Buying stables and land as an investment

[vintagetat]

I have seem some 3.6 acres of land with a stable come up for sale local to me. I was wondering if it would make a good investment to rent the space out for people wanting diy livery.
I don't really know much about horses but am willing to learn and I've been thinking about learning to ride for some time, I just worry I wouldn't know enough to make it work.
Any advice you could throw my way would be great!

If you wanted it for yourself it may be a good idea but depends on how near to your home it is. Read the "perfect paddock" thread just below..

I wouldn't think you'd get rich on DIY - how many stables do you have? 3.6 acres would only be enough for a couple of horses/ponies and that would be if they had somewhere to get them off the land when it's really wet in Winter or they would plough it up..

Its got 8 stables, its about 5 minutes drive from where I live so not too far. I'll have a look at that thread, thank you.
I know I won't make mega bucks from it but we could pay for it outright so it might pay us a bit each month. I'd need to look into other costs to consider though. Will read the other thread now.

Land is always a good investment. The stables will up the value though, making it above average probably.

DIY livery doesn't make much, if any income, when you factor insurance and upkeep of the land and building (fencing, creosoting buildings, repairing drains, keeping the land in good condition -or paying a farmer to roll and harrow etc). The land would probably be better let to a farmer for sheep, but again it wouldn't make much money (sheep are much better for the land and grass than horses). Another option could be making hay/haylage and selling it if the grass is good enough.

8 stables is far too many I would only keep one or two on that amount of land.

The best way to make money out of 3.6 acres is to buy it, leave it, wait for it to appreciate in value and then sell it. You won't make money on renting it to horse owners. Round here decent grazing paddock costs about £40k per acre (more if it already has stables, water and electricity installed,) but the average DIY livery cost is about £140 per month, and you will only get one horse per acre if you are managing it correctly. The numbers just don't add up. I have 6 acres of my own land, and though I have a spare stable I don't rent it out to anyone else because they want to pay as little as the can for as much work as you can throw at the place.

This land is selling for £50k and round here people pay around £40 a week for DIY. It has water but no electricity.
I think part livery is around £80 - £100 a week in this area so I wonder if this could be an option. I don't work so would have the time to do this.

8 stables is far too many for such a relatively small area of land. If you go into the part livery market you'd need to compare yourself to other yards in the vicinity who may have a school etc.

Not trying to put you off but something seems odd - do you know why they had 8 stables built?

I wouldn't keep more than three ponies on that acreage and that would depend on how well the land drained and whether it was clay etc. to offer assisted livery you would have to be experienced and confident to handle horses in all weathers, when they are poorly, playing up etc. it wouldn't stack up if you were going to employ someone. If you rent to DIY as a whole yard - i.e to one person, it may pay, but you would need to be extremely careful who you rented to - horse people can be absolutely vile, and there are a lot of piss takers in the horse world.

Having said all that, as a yard owner myself I'd always investigate the possibilities of buying land - its been a brilliant investment for us. If you are in the south east and would like some figures or help please feel free to pm me! Good luck.

This may sound rude, but you said you didn't know much about horses - you didn't realise that 8 stables on 3 acres is way over populated, so I wouldn't have my horses on part livery with you.

When you factor in insurance, haylage/hay, bedding and hard feed plus electricity, water and land management you will only a little per week on each horse part livery. I used to do DIY livery at my yard. I think that it probably made a loss if I added it up! We stopped after a year.

I haven't ever said that I would have 8 horses on that land, only that there are 8 stables. I asked the question as it would appear there is no clear answer, as if proven by the responses on this thread.
I do worry about not knowing enough but I do have a friend who may be interested in coming in on a 50/50 basis who is horsey and has been for about 30 years, so I would be mostly a financial investor but learning along the way.
Thanks for the feedback though.

Avoid. Unless you have decent trailer parking, a proper school, lockable tack room, jumps and water and electricity no one is going to pay more than about £15-£20 a week livery.

Buy it by all means and leave it to appreciate in value but land management is a steep and scary learning curve - believe you me. Ragwort, paddock rotation, harrowing, rolling, laminitis .All good fun.

That's only enough ground for 2 horses or 3 ponies as others have said - fine if you want it for your own purposes but not to provide a return. Pasture management for horses is not easy or cheap and if this isn't an area you have any knowledge of I'd leave well alone.

I'd leave well alone unless you can secure more land. You need 1.5 acres minimum per horse, and that's with them being stabled at night. If they are out 24/7 it will soon be trashed.

If it is just stables and land you aren't going to be able to ask more than 25-30 per week. Even if you had 3 stables filled which is too much for the land but just about doable if you know what you are doing and manage the land well you're only going to pull in

So 3 stables at a push and you could expect £25-30 with no facilities. £300 a month - that wouldn't cover your business rates and insurance :(

Leave well alone :(

Livery yards with non-horsey owners are the pits...