I TalkHorses.com

Buying that perfect Horse Property!

Over the last 20 years that I’ve been helping people buy and sell horse property I’ve learned a lot.  There are things that make a great property and things you should avoid.  First of all it really helps if your realtor has a clue about land, what an automatic water is and if you are  willing to drive on dirt roads with their cars?  Having the right guidance will make it much easier for you! 

 So how many horses do you want to have?  Every County has a guide line as to what that is.  Larimer County states you can have 1 horse per ½ acre, Weld County is 1 horse per acre.  So it's a good idea to check with the county where you are looking to purchase property. Are you going to want pasture or will a small acreage work with runs and box stalls?  Several buyers come to me wanting irrigated land to raise hay.   Then they find out the price of that land because of the water, what it costs and the work it takes to put up their own hay, they change their minds.  It then becomes ok just to buy the hay and have it delivered. 

Fencing?  I’m still amazed at the amount of barb wire out there!  Scary thing.  So as you know that has to go and what is the expense to replace it?  Also port- a- panels, if you don’t request in the contract that they stay, you could be real surprised when they are gone upon move in day and you have no where to put your horses.  They are not considered permanent and should the seller remove them, this can cause some hard feelings. 

Surveys?  Please, please ask the seller to survey the property lines.  If they will not do it, please don’t be cheap.  This could save you thousands in the long run.  My worst night mare with this was on a property in the foothills.  I advised my buyer to have a survey.  The seller would not do it and my buyer really didn’t want to spend 3,000.00 but because I was so persistent they ordered one.  Well thank goodness, the beautiful shop that was just north of the barn was only ½ on this property and ½ of the building was on the neighbors land.  So we had to have the sellers negotiate with the neighbor to do a property boundary line adjustment (at the sellers expense) and make the property line correct.  My buyers were ever so thankful!

 These are just a few tidbits.  I hope they are helpful.  It’s great to enjoy your horses with a property that you also enjoy.  Thank you for reading and if I can be of help please feel free to give me a call.  Happy Trails!