Video Below: Tucson Horse Property... What To Know
Tucson Horse Property: Video Transcript
Intro
Welcome to this episode of Living in Tucson, your Tucson real estate connection. My name’s Tyler Ford, with eXp Realty here in Tucson, Arizona. And in this episode, I’m going to be talking about horse property, all the various things you need to know about Tucson horse property.
Before I get started and I dive deep into Tucson horse property, I want to start out and just admit that I’m biased towards the east side of Tucson when it comes to horse property. I grew up on a horse ranch in Tucson on the east side, and the nice thing about east Tucson horse property is you’ve got the Tanque Verde Wash, which you’ve got wash access that gets you to tons of different trails and it makes it really easy to ride without having to trailer.
Locations of Tucson Horse Property
So I’m going to give you a visual on a map (watch video above), so you can see where the good horse properties are in Tucson. So I’ve got a map of Tucson pulled up and I’m going to start with the north-east and east part of Tucson, which is the Tanque Verde valley, and that is right in this area right here. So, due north of Tucson is what are called the Catalina Mountains, and that is Mount Lemmon, and then due east are the Rincon Mountains. Right in this valley here is the Tanque Verde Valley. Tanque Verde stands for green valley, and so this is a really popular horse place amongst horse people. There’s a couple of reasons for that, first off, during the winter, during the snow season, when it snows on the mountains, both the Rincons and the Catalinas, we get a lot of snow melt and runoff, which flows into the washes. Then, during the monsoon months, again, we get a lot of rain and these washes… If I blow this up you can see all the blue lines are the washes that run in Tucson, and all the water flows from east to west. And so when this water runs off it first hits the Tanque Verde Valley, and the aquifer’s a lot higher, it’s a lot greener out in this area, and there’s just more water. So wells are more plentiful in this area in terms of irrigating and pasture.
But the Tanque Verde Valley, a lot of people will… Either it’s the Agua Caliente, which is right here, or the Tanque Verde Wash. If you have wash access, you can ride the washes. A lot of horse people are riding the washes, and then you can get into the washes and get over to Saguaro National Park east. And if I blow this up, these green dots are trail. So there’s a ton of trails, ton of trail-riding east part of Tucson in the Tanque Verde valley. So that’s the north-east and the east part of Tucson, and again, it’s all the surrounding areas.
If I scroll south-east, we get out into Vail, Corona de Tucson, Sahuarita, a lot of horse property out here. You’re going to have a mixture of single-family and mobile and manufactured homes. The Arizona Trail does run out in this area, so there are quite a bit of trails and riding out here as well, and it’s going to be less expensive than the north-east Tanque Verde Valley. Then if we go west Tucson, this is considered Marana, it’s the Tucson mountain range. So anything on the east side of the Tucson mountain range is going to be primarily single-family homes. You’re going to have some bigger lots, and it’s going to be more expensive.
And then there’s a ton of stuff, picture Rocks on the back side of the Tucson mountain range. You’re going to have bigger lots, some of this property out here, although it’s horse property, you’re going to have bigger lots. There’s what is called sheet flooding, so it’s in the flood zone, so your property’s got to be built up a little bit, and it’s a lot less usable land, so a lot more affordable. You can get a lot more for your money and it’s going to be a mixture of single-family, manufactured, and mobile homes.
Then another really popular area for horses is out in Catalina. You’re going to have a mixture of single-family, manufactured, and mobiles, and then there’s a ton of trails on the back side of the Catalinas, where there’s a lot of riding. And one other thing to point out is there is some stuff, again, this is the Rillito, which runs right through the center of Tucson, and there’s a lot of grandfathered-in horse property that was here back when Tucson started growing in the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, that you can find. You’re going to be somewhat limited as far as the size of the property, and for the most part you can find some equestrian places that have some really nice facilities, somewhat limited in terms of wash access, so you’re going to be doing more trailering.
So hopefully this helps. Most horse property is located on the outskirts of Tucson with some stuff down the middle here, along the Rillito, as far as horse property, but the most desirable, but most expensive, is the Tanque Verde Valley.
Tucson Horse Property Zoning
When it comes to horse property, there’s three major types of zoning, and the most horse property you’re going to find per zoning is what we call SR zoning, which is suburban ranch, and suburban ranch is 3.3 acres and more, and it’s specifically zoned for horse property. And then you have what is called CR-1, which is one-acre parcels, which is zoned for horses. And then you have MH-1, which again is one-acre parcels that you can put a mobile or a manufactured home on. So those are the three types of horse properties, and SR again is what you’re going to find most of, specially Tanque Verde Valley, east side of Tucson, and it’s going to be a little bit more expensive just because you have more acreage.
Types Of Tucson Horse Property Based On The Type Of Riding You Will Do
As a horse enthusiast, when looking for horse property, one thing that’s probably really important to you is what kind of riding are you going to do? Is it western pleasure, English? Are you going to be riding in an arena? You’re not going to be trailering that much, and you’re not needing to get out on trails, but the majority of your riding is going to be at your location. You want to find a property that’s probably going to be zone SR, so you can put in the facilities, the round pens, all the things that you need to do in order to set up your horse property properly in order to be able to ride at your home. And you can find those properties already ready to go. Again, the majority of those are going to be on suburban ranch.
If you’re a pleasure rider endurance rider, you want to get out on the trails, there’s a couple of different options for you. You can either trailer, or the majority of the horse property, the good horse property, and the horse property that I lived on when I was a kid growing up, we were along the Tanque Verde Wash. The nice thing about having wash access is you can get into the washes. You can go up into the washes and then get out to the trails. So it makes it really easy to ride directly from your house, get in the wash, and to trails, without having to trailer. Again, those properties are going to be a little bit more expensive, because the nice thing about those properties too, and something that we’re going to talk about is water.
Water For Your Tucson Horse Property
So water is real important when it comes to horses, whether you’re going to have irrigation, pastures, that kind of stuff, and even just watering your horses. The nice thing about property along the washes is the aquifer is going to be higher, and those properties typically have their own wells. So that’s something to consider too, whether or not the property has a well or not, and whether or not you’re going to be having pastures or not. I would say less and less people in Tucson, just with water, and the expensive water, and conservation, a lot less people… Like, we grew up with pastures. It’s again, the deferred maintenance on that type of property is a lot more expensive, you know, more to manage, and fewer and fewer people I’m seeing are actually having pasture when it comes to horses. But again, the Tanque Verde valley, which is, “Tanque” means green, the aquifer’s the highest, and it actually is tucked in the Catalina and the Rincon mountains. Whether it’s the winter time, the snow melt, or in the summer, the monsoon seasons, you get the aquifer’s a lot higher, so there’s a lot more water. So wells, the well level’s higher, and you typically don’t have to drill as deep.
So if you’re looking for a horse property and having a well, and having pastures is really important to you, I would recommend looking at the Tanque Verde Valley, the zip code there’s 85749. Or, you want to go far east Tucson, towards the Rincons, and that zip 85730, 85715, are the zip codes that you want to look at if you’re looking at horse property on the east side of town and you want to have wash access and a well.
Tucson Horse Property Horse Facilities and Zoning Setbacks
So, when buying horse property and looking at horse property, especially if it doesn’t have the facilities, you want to take a look at the zoning, because within the zoning there are certain setbacks as far as where you can put your fences, where you can put your structures, where you can put your arenas. Then the other important thing to look at when it comes to the zoning is the number of horses that are allowed per acre. So I’ve seen a lot of people get excited about a property, and then they look at the zoning, especially if they’re under contract and realize that the amount of horses won’t work per the zoning. So again, it’s really important to understand the zoning and the setbacks before writing an offer on a horse property, just so you’re not wasting your time and money going under contract, doing the inspections, that kind of thing, and then realizing at the end that you can’t have the number of horses that you’re going to want to have, or the facilities that you want to put in. So it’s really important to understand the zoning.
Tucson Horse Property Land
There’s one other option to look at, and that is, if you’re not finding the right thing, you can always look at land that’s zoned properly, and do it the right way. Build your house, build a custom home, put in the facilities and do everything all at once. Because I know as a horse person, a lot of people are really particular in terms of what they want as far as the house and the facilities when it comes to horses. So if you’re not finding something that you want, you might want to consider maybe finding some land and then building everything from ground up.
Tucson Horse Property Search... We can Help!
So if you have any questions when it comes to Tucson horse property, please reach out to us. We would love to help answer any questions. We can get you set up on a search, and better understand your needs to find that perfect horse property for you. Keep in mind, we have a 16 foot box-moving truck that you’re more than welcome to use. And when it comes to horses, there’s always a ton of stuff, whether it’s feed or hay. So at any time, if you need our truck, you’re more than welcome to use it. If you liked this video on Tucson horse property, give me an internet high five by liking the video. You can also comment below and we’ll answer any questions you have. And, for more awesome videos on living in Tucson, your Tucson real estate connection, go ahead and subscribe to this channel and we’ll keep you updated. Again, if you have any questions about Tucson horse property, please reach out to us.
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