Spending some time in the country got me and hubby out of the city and into vacation rentals on farms. Long story short, we have started scheming of having one of our own little farm one day. The good thing is that both of us are riders, are passionate about animals and seem to enjoy staying in the country, but don't have any practical experience running a farm before. I've worked with horses as a teenager, so I wouldn't exactly say that I'm new to country lifestyle, but let's just say it was a neighbor's barn so maintenance was not exactly my issue.
For now let's just assume that any acreage up to, say 50, we can afford within an hour commute from our jobs (the closer the bigger the constraints) and we are looking to house initially 2-3 horses, and possibly if we have help up to 7 and a handful other animals (e.g. 5-8 chicken for eggs and 2-3 goats). I was wondering how others have managed the farm life work for you while keeping a full time job (which pays the bills) in the long term. For someone just trying to get the hang of it all, the list of considerations seem pretty overwhelming particularly given the circumstances.
First, there are the practical constraints. We are both finance professionals in what you'd consider a major but not first tier location (not NYC/SF). Albeit we don't work the most demanding jobs in industry, we still have to travel a handful times a year each and work solid, but not crazy hours. Additionally, we don't have kids right now but plan to work on it in the next couple of years ( 3-4 if we are blessed and can handle as many). How have people managed to make kids/job/farm equation work from a practical standpoint? Commuting (how long gets too long)? Is it better to just drop the hassle for now and resort to 'burbs + boarding a horse model until the kids get to teens or can we pursue our own farm sooner? Is it realistic to believe that we can find reliable help? Do you keep them full time or part time / on-site or off-site?
Secondly, buying a farm is a huge commitment and ideally we'd like to ease into it over time and have a smooth transition as opposed to just buying 50 acres and a big house upfront all the while spending our lifetime savings without knowing for sure that's the lifestyle we want and that property is exactly how we want it. Has anyone managed to rent before? Where do we look for rentals of this kind? Is it easy to resell this type of property or do they tend to be less liquid? How else did you manage to prototype this lifestyle and understand what matters most without going all in?
Sorry - very many questions, but I'm genuinely curious to hear about people's experiences and any advice of "if I knew before I bought that farm.." kind.
For now let's just assume that any acreage up to, say 50, we can afford within an hour commute from our jobs (the closer the bigger the constraints) and we are looking to house initially 2-3 horses, and possibly if we have help up to 7 and a handful other animals (e.g. 5-8 chicken for eggs and 2-3 goats). I was wondering how others have managed the farm life work for you while keeping a full time job (which pays the bills) in the long term. For someone just trying to get the hang of it all, the list of considerations seem pretty overwhelming particularly given the circumstances.
First, there are the practical constraints. We are both finance professionals in what you'd consider a major but not first tier location (not NYC/SF). Albeit we don't work the most demanding jobs in industry, we still have to travel a handful times a year each and work solid, but not crazy hours. Additionally, we don't have kids right now but plan to work on it in the next couple of years ( 3-4 if we are blessed and can handle as many). How have people managed to make kids/job/farm equation work from a practical standpoint? Commuting (how long gets too long)? Is it better to just drop the hassle for now and resort to 'burbs + boarding a horse model until the kids get to teens or can we pursue our own farm sooner? Is it realistic to believe that we can find reliable help? Do you keep them full time or part time / on-site or off-site?
Secondly, buying a farm is a huge commitment and ideally we'd like to ease into it over time and have a smooth transition as opposed to just buying 50 acres and a big house upfront all the while spending our lifetime savings without knowing for sure that's the lifestyle we want and that property is exactly how we want it. Has anyone managed to rent before? Where do we look for rentals of this kind? Is it easy to resell this type of property or do they tend to be less liquid? How else did you manage to prototype this lifestyle and understand what matters most without going all in?
Sorry - very many questions, but I'm genuinely curious to hear about people's experiences and any advice of "if I knew before I bought that farm.." kind.