Husband and wife Eddie Wilson and Cindy Garvey bought their farm three-and-a-half years ago, and today it’s a “pick your own” blueberry farm. Beulah Land Blueberries, located along the South Harpeth River, has over 140 blueberry bushes on its 21 acres. Eddie works the land full time and still finds time to make amazing furniture out of reclaimed barnwood.
Cindy, a local real estate broker and owner of United Country Real Estate Leipers Fork, stays busy selling farms, land, estate homes, recreational property, and equestrian properties.
“Buying farms is now more popular than ever,” she says. “People are looking for more space. If they were locked up in their homes during COVID, they were buying pieces of land, even if it didn’t have a house on it, just so they could have someplace to go outside and breathe.”
Some buyers prefer land that already has a house on it, while others prefer to build their own. Many people want a place where they can have some animals, such as mini donkeys, horses, goats and chickens, while others want as little upkeep as possible.
Depending on the types of crops and animals people want to have - or not have - farms can be a lot of work or just a place to have a lot of space, relax, and enjoy nature. Before deciding to buy a piece of property or a farm, Cindy says people should ask themselves what it is they really want to accomplish. “Do they just want privacy, do they want to be in the woods, do they want a piece of land that has some open space and pasture area for animals, or is that not important to them? So they have to know how they are going to use the farm.”
While some of the land she sells is already set up as farms, others are clean slates that people can make into whatever types of farms they want. She says about 90% of buyers who walk through United Country Real Estate’s doors want a little bit of pasture, a little bit of woods, and a creek or pond or some kind of water on the property. “I have a single young lady who is closing on her farm today and she wants to have horses, so she’s buying a piece of land that’s half pasture and half woods with a creek.”
Buyers are of all ages, she says, and while younger people may want to have an actual working farm, older people mostly want something that isn’t going to need a lot of maintenance. “They can clear a bit of land for a house, and maybe a shop or extra garage, and leave the rest to nature.”
Some farm buyers also have an interest in homesteading, which is creating a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. “It’s trying to make your farm as self-sufficient as possible, such as having your gardens set up where you can grow your own vegetables, maybe having well water or spring water instead of relying on city or county water, and possibly adding solar panels on the roof or property.”
Williamson County, in her opinion, is the best county to live in. “There are just beautiful rolling hills, and then you have the bigger hills that you can see in the distance that are just breathtaking.” It also has award-winning schools and low taxes.
Cindy has been selling farms for over 32 years, and she says inventory is very lean right now. “It’s slim pickings these days since they are in high demand. If we don’t have the inventory for what buyers want, I’ll do my best to find them what they want. And I wouldn’t let them buy a place that has any problems such as flooding or if I know of a highway being built nearby.”
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