Tips for Farm and Rural Property Sellers

Listing and marketing your land for sale is challenging, especially in a difficult market. If you’ve made the decision to list your land with an experienced land agent, I’ve created a list of tips for sellers to utilize in an effort to assist their agent in securing a buyer and showing their property in the best possible light. It’s no daunting task to simply “tidy up” your property and it’s well worth the effort to get the best offers and ensure a successful sale.

Here are fourteen tips for sellers of a farm, farmland or rural property:

1. Keep the grass in yards, pastures, food plots, and other open areas clipped and presentable.
2. If there is landscaping and beds on the property, clean them out, freshen up the ground cover with new pine straw or bark.
3. Trim up trees and shrubs around the home and the barns.
4. Trim up any limbs that block views, hinder travel down a road, or may be endangering structures.
5. Trim fence lines and keep them looking neat. This is very important around homes, barns, and road frontages. Spray fence lines to control the overgrowth of vegetation.
6. Clear off porches and the areas around a home. Any items that do not belong in that area should be placed somewhere else.
7. Any farm equipment on the property should be neatly arranged and the grass maintained in that area. If there is farm equipment around barns or shed, keep it from distracting from the view of a barn or pasture if possible.
8. If the property has ponds, creeks or streams: make sure that some of the water can be seen from a distance. Also make sure that the potential buyers can walk to the water. If you have ponds it is best to keep them clipped and possibly “weedeat” around them.
9. If you have animals that can be dangerous or a nuisance during a showing, make plans for them prior to showings. A large barking dog or a horse that likes to bite can make a property difficult to show.
10. Inside the home should be presentable at the showing. We understand that you may reside on a property we are marketing, just make it’s as neat as possible prior to a showing. Pay close attention to the area around the doors that lead into the house, kitchens, and bathrooms.
11. If any of the property has trash or debris laying around, remove it as soon as possible. This includes junk and trash in barns and sheds on the property.
12. If any brush piles exist, they should be burned and removed. Remember to obtain the proper permits before burning.
13. If there are areas that are overgrown with brush, briars, privet, or kudzu, make arrangements to clean it up and then plant grass back in the cleared areas.
14. Any areas of open dirt or fresh ground needs to have something planted on it.

These are tips and not mandated, but they will make your property marketable. Some, if not all, of the above recommendations should be considered. Keep in mind any investment into your property may or may not add actual value, but in most cases it justifies the asking price for a property. Remember, buyers are looking at many properties and the one that stands out above all others will be the one they purchase!