Just a quick question. We’re looking at buying a home in Las Vegas which we would use as a vacation rental. Some properties we are looking at are south of the Strip (but north of Henderson-- over by the South Point Hotel, if you’re in the know), have 2+ acres, and are zoned for horses.
So, here’s the question: if we had a decent enough horse set up- troughs, sheds, good fencing in a pen, etc.- is there a market for that? Aside from a lot of rodeos and horse shows in Vegas, there are tons of great trails around the area.
My problem is that I don’t know squat about horses. I have friends who do and would be happy to show me how to get the basics set up for guests, but I just don’t even know if that would be worth it. Googling doesn’t seem to turn up much at all.
The expense of transporting your horse would make it economically hard. You are in the Las Vegas area; many of your likely customers during the winter would be from the northern states, wanting a vacation from the winter & snow. They are a fair distance away, so they would probably fly there. But if they wanted to bring their own horse, they would have to drive & pull their horse trailer. That would take many hours, and use a lot of expensive gas. And they would be spending a good portion of their vacation driving rather than vacationing.
A more feasible market is for a vacation resort where you have horses provided, that guests can reserve for a trail ride when they want. There are a fair number of such businesses in existence.
No one makes money on boarding. That is a fact of the horse industry. For what you can charge per night, it will take you decades to make up the cost of installing safe fencing, a proper run-in shed, maintaining same, and the relevant insurance. Fencing two acres safely alone could cost between $3K & $10K depending on what you select and your ability to do the labor yourself.
I think there is almost no chance this would make money for you.
Ahhhh, but that’s the point! At least in my gf’s situation. She (we) have some horses. We also do some boarding, partly on the advice of our accountant. My gf’s financial picture is helped by the fact that her business shows a loss.
I honestly do not understand all the details, but IANAA.
Right. In that case, she gets a benefit because she keeps her own horses on the same property. Presumably any fencing, barns, etc, she paid for at least partially were built for the benefit of her own horses, right? OP, does not own horses and does not stand to reap either the tax benefit or the use benefit of having barns and fences.
I’m sure your GF’s accountant is on this but a horse business that always shows a loss is in danger of being reclassified as a hobby.