Simple Tips for Staging and Photographing a Horse Property

Simple Tips for Staging and Photographing a Horse Property

Home staging is a relatively new buzz word for making homes as appealing to buyers as possible to ensure a timely sale at the best price.   In recent years, the benefits of having a professional, experienced and objective person to stage and photograph a home have received more attention.   When you are selling a horse property, the inside of your home is not the only thing that needs to be staged.   The horse amenities also need to be shown off to their fullest extent.   The horse amenities should be staged and photographed.  Those photographs should be included in the MLS along with pictures of the inside of the house. 

The following are simple tips to consider when staging and photographing a horse property.   

Pasture:   The pasture closest to the house is sort of like a formal living room.   We may not spend much time in it, yet it can be an immediate turn on or turn off.   (This should not be confused with curb appeal because you may or may not be able to see the pastures from the road if there are trees along the front of the property.) 

Be sure that the pasture closest to the house has been mowed and that it looks neat and tidy.   Clean out any underbrush growing around the trees and/or fences.  Remove dead branches.  

 A place in the country requires a lot of work to keep it maintained and looking nice.  Yet when we are selling, we want to highlight the fact that a place in the country can be very quiet, relaxing and peaceful. 

 (After:  We didn't get a chance to completely finish cleaning this area up before the house went under contract within days of the home being listed.  We received numerous postive comments about the unexpected seating area.  The seller described the spot as an overlooked treasure.)   

So - find a spot with a nice view of the pasture to create a place to just sit and relax.  The seller probably already has a couple of chairs, a bench or a picnic table that could be used.    Ideally, this spot should NOT be by the garden because gardens require even more upkeep than a pasture.  Depending on the weather, consider leaving a couple of cups or glasses out on the table.   Allow the buyers to imagine that they are drinking a cup of coffee in the morning or sipping a glass of tea in that nice relaxing spot.  

If nothing else, the seating creates a little charm. 

 If the property is fenced, take a picture with horses and/or cattle in the pasture.   That allows a prospective buyer to SEE that the property is already set up for horses and/or cattle.   Believe me, just because a property is labeled as a horse property not mean that there is adequate fencing to keep a horse or cow in the pasture.      

Barn/Stable:  You do not want the master bedroom suite to look cluttered.  The same is true with the barn.  You don't want it to be cluttered.    At the same time, you do not want the barn to look vacant even if it is currently unoccupied.     

Make sure the stalls are clean.   Horse poop is unappealing whether it is one hour old or three years old.  Bring in dirt to fill any holes.  Basically, the floors in a stall should be more or less level.   Remember - you are staging the barn to sell. 

Make sure the stalls are clean.  (Did you notice, I said that twice.)  Put down fresh wood shavings.   At $5 to $6 per bag, wood shavings are a very affordable way to keep the barn looking fresh.  

As I was writing this post, the only photograph I have of clean wood shavings can be seen below.   The photograph was taken at a horse expo in Denver.  Everything you see in the picture is staged and temporary. 

Notice the fresh wood shavings below.  Notice in the background how the stall doors are left open to show off the fresh shavings.  The stall mats outside the doors added a nice touch.  

If the stalls are occupied, make sure there is not too much stuff outside of each stall.  Stuff might include blankets, ropes, halters, bridles and/or tack boxes.      

Although the photograph below shows the barn has nice horse stalls, feeders, insulation and electricity;  the barn could have been better staged by sweeping the floor, moving the hay else where, and by hanging the halters and leadropes a bit more neatly. 

Be sure that the MLS listing has photographs of the inside of the barn.   Photographs of the inside of a barn is important because buyer’s expectations of barns vary just as much as buyer’s expectations of kitchens. 

Arenas:   For horse people that are not living on a professional horse training facility, the arena is similar to a home gym.  The arena should be well maintained.   Not all people that look at a horse property will be experienced horse people. 

So, if you have an open arena like the one above consider sitting up a few barrels, a jump, cones or markers like shown the ones shown below to help someone visualize the riding their horse there.    

It should also be noted that photographs of arenas are much more interesting if something is going on in the arena.    

Horses in the arena also give a buyer a visual idea of how big the arena actually is.    In the arena below, a buyer can see that if temporary pens are added, the arena is plenty big for  ranch sorting. 

When you are selling a horse property, the inside of your home is not the only thing that needs to be staged.The horse amenities also need to be shown off to their fullest extent. The horse amenities should be staged and photographed. Those photographs should be included in the MLS along with pictures of the inside of the house.  

If you want to buy or sell a horse property, do not hesitate to call me if you need advise.  I will be more than happy to assist you or to refer you to someone that can. 

Sondra Meyer, CPA

Colorado Horse Property Specialist

Colorado. See It. Experience It. Live It.