Outdoor riding arena adjustment

[VolcanoLvr]

Approx 90' x 150' outdoor riding arena w/ underground drainage system & special horse sand surface. 3 rail, 2x6 board fencing surrounds.

What's an appropriate adjustment?? I'm thinking $5,000, but don't know for sure.

I don't see anything in M&S about this....but could have missed it.

Don't tell me to do a paired sale & isolate it......not possible due to too few horsie property sales with this feature.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Ted Martin]

Sometimes no adjustment is the appropriate adjustment. If you can't support it I probably wouldn't make an adjustment. If there aren't a lot of horse properties around then there probably aren't a great number of buyers which would consider that a desirable amenity or even worse a detriment. What else could you do with it other than horsey activity?

 

[farmguy]

Curious you say most horse properties don't have that feature. We have a lot down here and most have some sort of riding area. I don't understand the "horse" sand. In my area often an uncovered arena can get lost in all the other improvments. Here I have support for covered arenas, but just a riding arena I am like you it would be hard to support the contribution. Again that is not to say it has none, just that it is in with the round pen, stocks, wash rack, roads, paddacks, underground water, etc.

 

[Restrain]

Actually, given the soils, sand brought in is necessary to maintain the drainage and protect the feet of the horses. For example, a heavy black clay will actually pull the shoes off of the horse. The costs to import the sand, set the drainage, etc can run between 5K and 10K. Contributory value, well, that's a different animal.

 

[Ariba]

Don't tell me to do a paired sale & isolate it......not possible due to too few horsie property sales with this feature.

None in the whole State? However, if it is just railing,drainage, and sand, it probably is not worth much.

 

[Greg Graybadger]

Dave, you could trust your own judgement and use $5,000. Explain in your report that costs of such improvements are typically not fully recaptured in the market, and have appeal to a limited segment of buyers, that insufficient data is available to extract a conclusive adjustment rate, and the rate used is based on the appraiser's judgement. You say there are "too few horsie property sales with this feature" so I assume there are some. You could interview some buyers and ask how much this feature influenced their decision, and cite the results of your interviews. Horse properties tend to be clustered in specific areas. Within those areas, such amenities have appeal and outside of those areas, they do not. You need to understand your typical buyer motivations.

 

[Mark K]

I'd keep in mind the typical buyer for this type of property, horsie people. I'g guess the cost of this arena would be close to $20K or more if professionally done, less if done by a weekend carpenter.

In any case, horse people usually know the value of these and will pay accordingly. If I was doing the appraisal, I'd probably be higher than $5K adjustment for a nice 90' x 150' arena, base on the assumption of an equestrian buyer. Many of these same people won't care much about the house, but they know and care about barns, pastures, paddocks, fencing, and arenas.

 

[The Argus]

Sounds to me like the value of the corral could be termed as Value in Use. Exceeds buyer expectations.

 

[VolcanoLvr]

Thanks everyone.....especially Greg & Mark K!

There are many ways these arenas are used, and to people who ride and show horses as a hobby or profession value them. Especially up here in the wild, always mild, PNW...where it's known to rain sometimes, these types of facilities drain well allowing riders to get back into the arena w/out slogging through mud.

Some places just have a fenced in grassy area used for arena purposes, but the one I'm talking about is specially designed for riding purposes. I would not add value for the grassed area, but feel the custom arena is worth something.

The other thing not mentioned earlier is most of these type properties are marketed by 'horsie' specialist RE agents in horsie publications....so the most interested buyer will be knowledgeable about the arena.

Of course, the client wants the report yesterday, so I don't really have time to spend humungeous hours doing research.

That's why the AF is so great!

 

[Michigander]

Dave, I was a horsie person for years and will give you my perspective as a buyer, not an appraiser.

An outdoor arena is important, but it is only important if there are other set ups such as a good barn with decent stalls and adequate pasture. In MI, an indoor arena is much more valuable (due to weather) but a good size outdoor arena like this is a real bonus and as a buyer, I would pay more for it than without, as long as I already had places to put the horses and pastures fenced. If it stood alone I don't know if I'd pay more for it. Kind of depends on the set up you already have there.

Just my $0.02