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Selling a Home in a Rural Area

Posted by Justin Havre on Thursday, August 16th, 2018 at 2:28pm.

Selling Rural Property Selling a home in a rural area can be a challenge. Rural areas typically attract fewer potential buyers than urban or suburban homes, so finding the right buyer for your rural property may take finesse. With some planning and a little creative thinking, you can bring more people interested in buying a rural home and potentially speed up selling a home in the country.

Make Your Home Easy to Locate

Rural routes are not always well marked, and the streets are not always named. Buyers who cannot find your home may give up or get lost on the way to your property. Making it easier to find your home will remove some of the burdens from potential buyers.

  • Mark Roads Clearly: Put up signs on roads that lack clear signage. Clear away any brush that might be hiding official road signs. 
  • Write Step-by-Step Instructions to get to Your Home: Include landmarks and distances in your written directions, just if buyers miss the road signs.
  • Check GPS Apps to Ensure They can Successfully Guide Someone to Your Property: If your home is very remote, GPS apps may not accurately lead buyers to your home, or apps may lose signal in your area. Check this ahead of time so you can warn buyers if this is a problem.
  • Put up new Address Numbers on Your Home: If your house numbers are hard to see, replace them with more obvious and easy-to-read house numbers.

Work on Curb Appeal

Rural properties may be very large. Beautifying several acres of land may not be realistic, but making small home improvements can still make your property seem more tidy and well maintained. Repair and paint fences, clear dead brush and put any large pieces of equipment into the garage, shed or barn.

Once this is done, you can focus your clean-up efforts on the usual tasks that homeowners perform when selling a home. Cut the grass on your lawn, trim the trees that overhang your house, plant fresh flowers in your flower beds, and clean your siding to help your home look its best. Rural property curb appeal can be attainable through little fixes like these.

Make a Selling Pamphlet for Buyers

Rural homes can be intimidating to buyers who have never owned a rural property before. Making a real estate pamphlet or a brochure for your property can help clear up any fears or questions that buyers may have. And on top of that, having a pamphlet available for buyers also gives them something to take with them to reference it at any time without having to search online for a listing.

Here are some essential pieces of information to include in a pamphlet for selling a country home:

  • A high-quality photo of the home
  • The home’s address
  • The seller’s name and contact information (phone number, e-mail address, etc.)
  • Property size
  • The home’s square footage
  • Heating and cooling systems
  • Number of bedrooms and bathrooms
  • Which type of power the home uses
  • Property taxes

Having all of this information readily available to buyers can help the home stick in a buyer’s mind and make it easier for them to deliberate on making an offer.

Price it Right

Pricing rural properties can be a challenge, and it’s common for people not to be unsure of how to price a home effectively. Knowing your buyers' motivations and the types of buyers attracted to your kind of property can help you price your home. For example, rural properties in beautiful vacation areas can attract buyers searching for an off-the-beaten-path for relaxation and retirement. These properties may be priced higher, even if they’re in an inconvenient location far from jobs and community services.

Houses in rural areas close enough to towns or cities to attract commuters may attract buyers looking for a scenic residence with a reasonable commute. It is important to price and market your property in a way that will resonate with these buyers.

Judging the motivations of your buyers can be difficult if you’re not experienced with real estate sales. Working with a knowledgeable real estate agent can help you decide how to price your property and attract buyers to your home.

Draw Attention to Your Property’s Strengths

Many rural properties are located in beautiful settings. Mountains, forests and fields all have romance and beauty that can wow buyers. If your home has a window that overlooks a beautiful setting, pull back the curtains and wash the windows to give buyers to enjoy a good look at your property. Trim trees or bushes that might block the view.

Communicating the benefits of owning your home to buyers is possibly the most important part of getting a second look. You may want to imagine yourself as a buyer to think about what things you would like to see in a listing.

Get Creative with Advertising

Some buyers will post information about their home sale on their Facebook page or other social media pages. This can be an effective way of getting the word out on the sale of a property, but avoid revealing information such as when you’ll be at home, when you’ll be away and whether or not the house is vacant. Your agent may be able to help you find other suitable places for ads, such as niche websites or magazines.

Plan to Take Longer

Many rural properties will take longer to sell than homes in towns and cities. Please do not rely on a fast sale, although it is a possibility. Do not rely on a fast sale, although it is a possibility. If you must sell your home by a certain time of the year or a certain month, put your property up for sale as soon as possible to improve your chances of selling by your target date.

Use Marketing Strategies To Get the Word Out

When selling a rural home, marketing is key to making sure buyers see it. While working with an agent is the first step to making sure the home gets the traffic it deserves, homeowners can also take their own steps in marketing a rural home to interested buyers. Here are some marketing ideas all homeowners can use for their homes:

  • Use high-quality photos on home listings
  • Create a virtual tour of the home
  • Create a Facebook page to advertise the home
  • Make Pinterest boards spotlighting every room in the home
  • Make sure contact information is easily available
  • Take out a newspaper ad
  • Homeowners don’t have to go to school for marketing to help their homes find buyers. Using some or all of these ideas, any homeowner can help get the word out about their rural house for sale.

    Work with an Experienced Agent

    Work with a real estate agent who has experience with real estate transactions in your area. Your agent will have strategies for selling homes in your area and know what kind of buyers will be attracted to your property. Rural sales can be somewhat complicated, so it can majorly pay off to put your sale into the hands of a capable professional.

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