BUYING INTO THE EQUESTRIAN LIFESTYLE
Owning places that can house horses is popular with riders
Curb appeal plays a big part in selling a house. But marketing homes that fall into the niche market that is equestrian properties involves so much more. Attracting buyers to these listings — which often surpass the $1-million mark — often includes showcasing the number of box stalls as well as bathrooms and bedrooms.
And nowhere in the Montreal area is the market for equestrian properties more active than the booming little town of St-Lazare, west of Montreal.
The town of about 19,700 residents west of Vaudreuil-Dorion has a robust equestrian reputation, with kilometres of wooded riding trails that add to the appeal of these properties. The town does its part to promote the equine culture as well, hosting an annual Au Galop horse festival and, as its website claims, riders and their horses have the right to circulate on roads. The Club Équestre les Forestiers, which offers extensive riding trails, is centred around La Pinière, a conservation area in the municipality that is part of Parc nature les Forestiers-de-St-Lazare, a popular spot for riders.
Helen Henshaw is a real estate broker with Royal LePage who has several equestrian properties listed, including a $3.4-million, 74-acre estate on Ste-Angélique Road in the Green Maple Hill neighbourhood of St-Lazare. This property has four ponds, is zoned agricultural-equestrian, has a barn with seven stalls and two tack rooms, paddocks, a countrychic style designed main house, an indoor pool, a tennis court, a two-bedroom guest house which is a converted barn, a caretaker’s house and a five-car garage that has a loft/office on the second floor.
“You’ll have a range of buyers, all discerning,” Henshaw said. “The ones with lower budgets will tend to focus on the horse facilities and grounds more than the home, although it’s always a bonus to have a nice home.
“For the higher-end properties, the buyers tend to want all the bells and whistles,” she said of equestrian listings.
“In general, it’s important that the land has good footing, good drainage, good fencing, good barn, enough paddock room for the horses, good turnout shelters, and either an arena or the space to build one for indoor riding in winter and inclement weather. It’s also great to be connected to a good trail network, like there is here in StLazare, run by the Club Équestre,” she added.
Henshaw takes special measures to market equestrian properties both locally and internationally, such as listing the resales in horse magazines and on horseclicks.com and horseproperties.net.
“You just never know where your buyer is going to come from. They could come from the neighbourhood, Montreal or China or Germany,” she said.
Normand Roy is a real estate broker with Exit Performa who is well versed when it comes to listing equestrian properties in the region, including a bungalowstyle home with an in-law suite on a 82,500-square-foot hobby farm on Du Métayer St. in St-Lazare.
It has an asking price of $549,900. The listing notes that the property benefits by having direct access to an extensive network of equestrian trails.
“St-Lazare is where people are really looking for equestrian properties, so we have variable places that we can find,” Roy said.
Marketing these properties through horse-themed websites, such as Fédération équestre du Québec (feq.webnow.cc), is standard, while relying on open houses is not the right strategy, Roy said, adding private showings are offered to would-be buyers.
“Equestrian properties are slower (to move) than (typical) residential properties, because not everyone is looking for equestrian. It’s just normal,” he said. “It depends on the price range, obviously. Equestrian properties can go as low as $400,000 and also be over $1 million.”
Higher priced equestrian properties could take up to three years to sell, Roy noted.
“I’ve even seen (equestrian) homes on the market seven or eight years,” he added.
Roy said about 35 per cent of the local equestrian real estate market is driven by St-Lazare area homeowners who are tired of paying costly boarding fees for their horses.
“Instead of having a place you rent, they want a place with a barn,” he said of horse enthusiasts.
“If you have one horse, you’ll pay $400 a month. If you have three horses, it starts to add up. You’re talking about $1,200 a month,” he said of boarding fees. “At a certain point, you might as well have your own (stables).
“Having access to (riding) trails is definitely a big deal,” he added.
In St-Lazare, about 10 per cent of the active real estate market consists of equestrian/agriculture properties, Roy estimated.
“So there’s about 20 farmettes at the most (for sale at any given time),” he added.
An equestrian property should have a minimum of 80,000 square feet in St-Lazare, Roy noted.