market—here, three realtors who specialize in equestrian real estate talk about what matters most when putting your farm on the market. 

“It’s that first impression that counts, and you get that before you ever even get into the house,” said John Coles of Thomas & Talbot Rest Estate in Middleburg, Va.

“Most people who end up buying a property drove up the driveway and just had a feeling about it. They say it felt right before they even set foot in the house. If a potential buyer gets a bad impression driving in the driveway, you’re going to have a hard time getting them to have that gut feeling of ‘This is it.’ ”

You’ve probably put hours of hard work and buckets of sweat (not to mention money!) into making your horse property just what you wanted. But the key to selling it is to get buyers to think it’s just what they want too. And they won’t be wearing your rose-colored glasses of pride when they come through the gates.

It’s All About Elbow Grease

Cleanliness is the name of the game when selling a property. “Get it clean!” said Lori Ross, of Michigan Land & Home Realty in Howell, Mich.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have the whole place clean. Even if things are in a bit of disrepair, buyers can look past a lot if things are clean. Horses always do some damage to property, but if it’s clear that the property is cared-for, it counts for a lot,” Ross said.

There are a variety of shows on cable television teaching you how to present, or “stage” your house, and all of that advice can apply to your barn as well.

Your house should be spotlessly clean, with all knick-knacks and personal photos stored. “If you haven’t used it within six months, pitch it or pack it up,” Ross said. “People want to walk into a house and see their stuff and be able to visualize their things there.”

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your potential buyers will overlook problems with the house just because they walk through the barn first.

“They’ll say that the house isn’t really important, that the barn is the priority, but they do care about the house. They’ll have to live there! You can’t ignore one or the other,” said Courtney Conger of The Carolina Real Estate Company in Aiken, S.C.

Just as they want to walk through the house and see their photos on the walls and furniture in the rooms, potential buyers will want to visualize their horses looking out over the stall doors and grazing in the paddocks. Getting the barn, indoor and other outbuildings as clean and organized as possible creates a clean slate for that vision.