COUNTRY ESTATES

Sonoma County is blessed with lots of large parcels and offers a wealth of choice for people who dream of the country life. Ranging from 2 to 2,000 acres, from ranches to farms and vineyards, country property really is the heart of Sonoma County. It gives us the pastoral feel and quality of life that others only dream of. Almost 70% of our land area is in the country, which we think is what makes living in the wine country so special.

We’re Authorities in This Market

Country property is a ‘specialist sport’ as far as we’re concerned, requiring significant knowledge and expertise. We have established a strong position in this market based on high quality market analysis and interpretation, lots of field work seeing as many listings on acreage that we can, advising other agents on pricing quandries and teaching at the North Bay Association of Realtors in their country property classes for other agents. Our aim has always been to be an authority point in this market. Not every agent is well versed in these issues or comfortable with the complexity of country property, but we LOVE it!

We love that this is a more complex purchase than buying in an urban subdivision. In addition to checking the condition of the home or other improvements, you’ll also want to consider:

• Water quality and quantity
• Septic system design, construction and function
• Zoning and Allowable Uses for the future
• Access, Easements, Encroachments and Restrictions
• Permit status of improvements
• Biotic or conservation areas
• Placement of building envelopes
• Protection of view shed
• Lot split or development potential
• Scenic corridor restrictions

We are very experienced in dealing with all these issues. Factors like these ultimately have a big impact on price and are critical to check out before you buy and also to fully understand, disclose and explain when you are selling. It’s important to work with a knowledge leader in this area who can assist you in reducing the risk of sale or purchase via good quality information about the parcel you are considering to buy or sell.

We regularly take all the market statistics on listings, sales, prices, etc., for every property in Sonoma County and then break it into two buckets: Country Property and Homes in Town. Then we go to work studying the figures, looking at the numbers, studying the trends and doing our homework to find our more about the specific sales.

In general, homes on 2 or more acres represent only about 9% of all the sales in Sonoma County. But these homes cover 70% of the geography.

When we extract the sales data and look at this as a separate market segment, we learn so much.

This Country Property market sector behaves quite differently from the Homes in Town and you lose all understanding of this when you fail to analyze it the way we do. So, we share this information with our friends and clients and all you have to do is ask, to get our most recent report on the subject.

In general, it takes a little longer to find the right buyer for a Country Property because they are all so specific. If only 9% of the sales are on 2+ acres and the buyers for those have all kinds of different needs- elbow room, seclusion, views, room for horses, goats, pigs or cattle (The Biggest Little Farm…?), vineyards, target practice, kids on ATVs, conservation… we have ALL those clients and they all need something a little different. We also find them in different places! They read different magazines, look at different types of social media, we have to target our marketing at them, wherever they ‘live’. So sometimes it just takes a little longer for them to sell.

Request a Recent Analysis

For help buying or selling a country property, or to get the most recent analysis of the Country Property market, please contact us.