Moving from and to equestrian property - advice please.

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kit279

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My house (equestrian property) went on the market on Friday and the first person who came to view has made an offer for the asking price and wants to proceed quickly. There are some other people coming to view in the course of the next week so the plan is to wait and see how that goes before making any decision but I would be grateful for people's advice.

I find myself in a situation where I may be able to sell pretty quickly with the buyer wanting to move in ASAP. I'm in a situation where I can sell but haven't yet settled on somewhere to buy that meets the cost/land/house equation to the complete satisfaction of myself and my OH, although there are a few contenders! I have minimum 2 horses, possibly 3 horses, who currently live at my house which is being sold and ideally I'd like to tie the whole thing together so I can sell and move to a new place in one go so the horses have somewhere to live (!), however that may not be possible.

Has anyone here been in a 'chain' with equestrian properties? Can you talk me through your experiences? What did you do with your horses in the interim? Did you go on a livery yard for a bit?
 
We were lucky because we rented some land next to our house. We were able to leave the horses on the rented field whilst we got the new place fenced and usable. We fenced off an area to store hay on pallets etc. It was a bit of a faff having to keep driving back and forth. We had all the old neighbors keeping an eye on them and I kept making detours whilst driving around for work just to check on them.

Although I was worried them not being close to the house for a few weeks it did take the pressure off on moving day. If I was in the same situation again I would consider booking them in somewhere that does holiday livery for a week or so so I could get moved in and straight first. Congrats on the offer. Puts you in a strong position to make an offer on anything you like.
 
I would not be rushed in to a sale until I had found another property that I realy wanted. One move with horses is enough let alone having to put horses and household contents in to storage. Find a new house first and then move directly from one house to another.
 
I as wondering about this , we will be putting ours on the market soon. We want to downsize to smaller property, less land, but what about where they go if there is a period of time before finding the right next property for us. I was going to look to rent somewhere mid way between here and where we want to move to well in advance of a potential sale. 5 ponies so too costly for livery.
 
I think grass livery is your answer. Coordinating a chain is bad enough but trying to coordinate a chain involving animal moves may just be impossible and you may end up putting off your buyer. The other option is to buy your new place with a bridging loan which you repay as soon as the old place sells, but that is a very very risky thing to do.
 
I'm not sure about the equestrian market specifically but generally if you get a sale you should move - otherwise why is it on the market ? You could wait till you find you next property if you are really confident yours will sell I guess. I would go with the renting option. Interesting thread as we will be downsizing from an equestrian property soon so be good to hear what other people do.
 
We potentially may be in the same situation but actually I am more worried about moving a house, with 2 children, 8 chickens, dog and 2 horses as well as about 6 cars, motorbikes etc all in one day!

I think your best situation would be to find grass livery or if you have any friends who have any land to beg them! Or you could ask new buyers if you could keep horses there for a while??

I certainly wouldn't put off a potential sale of a house just because I didn't have a house to buy. In the past we rented after selling house ( although we didn't have horses at the time so admittedly much easier!) and it put us into such a powerful position as a buyer ie proceedable!
 
Packing is your friend!

I've not moved equestrian houses, but I've moved house / moved yards with up to nine horses numerous times.

It's all in the preparation :cool:

OP re the buyers. You've had an offer at full asking price, so why not accept? Are you looking for a bidding war?
 
In today's market if you have had a good offer I'd take it! Do what you have to do in order to move, short term pain for long term gain!!
I'd love to move from this house, it's far too big for us two but the market is rubbish for big properties and has been for years. Five years ago I lost my then hubby and put this place on the market, for 3 1/2 years! Now my new hubby and I would dearly like to downsize but are trapped by the lack of market available. Go for it!
 
OP -I have been wondering how to move house and horses seamlessly as well!

My equestrian property is on the market too and I have seen the property I want to move to. They are not in a chain and can vacate quickly but there are no stables at the place we want to move to. So, I've been wondering what to do with the horses (I have 4 horses) if the move takes place in the autumn/winter, as I'd like to have got the planning, built the stables well before the winter.

For me, I guess it would work out fine if we move over the summer, but murphy's law dictates I probably won't be that lucky and it will be winter!

OP - to answer your question, my thoughts have been that I would put horses into grass livery if you move over the summer months, or diy or livery with a stable if over the winter. Of course, if you are lucky to find your next place with land and stabling, then you could move house and horses in the same day. My other thought would be, some of the big transport companies have lairage facilities. So maybe you could move house on one day, with the horses to follow the next day or day after?

When I moved to my property my horses were already in livery. This was the first equestrian property i bought. My horses arrived the same afternoon as we moved house, and it was SOOO exciting. The people we bought the house from allowed me to come and lay the beds in the stables the day before and bring rugs up etc (we had exchanged contracts by then) and get organised. I'd do the same for anyone else, becuase it is hard enough to just move house, let alone co-ordinating moving horses.

Good luck OP. Exciting times ahead for you.
 
myhorsefred said:
OP -I have been wondering how to move house and horses seamlessly as well!

My equestrian property is on the market too and I have seen the property I want to move to. They are not in a chain and can vacate quickly but there are no stables at the place we want to move to. So, I've been wondering what to do with the horses (I have 4 horses) if the move takes place in the autumn/winter, as I'd like to have got the planning, built the stables well before the winter.

For me, I guess it would work out fine if we move over the summer, but murphy's law dictates I probably won't be that lucky and it will be winter!

OP - to answer your question, my thoughts have been that I would put horses into grass livery if you move over the summer months, or diy or livery with a stable if over the winter. Of course, if you are lucky to find your next place with land and stabling, then you could move house and horses in the same day. My other thought would be, some of the big transport companies have lairage facilities. So maybe you could move house on one day, with the horses to follow the next day or day after?

When I moved to my property my horses were already in livery. This was the first equestrian property i bought. My horses arrived the same afternoon as we moved house, and it was SOOO exciting. The people we bought the house from allowed me to come and lay the beds in the stables the day before and bring rugs up etc (we had exchanged contracts by then) and get organised. I'd do the same for anyone else, becuase it is hard enough to just move house, let alone co-ordinating moving horses.

Good luck OP. Exciting times ahead for you.
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Myhorsefred I would get a field shelter with a stable door option, stick them in that until the stables are built and then you have it as a field shelter? Would that be an option?
 
Last time we moved to this place we tried to do it all on the same day. We moved two kids, dogs, cats, chucks, pigs, sheep and ponies all on the same day. It was a total nightmare and I would never do it again. Kids were younger so it was hard but i would move horses out first to be honest. We were going back in the dark clearing out the stables etc, things that could only be done once they were out of the way. The people moving in were not horsey so that didnt help and I am not the most organised in the world either.
good luck
 
PeterNatt said:
I would not be rushed in to a sale until I had found another property that I realy wanted. One move with horses is enough let alone having to put horses and household contents in to storage. Find a new house first and then move directly from one house to another.
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This ^^^ we sold day 1 and had a poor experience of completing quickley and having to rent an old decaying pile before we found our new house. I havd six months communting to see my lad and I missed him bitterly. I wouldn't do this again and would stand my guns with any prospective buyer.
 
When we moved I left mine in full livery with a trusted friend and minimal stuff (headcollar rug and travel kit) while we physically moved the house and got the land ready for their arrival - it was about 3 weeks in total as the land with the house we purchased wasn't even fenced!

We had no stables and had to apply for planning but they survived quite well with a large field shelter for one winter.

I had a whole removal van full of horse stuff (3 big horses with silly amounts of rugs/ tack between them!) - not sure the man and van were too happy with the contents but tough that's what they get paid for.
 
PeterNatt said:
I would not be rushed in to a sale until I had found another property that I realy wanted. One move with horses is enough let alone having to put horses and household contents in to storage. Find a new house first and then move directly from one house to another.
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This ^^^ totally agree - I moved 200 miles from one equestrian property to another in 1998 and it was the smoothest move I have made because everyone involved had horses/animals and wanted the same thing! Good luck :)
 
As it is for the full asking price, I would sell and rent. In todays market, an offer at full asking price that soon is great.

I understand that it may mean hassle for you, but if you turn it down, you have no way of telling if subsequent offers will be for the full asking price or a lot less. Then you may face the dilema of either not selling for quite a while, or having to accept a lower offer.

I'd honestly snap it up.

You also never know if things will move that quickly, there can be delays in searches etc. I have moved both one month from accepting offer and also around 3 months from accepting offer due to delays.
 
PeterNatt said:
I would not be rushed in to a sale until I had found another property that I realy wanted. One move with horses is enough let alone having to put horses and household contents in to storage. Find a new house first and then move directly from one house to another.
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The problem is that you can't make an offer on a new place until your old one is under offer. So if you find your dream home before yours is sold, you need to hope that someone offers on yours before the dream home goes under offer itself!

I would keep an eye on the market until you have an offer (as you have now), and then accept the offer and get looking in earnest.

Good luck.
 
It's a buyers market so I would proceed with sale of your property and keep looking for a new place that matches your requirements.

If you find your 'ideal' place and yours isn't sold you may lose it. Horses can go to livery yard short term and you could rent a house or, a house with land.

Good luck whatever you do. Buying and selling is rarely straight forward
 
OP - I agree with what AmyMay and others have said - if you have an offer of the full asking price I'd snap their hand off and accept. Then look around quick for your dream home. Honestly, I have marketed my place since Feb and had no offers yet. Also marketed it for the spring and summer months of last year, and the previous summer with no offers. Have reduced my asking price by £150,000 too. So, if you have offer of full asking price, go for it.

Lachlanandmarcus - thank you, what a brilliant idea of a field shelter with a door on. Why didn't I think of that! thank you.
 
I think the important thing to remember is that in less than a week you already have an offer for the full market price - remarkable in the current market. This is why I personally would not be just dancing to that buyers tune because you obviously have either a very saleable house or it has been undervalued. In spite of everything it would seem you are in a position of strength and will be able to negotiate smooth timings to suit your own move once you have found a property.

On the other hand if you had been trying to sell for ages then I would be bending over backwards to accomodate the buyers wishes.. :)
 
i moved from a rented equestrian property to to a bought one - the vendors were nice enough to let me move the horses the day before as it was due to snow on moving day.
 
I'd accept the offer on yours, go hous hunting and see if you can rent land there or nearby so can move neds first. I moved from livery to house with land but kept horse On livery for a month. Was more hassle should have just moved him straight away!
 
I too would accept the offer now but a) get my estate agent to get either a non-refundable deposit from them or a quick exchange of contracts which show a genuine commitment from them and b) continue showing other potential purchasers around so that if plan a) doesn't work you might have a fall back.
Years back we exhanged contracts very quickly but then had a "to be agreed" completion date. It can be done. If you don't get commitment then you know where you stand. Move on.

I've been the victim of gazzumping, gazzundering and everything else over the years. My attitude is now: What do I do if buying or selling a horse? Come to an agreement to sell/buy at some open ended future time? No. If I want it I offer the deposit, if I sell I take one even £500 would be enough on a house. It's the contractual obligation that matters.

Putting horses into livery may cost what seems a lot at the time, but you too probably stand the risk of losing £100k+ if you don't achieve a smooth sale quickly and you'd have to spend an awfully long time there to pay that amount out in fees/rental.

Accept today and view for yourself this week-end. Good luck.
 
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