Farm/Stable on 16 acres for sale!

[highoctane]

Please delete if this is not allowed.

Tuffytown is selling her lovely home on acreage, 5 min off I-5 in Stanwood, WA . It's 16 acres of horse heaven, topped with a renovated 1925 farmhouse. Huge indoor, GRASS pastures with horse-safe fencing (some pastures/paddocks even have the corners rounded off). Mud-free turnouts, 2 barns with hay storage...I could go on and on but most of it's in the ad. We're sad to see her go, even sadder as a boarder to have to leave. Farms this size with this kind of turnout are incredibly hard to find around here. If you know of anyone looking, please pass the listing on to them - thank you!!

https://stanwoodcamanoislandoffice.john ... ng/2998100

[piedmontfields]

FYI, this is a cute place and reasonably priced but the photos and description of living area totally do not wow me, FWIW. I am not shopping right now but will be in the future.

[Chisamba]

Compete wrong end of the continent for me but the high ceilings sound quite lovely.

[Flight]

I love it! Just way too far to commute to work

[WheresMyWhite]

It is lovely

A few thoughts on the photography (since this may well be the first chance you have to grab and wow your prospective buyer).

House was well staged without much clutter (except the band room ).

If the interior shots were not taken in HDR, maybe re-do those using HDR? HDR can be very good for giving interior shots nice depth and dimension.

The exterior with the mist... my first thought wasn't mist but smoke (I'd remove it).

All the 'vertical' skinny shots made me wonder what you were trying to hide on the "sides" of what was shown. For example, the shot of the vanity and nice backsplash in one of the bathrooms. I was left wondering what you didn't want me to see on the right side of the photo rather than thinking the remodel looked nice (maybe just my view of the world).

Rather than show me a shot of the hay truck and elevator, I'd just mention ability to do this in the description. The elevator and hay truck were distracting to me. This would be a great shot to include inside the home as part of the "package" a potential buyer might see when they go through the house. I know when I sold mine, the REA had me pull together some photos that weren't taken when the house was being sold (wrong season). We included them in a notebook along with other home particulars like utility costs, CCRs, etc.

The shot with all the wood shelves left me wondering where those were and if they would be a detriment or not.

Some of the photos almost seemed repetitious (a few of the exterior, high angle shots were almost exact duplicates).

I loved, loved, loves your english garden lovely shot and lovely garden (I have garden envy as growing that in the desert southwest is not likely to happen).

Good idea to include the photo with snow. If you have a few more, I'd include those as well (maybe one of the house)?

You've done a great job on the remodeling and adding features that should appeal to today's buyer... renewable flooring, high tech cabling, vaulted ceilings, wired for generator, etc.

[Dapple Field]

For me, as a former boarding barn owner, I liked the shot of the hay truck and elevators. It showed a large capacity in the hay loft and also the fact that you can actually get a large truck to the barn. Those are important necessities when housing multiple horses.

[boots-aregard]

Yeah, I was wondering about hay storage as well. Those of us who have done it think differently, I guess. Lovely home. Hope it goes to someone nice.

[Tuffytown]

Everyone's a critic, lol.

Yes, there's lots of photos, DH is a pro photographer so lot has been shot over the years and the realtor wanted to use much of it to show the "lifestyle".

HDR vs no HDR, the debate on that is currently fierce in the photo world. What realtors want and what DH usually does for his architecture clients is quite different.

Were just keeping our fingers crossed that somebody likes it.

[Gwen]

I thought it was a great listing, and I liked the photos. I thought they were well lit, clear, and attractive. It's a beautiful place!! Best of luck!

[Flight]

I've actually been looking for a bigger place but I tend to just skim through the photos on the listing, and if it roughly matches what I like I then check it out on google earth and do a drive by all before contacting the agent. Those photos are much better than most of what I've seen over here on listings! Love the snow one

[heddylamar]

Beautiful farm, lovely photos! If we were looking in the PNW (hey, hubby, can't you work for AWS corporate?), I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.

[Rockabilly]

I liked the pictures and I like the farm. What I really like is to be nosy and see inside. I love the clean look of the house without any clutter or extra things sitting around to collect dust especially in my old age. I loved seeing the hay and I loved seeing the quality of hay you buy. I'm picky like that. In a way it reminds me of my farm.

[orono]

What a beautiful place, I wish I was shopping in that neck of the woods!

[piedmontfields]

I think the photos were updated or at least more were added since my original comment. Has the property still not sold?

Edited to add: I thought this was a thread from 2016 that got revived. Good luck with the sale and move.

The current photos are pretty but could be more informative. I do think photos of the stall and tackroom would be helpful--otherwise i assume that they are not nice (because that is usually the case in real estate photo absences!). I, too, like the hay delivery photo. A layout drawing of the house and maybe the barn would also be helpful.

Finally as an ex- northerner I disagree on showing a snow photo unless it is a very common event in your location. So many southerners include snow photos in their listings because it is pretty. But it is a huge turnoff to people trying to get out of the snow belt.

[Koolkat]

I think the photos were updated or at least more were added since my original comment. Has the property still not sold?
.......

Finally as an ex- northerner I disagree on showing a snow photo unless it is a very common event in your location. So many southerners include snow photos in their listings because it is pretty. But it is a huge turnoff to people trying to get out of the snow belt.

This thread is only 3 days old. . . . And horse property is a niche market, anyway.

The Pacific NW is not in the snow belt, it doesn't snow much here, and when it does, it generally melts very quickly (or more likely gets rained away) due to the conditions that are likely to cause snow here.

I looked at some other home listings in the area (just coincidently as I'm on Houzz), and noticed that there tends to be a lot of redundancy in them. In fact, in one, they not only had the same interior scene multiple times, they had it +/- a person multiple times. From an "editing" POV, I don't get it, but it apparently is commonplace.

[fergusnc]

Lovely! How great to have an office like that! Though I bet I'd get nothing done as I'd be staring out at the farm and critters and surroundings all day!

[Tarlo Farm]

Holy Schnikees! The place is gorgeous!! The photos are great, I like the persecutive of all.

[piedmontfields]

BTW, the https://www.horseproperties.net is much improved from whatI remembered. Might be a good sales resource. It brings together national listings of horse properties, and will also give you a sense of "non-local" comparables.

[Sunshine2Me]

Where are you going Tuffy???

It's a lovely home!

[Tuffytown]

There will be another open house this Sunday for any locals that want to come take a look.

We have no idea where we are going, Have to sell this first. We want to stay in the area but whether we get a couple of acres for my horses or a city house and I go back to boarding is up in the air. Not back to Seattle, we were there the other day at our rental and the density is so much more than when we left 14 years ago it was shocking.

[LeoApp]

Wow breathtaking!
Hope you don't mind me asking - what are the taxes? I ask because in NY the taxes would be sky high. I have no idea what they are like in your neck of the woods.

[Tuffytown]

Taxes are under 4k a year. 15 acres are in agricultural usage so reduced from normal taxation but would likely be in the 6-7k a year range if not for the agricultural designation.

[goneriding]

Tuffy, we are living parallel lives, right down to our property taxes lol. I'm looking forward to seeing the life you create next, it's exciting to explore the possibilities. We have been going to a lot of open houses to "walk through" neighborhoods and lifestyles, we don't know what we want either.

[LeoApp]

4K? Geez - if I had to guess, the taxes in NY would be 35k-40K per year.

[Tuffytown]

$3871 for 2017. No income tax here either, just sales tax and other user fees.

[LeoApp]

Why do I live in NY?

[piedmontfields]

Why do I live in NY?

I imagine that you like it!

I know it is shocking when you realize how different COL is across the US. I also live in a land of (almost) no taxes--except for very high sales tax. However, my DH and I will likely move to a higher cost area later in life (you do get things for those taxes ). Most people moving to Tennessee later in life are trying to cut costs.

[Tuffytown]

Oh, the cost of living here is pretty high. Taxes differ obviously by county and city. My house in seattle, 1800 sf, 4k lot is much higher than the farm. Cross the lake to the eastside and property taxes are much higher. I am in unincorporated snohomish county north of the light rail taxing district so taxes are a bit lower. Housing costs are through the roof.

[highoctane]

I live 12 miles or so south of Tuffytown on .10 acre, 848 sqft house. My taxes are $1800/year. Sales taxes, if you're curious, range from 9.5% to 10.5%

[LeoApp]

Cost of living here is very high. Sales tax is 8.25% but taxes on my 4 bedroom colonial are 14k now. I do love the weather and proximity to the beach and NYC. Culturally speaking it's the best. Great schools too, and great doctors and hospitals. But I don't think I can afford to retire here.

[goneriding]

Cost of living here is very high. Sales tax is 8.25% but taxes on my 4 bedroom colonial are 14k now. I do love the weather and proximity to the beach and NYC. Culturally speaking it's the best. Great schools too, and great doctors and hospitals. But I don't think I can afford to retire here.

I am curious what you love about the weather in Long Island? I've never been there but I picture sweltering summers and "nor'easters" lol

[LeoApp]

oh no - the summers can be hot (some days it hits 90) but most of the time it's in the 80ies and we are always cooled by the ocean. We do get occasional nor'easters but they are pretty uncommon. We have snow but because we are an island we are always warmer than the mainland in winter and cooler in summer. The beaches have beautiful soft sand, the fall has crisp sunny days and colored leaves.