Are you ready for rural life?
HGTV recently debuted a new series called Farmhouse Life, and in the very first episode we watched a family exchange suburban Atlanta living for a bucolic farm in Madison Georgia – offering their daughters an opportunity to live with their horses.
I’ve been helping families choose farms in Madison Georgia and surrounding area for a decade now, and one thing I’ve learned is that families choosing rural life have one big decision to make:
Is it better to Buy a farm or Build a farm?
When you build a farm, you may start out with bare land, or with a home on some acreage but not much else. Building a farm begins with a lower initial purchase price, and then you add the improvements you want: home, outbuildings, fencing, perhaps a pool, raised beds, fruit or flowering trees. Each addition comes with a price measured in both time and money. But you get the satisfaction of creating the farm of your dreams.
When you buy a farm, the upfront cost will be higher, because you’ll be buying both land and improvements. One of the downfalls of buying a farm is that the improvements reflect the vision of the current owner – given a blank slate you may have made other choices. But the advantage of buying a developed farm means you can begin enjoying your farm on day one and you can finance the improvements at today’s low mortgage rates.
Real estate trends can be cyclical – back in the boom days, more buyers were choosing to purchase raw land and build their home from scratch. During the downturn, most buyers delayed their move to rural living – and those that bought farms often bought distressed places at very low prices. Today’s buyers seem to have a preference for updated homes with most improvements already in place.
This picture perfect farm is a great illustration of the trend: the owners purchased the property in 2008 in run-down condition – it offered beautiful land, a fixer-upper home, and no fencing or outbuildings. 
When they put it on the market this year – what a transformation! Their reward was a quick sale at close to full asking price.
Here’s another wonderful Madison Georgia farm for sale – just listed, and located in the desirable Fairplay district. These owners also purchased great land with a rundown home and no improvements – it’s hard to imagine the time and money it took to create this masterpiece!
Custom ranch home with soaring ceilings and a wall of storefront windows that bring the beautiful spring-fed pond oh so close! Classic 48x60 barn with a loft and RV shed. An incredible variety of fruit trees and vines, plus nearly 800sf of raised beds. All fenced and cross-fenced with a mix of board and wire fencing.
If you’re thinking that the rural lifestyle may be good for you – let’s talk. As HGTV showcased in the debut episode of Farmhouse Life, Madison Georgia and the surrounding area offers an unparalleled quality of life, within easy reach of metro Atlanta. I’ll help you figure out whether you want to Build a farm or Buy a farm.
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