[MindfulSmallholder]

May I crowdsource some independent thoughts, please? I have a smallholding on which I have raised pigs, sheep, goats and every flavour of poultry, as well as growing veg and keeping bees. The land is level pasture with outbuildings, and is offset from the detached house. The smallholding is currently on the market and the only objection I keep hearing from prospective buyers is that the land is separated from the house by a small lane (an extremely quiet C-road as I'm properly out in the sticks). You can see right across the land from both the house and its adjoining garden.

I have genuinely never found that the land being on the other side of the lane makes a material difference to my ability to manage the smallholding or the wellbeing of my livestock, so I am baffled as to what the objection might be, since I can hardly dismantle the house stone by stone and rebuild it smack bang in the middle of my land.

FWIW, the agent's asking price already reflects this supposed inconvenience and there is no benefit in selling the land and house separately, as the whole proposition is greater than the sum of its parts. 

I could understand people being put off if the land was out of eyeline, but it's right there, opposite the house, in plain view. I get glowing feedback from viewers on everything else about the property, but this seems to be a dealbreaker and I'm honestly stumped. Is there a genuine practical issue here that I'm missing, or just a psychological barrier? I welcome your thoughts!

[Richmond]

If the land is in plain view of the house, so livestock can be seen and there is no security issue, then I suspect people are just "trying it on" with the hope of you dropping the price. Stick to your guns and wait for the right buyer - they will come along in due course. Unless you need to sell quickly of course, as that may alter things.

Are you advertising it with a regular estate agent, or with one who specialises in farms and smallholdings? The latter may provide you with some more enthusiastic viewers.

[Backinwellies]

Totally agree with R .....  but might be worth checking the property deatails going out .... are they trying to hide the lane?

[chrismahon]

Having your land on the opposite side of the road is so much the norm here that ANY ride-on equipment must have insurance, whether you need it or not and as a result it isn't covered by house contents insurance policy. Now that must have to apply in the UK if you need to take equipment across the road? Perhaps that is a factor?


I think though, that if the place is priced correctly it will sell, because from what i remember in England having the house within the land added another £100K. That was the compromise we had to make.

[Anke]

Is there water and electricity in the field - it may be very expensive (or impossible) to bring that across the road, so if not already in-situ it may be very expensive to install. Also if you want to build sheds/storage/polytunnels etc it is much easier to do so "within the curtilage of the main house", rather than in a field. Also depends on the designation of the field (like Section 75 or similar)


Also, many years ago, I decided not to bid on a house/smallholding where the 3acre field was on the other side of a very small road.... except I knew that the road was used as a rat run between two very busy A-roads... (and my children were toddlers at the time).


So it could be all sorts of things that puts people off.

[doganjo]

Don't think it's a problem here.  There's a row of about twenty old miners cottages with tiny front gardens in the next village to us, and very long back gardens with an access lane along the back of the houses.  They sell like hot cakes.

One sign went up on Monday and the sold sticker was up on Tuesday evening

Check the particulars to make sure it is obvious.

[Fleecewife]

An interesting problem!  My first thought was that perhaps your selling agent is the one who sees it as a problem so perhaps starts his spiel with something like "Don't be put off by the fact that the land is on the opposite side of the road to the house" thus making it a problem for the potential buyers when they might not have seen it thus.
We have a C road running right through the middle of our land, also a rat run, and it can be awkward trying to cross the road, especially with sheep - we have to get helpers in to make sure there's no traffic. Also it could be a problem for children, pets etc. When we first moved here traffic was such that we knew everyone who drove past.  Now there's far more traffic as people work in Edinburgh and Glasgow and use our little road as a short cut.  They can travel at main road speeds and there are accidents. So your potential buyers will be thinking ahead to whether or not that might happen, whether it will be safe for their children/grandchildren and pets (we have had 5 cats and a hen killed on the road).  I know you say your road is quiet but perhaps people need car count statistics to be sure and would also need to consult future plans for the district.  Perhaps you could source something like that to present to people if they do see your place as a possibility to purchase but are only put off by the road.  Perhaps on the other hand they are unhappy about something else but use the road as their excuse?

[arobwk]

It does seem a bit odd especially if the road really is a back-water "lane".  There are loads of properties situated on back-water "lanes" in my locale with signs saying "Caution - wild children and pets" due to separation of house and garden or land.  And, of course, many farmers and dedicated small-holders will have separate parcels of land to manage.  But that doesn't help you much [member=219188]MindfulSmallholder[/member] :  what I suggest is that you change your agent and re-advertise at a much higher price and then await what will likely be (based on your experience) a much lower offer, but one which you might be happier with ... So:

"Sorry, we love the property, but we think it is over-priced especially with the road running through: our offer is based on the separation between house and the land, which we are not so keen on."

"Oh, OK - you won't find it a problem, but how about settling in the middle ?" 

(Of course, bumping up the price only to accept a lower offer that you are actually happy with isn't going to work if the prospective buyer is a TAS member reading this thread!!  Lol)

[Possum]

When we first started looking for our own smallholding I was wary of properties that had a road or lane to cross to get to the fields. The two smallholdings that I had volunteered on had both had a house that was surrounded by land and I had always thought that was the way things had to be. Now, after 10 years experience, a lane or small road wouldn't bother me in the least.


Perhaps some of your buyers are similarly inexperienced and need some more reassurance? Why don't you ask them back to spend a morning with you while you do all your smallholding tasks? That way they would see that it isn't the problem they had imagined.


I would agree with the comments about using an estate agent who understands about land and animals. If you are in the West Country, I have found Greenslade Taylor Hunt to be very good.

[arobwk]

Well [member=219188]MindfulSmallholder[/member] how's it going?

[arobwk]

Well [member=219188]MindfulSmallholder[/member] how's it going?

Or not going (seemingly !!!) ?

[SallyintNorth]

Well [member=219188]MindfulSmallholder[/member] how's it going?

Or not going (seemingly !!!) ?

Yeah, they've never logged in again since posting, so haven't seen any of the responses!