Will a 20x40 arena add value to a property?

[lash]

As title really! .. It's taken 3 years of living here and I'm about 90% of the way in convincing hubby to put in a 20x40 arena! (very exciting!!) I've had quotes around 18k from contractors, and I'm now nearly in the process for applying for the planning,...however.. OH still not totally convinced and still brings up the fact that I have a ridiculously expensive hobby! (I do a bit of everything and event to novice level)
and is alot of money for just two
horses, however I work full time and in winter I can only ride at weekends unless I pay a fortune to hire the
local arena about 25mins away!
He has also said that the size of our
property doesnt warrant an arena!
He thinks it's only big yards and
equestrian establishments that have
them (he is not horsey at all!) we
have a v small 2 bed cottage
(possibly can extend in the future)
with 4.5 acres and 3 stables and outbuildings, do u think an arena will add value to a property??
And do u think an arena is a bit silly
on such a small property like this?

 

[noodle_]

i personally think it would add.

why not look into a DIY arena?? would be less than half what you have only been quoted.....!

 

[millimoo]

Speak to you local estate agents.... they will give you an honest opinion.
At the very least get the planning permission - a couple of hundred pounds in drawings and application will add thousands to the value of your property.
I would also steer clear from build your own, unless you have an easy site, and understand the construction of decent groundworks or you could end up with a soggy/deep arena. KLH Arenas a fab.
Anyhoo, i think your justification for having one shouldn't have any bearing on what it adds to the property, and to be honest, the land and stables are probably what adds the value.

 

[be positive]

It may not add the total cost of building to your property, but will probably make it more saleable in the future, even the pp can add value.A 4.5 acre equestrian property is always desirable and most buyers like as many facilities as possible.
The other thing to weigh up is savings of hire and diesel to get there and probably your horse will perform better at the events.
You could also find cheaper quotes if you look around or as suggested DIY.

 

[wench]

It wont add 18K onto the value of it.

 

[BigRed]

Actually I disgree with wench. I think you would add to the value and saleability of your property with the school. If the school is a quality installation, it will be useful and add to your personal enjoyment of your property and I think if you were to sell your property, you would get your money back on it.

However, a poor quality school is a major drawback because people think how much it will cost to put right.

 

[Apercrumbie]

The issue is if you don't attract enough horsey buyers when you come to sell the house. Although that would be unlikely in your case given the style of your property, it is entirely possible and would really put a non-horsey buyer off as they would have absolutely no use for it.

And I agree with wench - it definitely won't add 18k onto the price!

 

[Honey08]

I partially agree with Wench.

I once read something that said that you can upgrade a small property too much, making it harder to sell. The size of your house is probably the downside of the whole value - if it were a 3/4 bed property with that land and stables etc it would easily sell, but would probably be harder at 2 bed as you couldn't fit a family in..

That said, if you valued the stables and land seperately, then the house, you would probably get more. Its great for us horsey people to see a property with stables and an arena as valuable, but it won't float everyone's boat - and as I mentioned, normally people wanting a rural smallholding will want a bigger property (not all, but most).

We were in a very similar position, with a two bed cottage, with stables and land (the cottage is ours, the stables are ours, the land is my dads!) and an estate agent mentioned it would be a strange one to sell. We have bought the house next door, and now have (or are in the proceeds of doing up) a large 3/4 bed house.

For your own personal use, an arena will mean that you will get much more "mileage" out of your hobby - more value for money in your husband's terms! Thats whats important. Theres more to life than adding value! My friend's husband is like that - wouldn't let her put a tow bar on the back of his range rover as it would depreciate more when they traded it in! I wouldn't care, but his family were millionaires anyway. What was the point in a 4x4 if you can't tow the trailer with it!

Get it built! Enjoy it! I'm desperate for one, but can't afford it what with all the house doing up!

 

[Finlib]

Having done it I would say YES .
We had a professionally built arena built .A 3 bed cottage 7 acres 4 stables nd barn.
It was great for us to use in the wnter and during bad weather and when we sold the house the estate agent reckoned it added far more than we paid for it to the property as well as increasing the saleability.
When we moved some years later we only short listed property with an arena would not look at anything that didn't have one.Having had one I wouldn't want to go back to not having an arena.
It needs to be a really good build with excellent drainage and no flooding .
I would recommend rubber chip topping as ours hasn't frozen during the last 2 bad winters .
Good luck with the planning that was the most frustrating and difficult part.

 

[winchester]

I wouldnt say it would add more money - but i would say it would attract more interest when selling...

 

[Booboos]

Speak to local estate agents, but I would imagine the main problem is the two bedrooms. A three bedroom property can attract a family with kids who are more likely to have a horse for mum and ponies for the kids. The two bedroom house will probably attract professionals and there are fewer people who would want to keep a horse at home in this category.

Unfortunately I suspect you would probably be better off spending the money extending your house and adding another bedroom.

 

[brown tack]

I agree that the weakest selling point of your house is the house it's self, I would be looking to add another bedroom or two it add the most value.

As for the horses I'd put in a horse walker and get the house done. At least that way the horses are ticking over for you over the weekdays. Then in a few years sell the walker and add a school. Walkers hold their value well so if get a second hand one to start with you wouldn't lose too much if any but you would of gained thousands with the house.

 

[brown tack]

Or if not a walker a homemade lunge pen.

 

[rowy]

i agree it will increase saleability but not necessarily value. Of course it would out the value up a bit but not the whole cost of the menage.
We just put one in and had our house valued (we have a 5 bed, 4 acre, 3 stable property) and it wasnt as high increase as we expected.
Just to say, when we first had our menage estimated cost it worked out as £18 000 but by the end of it all ended up about £23 000 +, just something to keep in mind.

 

[AngieandBen]

After having our house on the market for 2 years ( it has fallen through twice ) the majority of people buying houses with land are not horse owners. Talking to agents, people with horses don't have the money to spend!

We've found most who come and view want the land because they want to change their life style ie living the good life grow your own/have pigs/chickens etc etc

I've often thought about putting a menege in; we have a four bed house with 5.6 acres plus 4/5 stables. But none of the viewers who had horses even mentioned not having one, so I think as some of the other posters have said, I would spend your money on trying to get a third bedroom.

 

[WelshD]

A couple of things to think about..

How long do you plan to stay in the house? if its a 'forever home' then adding value isnt necessarily your first priority and if you want a school and feel it would add value to your riding then do it.

I have a similar set up to you except that my land and stables are rented but I am a 'good lifer' without horses and I would see a school as something I wouldnt need if I was to buy a similar property with one but then I doubt whoever buys our house years down the line will want copious amounts of chicken pens and sheds - in short I use my space as I want to safe in the knowledge (touch wood) that I wont be moving on anytime soon

so if it makes you happy and you'll get the use out of it then go ahead, if you will be moving soon because you want a big family then maybe think again and save the money for a school at your forever home in the future

The other thing to consider is does your land have a separate access? if so you could potentially separate that from the house and garden when it comes to selling should you find that the whole property wont return the cost of investment, a small compact yard, a few paddocks and a school could be an attractive buy for someone (or even let it out - I pay good money for my set up)

 

[kit279]

This is a really interesting thread from my perspective.

I've got a 5 bedroom house with 10 acres and stables and I may need to sell next year. I'm wondering whether to put in a manege or not. Certainly, I would love to have one and I would use it all the time if I had it but I wonder whether it would add value. But it is quite a bit of cash outlay and I'm just wondering whether I should go for it.

Any thoughts? Sorry to hijack OP!

 

[cptrayes]

NO

Most house buyers are not horse owners and don't want a manege/arena.

One around the corner from me is now growing grass and I know of at least 2 others further away. For someone who isn't in to horses where the garden has been used to build an arena it can actually be a negative.

A decent arena is £12 - 40k depending on the site and surface and you will not recover that, the house will sell at the price houses like it sell for in that area. It may increase the number of people interested and make it easier to sell, but planning consent would do the same and cost you less than £500

 

[miller]

Similar thing but we had ours offer accepted and applied for op. Long story cut short but hassles with vendors not wanting to provide utility bills to our solicitor and us saying our solicitors wouldn't proceed (vendors were fiddling water suppliers) they remarketed

 

[miller]

Sorry iPhone!
They
Remarketed with our pp for an extra 70k our build bill was 40k with 4 stables and arena - agent at
Time reckoned arena would add 30k it is 20x50 but that was 5 years ago