How to Stage Rural Property For Sale
By: Craig Bowen
What is the second thing a residential real estate agent does after he or she gets a listing? Advertise. The property is photographed, put into brochures, flyers are made and emailed to thousands of people, and the property description included on countless websites.
Potential buyers can access it online, on mobile devices, through word of mouth, and on cork boards all over town. And when a potential buyer goes to look at the listed property, it is spotless – the kitchen is sparse and elegant, the great room is inviting, the office looks studious, the beds are pristine, and the yard is immaculate.
Oh, the first thing? The agent has the property cleaned and staged.
Staging
Staging. Most real estate agents, even rural guys and gals, know what staging is and probably some of the tips on how to stage effectively.
Why, then, is it so uncommon for rural property owners and listing agents to stage the rural land they are trying to sell?
I doubt there is a way to quantify this fact, but I submit to you that there are more rural properties on the market that have zero make-ready work done to them than properties that have had some type of staging. Like I said, most of us know how to stage a house.
How do we go about staging an entire ranch?
Work on the Entrance
First impressions matter, so make an entrance. If the first thing a prospective buyer sees is a run-down gate with too much space along the posts and a rusty lock, I believe they immediately form an opinion about the property. Real estate agents try to shield them with words like “quaint” and “utilitarian,” but really, these eyesores can be remedied at reasonable costs, and with no additional labor than most brokers have at their disposal.
Create a Route for Buyers
The showing route on a rural property is paramount, and can lead to various other staging issues along its route. The route itself, though, should be free of rough patches. Imagine yourself a buyer thinking of spending a million or ten million on a property, and then being bounced around for an hour or two trying to justify your expenditure.
It makes no sense at all not to put a qualified buyer through this when a week of road work only costs around five thousand dollars – it can literally make the difference to a buyer not accustomed to rough ranch roads!
Perform Tactical Brush Control
Invasive brush is probably the most common large-scale defect of most rural properties, particularly in the Edwards Plateau and greater Hill Country. Consistent historical overgrazing has exacerbated already bad Ashe juniper and prickly pear problems caused by fire suppression and fragmentation, and most landowners do not have an actionable brush management plan.
Controlling brush around the showing route and other main attractions like ponds, hunting locations, scenic overlooks, large, visible hardwood trees, and other key areas can really bolster the way a property shows.
If the property has great views, do a little chainsaw or skid steer work to enhance these views by taking out less desirable trees and brush which may be obstructing a multi-million dollar view.
Make Pastures Show Ready
The way the pastures look on a rural property is important to most prospective buyers. Green grass and wildflowers sell property.
An easy way to ensure the pastures look good on a ranch is to remove or reduce the livestock herd. This allows the property to take advantage of spring rains, heal a little from historical grazing, and put forth its best face to prospective buyers.
If tax considerations are an issue, it is wise to file for a rest period with your county appraisal district, which can usually be done 2 out of any 7-year period. If there is a lucrative grass lease involved, talk to the seller and the lessee to work out a rotational grazing program or a rest period during key months (April – June) to ensure there is at least some fresh, green growth in the pastures.
Another side effect of rest from livestock is that all those muddy ponds are likely to clear up with the absence of hoof action, and will photograph and show much better.
Show off the Wildlife
If the property has good hunting and wildlife potential, either leave current corn and protein feeders operational and full, or invest some money in new corn feeders and put them in appropriate areas around the property. These feeders will attract wildlife, and encourage the wildlife using the property to move around and potentially be seen more often than if they were not coming to artificial feed.
One can also feed roads using a tailgate feeder (or a bag of corn hanging out the window) prior to a showing to attract birds, deer, and small mammals to the roads so they can be observed by a potential buyer. When feeding roads, make sure the attractant is thrown to the side of the road or between the ruts so the buyer is not looking at a trail of corn during the entire showing.
Bird seed, chicken scratch, protein pellets, and standard deer corn are all good attractant choices for feeding roads. The positive effects of seeing wildlife during a showing cannot be overestimated or overstressed – most buyers today are buying for recreation, and most of the time that recreation centers around nature, so show them some nature!
Clean Up Around Barns and Working Pens
Barns and working pens are a great addition to rural properties. Working pens show the prospective buyer that they are buying a “ranch,” and there is likely some good history to talk about with them. Barns offer places to store equipment, and when in good shape, add overall value to the property.
However, these locations tend to accumulate junk, turning what should be an attractive feature into a blemish. Spend a day to clean up around these areas – rusty pipes, rotten wood, old trash, vehicles, and other items should all be cleared away. If there are troughs in the working pens and electricity at the barn, make sure these items are functional.
Flipping on the lights in the barn and walking around looking at clean, full water troughs is a lot easier than explaining to a buyer that you are sorry for the mess, and can get that cleaned up later if needed.
Take care of water wells
If there are water wells on the property, know how many there are, their depths, their locations, and ensure that they are functional and look good. A “well house” or covering or a water well is a valuable addition and assures the buyer the well has been taken care of. If you want more information about this, check out our article on Water Wells.
If there is a windmill which needs reasonable repairs, make sure they get done – a working windmill is attractive to buyers, and solidifies the fact that they are buying a piece of Texas.
Understand the Mineral Rights
If minerals are part of the sale, it is imperative the listing agent is informed about the mineral ownership of the property, and what is available for purchase. Running a mineral title is not easy or cheap in some cases, but a lot of savvy buyers will not make an offer until this step is complete.
Besides that, it makes the listing agent and the seller look ignorant to have to say, “Well, we don’t know exactly what’s owned, but we are conveying half at the asking price.” That type of information is not acceptable, does nothing for either side, and certainly does not help sell the property.
Clean Up and Maintain Home
If there is a home on the property, pay special attention to the area surrounding the house. Rural buyers are buying land first, and a home, if it exists, second. The yard, outdoor kitchen, garage or carport, dog pens, and landscaping should all be kept as if someone was living on the property. Stage the interior of the home just as you would if it was in a suburb – clean, de-clutter, smooth out any over-personalized touches, and repair any obvious cosmetic or mechanical defects.
Conclusion
It is important to note that a listing agent is concerned with the maximum net amount from the sale, and many expensive improvements may not be warranted.
However, helping a buyer visualize the potential of the property and its features will increase their likelihood of making an offer near asking price. Spending 1-5% of the asking price should be an acceptable risk for most sellers, especially if the listing agent educates them about what the end goal of each project is, and that the projects are part of the marketing costs to sell the property.
It does not matter whether you are selling a gentleman’s ranch with a valuable home, or a sprawling working cattle ranch, a little work towards making the property appealing can seal the deal for an educated buyer.
The listed property is the product, so do not get caught in the trap that rural real estate products do not have to be shiny and look new – they do, and the better a rural property is staged, the better it will sell.