Small horse acreage in Ocala, FL area???

[TrueColours]

A friend of mine is looking to possibly retire down to the Ocala area and wanted to know about availability, pricing, pros and cons of small horse acreage in this area

ANyone that can offer some insight - would you please be good enough to either contact me and I can pass your contact info on to her, or post on this thread and she will see it and contact you (I'll send her the link to this thread ...)

Thanks as always!

[email protected]

[wilf]

Your friend should drive down and stay awhile as there are plenty of properties for sale. In Levy county which is next door to the Ocala area there are many places with homes or just land and the taxes are much lower. I would strongly advise getting to know the neighbours before signing as they can make a big difference. One of mine is a nightmare!

[RandomThoughts]

About ten years ago we built a small farm on the northwest side of Ocala, along 225A (some call it Millionaires Row, but that's an exaggeration). Sold it a few years ago in order to get closer to the racing side of things. We liked it a lot but like most places it has it good and bad features. It appears that available properties abound these days, but the exact location of a farm can matter significantly in obvious and more subtle ways, such as mentioned in an earlier post. I would also say that your friend should try to stay within about ten miles of Ocala since although the farms are cheaper further out, you can get into some real wild country beyond that.
I suggest that your friend look at the area cited above. The "Land and Homes" website for Ocala is a good source.
If I can give some further help, send me a post.

[Bondama]

I live about an hour and fifteen minutes southwest of Ocala. Been there a ton of times. The previous posters are right, Donna. They are going to need to do their homework, AND some legwork, AND get connected to a really good realtor. There are good properties around that area, I've kind of been keeping a little watch for the southern areas, closer to I-75. This is definitely the time to buy, too. But, the warnings have been issued. The truth is ....in and around Ocala, there are a lot of family trees that just don't fork. Lots of confederate holdouts. Well, I'm sure you get the picture. It's a sad and scary reality, and Ocala is and always has been, a big part of the old proverbial "deep south".

[Tappiano]

Ooh, I'm going to dig out the last copy of "you know you are a redneck if" to see how many of those apply!