Property Spotlight

Property Spotlight - Granger Hollow Farm

One of my more interesting properties is the 32.5 acre Granger Hollow Farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont. (It may even be a little bigger; the tax maps show it as 38.3 acres.) The photo above is from the front of the farm looking up Granger Hollow Road. This will be a great little farm for the right person, and I would love to find the right person for this property. What’s so great about this property?

First, it’s in southern Vermont where demand is high and yet the price is not much more than a home without the extra acreage. This farm is just an hour and a quarter drive from the Albany airport and you can be in Times Square (traffic permitting) in under four hours!

Second, you’re on a dead-end dirt road with little traffic and an easy country pace, yet it’s a half-mile to the nearest paved road. A good hospital (Southwestern Vermont Medical Center) and the big box stores are 15 miles away in Bennington.

Third, the farm is simply charming. It has a year-round brook in the back yard, a brook-fed pond, lots of fun little outbuildings, a grape arbor, a historic barn, peacocks (in season), even an outdoor heated koi (goldfish) pool, all in a manicured park-like setting.

Fourth, the farm can provide a nice little side business. The owners have sold eggs and raised flowers and vegetables on the 7 acres of fertile agricultural soils, plus they have 10 acre planted in 7500 Christmas trees.

I’ve been asked by a number of people about the Christmas trees, so let me tell you a little about that. There are those who would love to leave their current urban situations and move to Vermont and support themselves full-time growing Christmas trees. This farm’s not going to do that. To make a full-time living growing Christmas trees you need at least 50 level productive acres planted in at least 40,000 trees. Since it takes 8-10 years to grow a marketable Christmas tree, starting from scratch you wouldn’t make any on-farm income for the first 7 years. Finally, when I say make a full-time living, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you could pay the mortgage that it would take to buy 50 level productive acres as well as a place to live.

What Granger Hill Farm offers is 7500 planted trees at all ages of growth and an established retail clientele that can yield a part-time income of $10,000 to $15,000 a year idefinitely, as long as you keep re-planting what you sell!

Another pleasant aspect to retail sales of Christmas trees is that you interface with the public for just two months of the year at a time when everyone is positive and happy. The entrepreneur can add everything from hot chocolate and fruit cakes to wreaths and ornaments to sleigh rides, work non-stop for two months, and then sigh a big sigh of relief and take a break when the New Year rolls in!

This farm would be perfect for the family where one member has off-farm employment, or for a retired couple. Many of the costs of owning and maintaining the farm, including equipment and vehicles, can be deducted as farm expenses which saves taxes as well.

The home is modest. It’s built on a slab with only one bathroom. However, it has room to expand with a big shop and garage and lots of storage.

Finally, people do ask about the curious name of this town, Shaftsbury. It’s named after Shaftsbury in Dorset, England, and yes the two towns do mantain ties. Our Shaftsbury was chartered in 1761, sixteen years before the victorious Battle of Bennington was fought five miles to the west in 1777.

For pictures, maps and more details go to my website at: www.farmsinvermont.com

Oh, and I nearly forgot! The owners have reduced their price to $550,000!