Best Use(s) of Rental House, on farm property, near Bend, Oregon

[Farmgirl]

So, here's the deal. We (me, my husband, two young children, lots of animals) have 20 lovely acres just outside Bend, Oregon. We've owned and lived on the property for years. We also have a second house on the property, which we've rented (and it's currently being rented). But, we absolutely hate doing the landlord/rental thing and so we're trying to figure out what to do with the place, once these renters leave (could be sooner vs later).

We do need to derive some income from the "rental home", but are also interested in doing some "work-for-rent" (we also have a large greenhouse and lots of fun farm chores to do), or some other creative arrangement (license massage therapist?, art studio?).

So -- I thought I would put the question out there to you creative, intellectual, "outside-the-box" thinkers on this.:think:

[NV Whino]

1. Check out Caretakers Gazette

http://www.caretaker.org/

They run ads for all kinds of caretaking/part work-part rent situations.

Also, depending on how close the house is to yours and how much interaction you might have with tenants, you could hire a property management firm to handle it. If the house might seem to be on another property, that might work. If it's obvious that it belongs to you, it probably wouldn't.

[Farmgirl]

4. Thanks for that link...

sure looks interesting. I contacted them to see whether I can get a sample newsletter. The one thing is that our "rental house" is an on-going, permanent living situation, and we can't do a straight trade. I'd like to see more about the different ads they might have along these lines, and the kinds of responses that folks get.

Great place to start! Thanks again!

[cliss]

2. Hi, F.

I'm not too far from you; see my avatar. Bend is beautiful, there's no denying it. Perfect winters, perfect summers. If you don't enjoy landlording, there are many other options. For example, nursery products are a $billion dollar business here in Oregon.

They have been very profitable. There are many nurseries who export to China, Japan and many other countries. They have done extremely well in the past decade. Also, specialty crops have been profitable. I believe that Oregon is the world's largest grower of mint (we supply Wrigley's gum & others) and it's supposed to be the world's best.

You probably see plenty of those beautiful, dark green fields around Bend. It's a big crop there. You might want to think about specialty crops. Especially now with the dollar being devaluated, it's going to be much easier to export.

I don't know much about growing grapes in the Central Cascades, do you have any vineyards? I do know that this is another profitable field.

You've got a nice-sized piece of property. I'd put it to work. Farming doesn't seem to pay very well, though.

Good luck!

[Farmgirl]

3. Thanks Cliss

We do a hodge-podge of things, including work outside of our small farm, and parenting. We grow annuals and perennials for a local wholesaler. We've thought about undertaking that for ourselves, but for the time being are satisfied being the "growers". We've also thought a lot about building another greenhouse, putting in raised beds and growing specialty greens for fresh salad markets. But labor intensive and so we need to have that "rental house" be perhaps a worker or partner, as our time is limited.

The jist of the question was to explore ways to move away from the pure rental house relationship into something else more inclusive. As well, we'd like to have people living on our property who share similar lifestyles, values, etc. We're tired of having the "red-neck" mentality. Of course, it's our choice as to who to rent to, but the market can also be slim pickins sometimes.

[NV Whino]

6. In regards to vineyards:

In the Napa Valley when we are asked the question, "How do you make a small fortune?" We answer, "Start with a large one."

[Syncronaut Seven]

5. See your PM

I like fun farm chores! That's like 2% of them right? Cause I remember farming being mostly hard work. Especially milking the chickens. ;o)

[Farmgirl]

7. It's all fun work...

in my mind. Nothing like on honest day's work cleaning out the chicken coop poop, or moving irrigation water around, or potting up a bizzilion 4 inch pots for the plugs. Kind of cathartic and kind of feels like this is really what it's all about. Great place for my two girls to grow up with. Out the door...catch some tadpoles in the pond...feed scraps to the goats...

thanks.

[grasswire]

8. you could....

....rent it out on a weekly basis as a way for families to get a taste of farm chores. Although that might be putting a lot of not-so-agreeable sub-teenagers in your property.

Or, you could develop a product that could sell by mail order. Lavender seems to have a big market, both dried and made into various products. Lots of herbs do very well. I honestly would be careful about going into anything that depends on upscale buyers, considering the fact that predictions for the economy aren't good.

How about making goats milk soap?

And don't forget that you can sell virtually any home made product on eBay, with millions of potential customers all over the world 24/7. You can open a "store front" there with zero investment and reach millions of people.

[sandnsea]

9. weekly farm vacation

They charge a FORTUNE for this stuff. Thousands per week. Hire somebody to manage it, shouldn't be hard to find someone in Oregon. It could be a huge money maker and I don't think there's an awful lot of that kind of thing in Oregon yet. Not like WY and MT anyway.

[Farmgirl]

11. What do you know about this sort of venture?

Sounds kind of intriguing...

[Farmgirl]

10. Thanks for the ideas...

I've thought about that a lot. A couple of years ago, I bought a video from a woman in SW Washington who does salad greens from her greenhouse (raised beds). It is her sole source of income and she nets something like $30K/year.

I like the idea of doing something like that. We currently grow perennials/annuals/herbs for a wholesale nursery. That market is kind of saturated, but you are right -- specialty herbs or specialty veg could be a great way to go.

But the rental house piece is what really intrigues me a lot. We'd like to do something unique, fun, rewarding and monetarily well...not necessarily "profitable" (seems like such a dirty word), but well...sustaining.

[LWolf]

12. Just popping in to say hi.

I am now moving in to my "new" old fixer, a little north of Tumalo, and remembered a DU "neighbor." :hi:

Can you rent it out as a studio or a spa? Do you want the extra traffic that might entail? I'm currently drowning in 6 acres of waist-high mustard and foxtails; I'm going to have to get someone in here to knock them all down so that I have a fighting chance to keep up!