Farms · Estates · Land
Farms for sale.
The Virginia Piedmont.
Working farms, equestrian properties, historic estates, and land across Albemarle County, Madison, Orange, Greene, Nelson, Augusta, and the surrounding Virginia Piedmont. Represented by Conor Murray, Frank Hardy Sotheby's International Realty.
Our Practice
A regional practice in farms, estates, equestrian properties, and land.
The Virginia Piedmont has more farmland under permanent conservation easement than almost anywhere east of the Mississippi. Buying or selling country property here means understanding what the easement allows, where the water comes from, how the soils drain, who the neighbors are, and what the families who held the land for the last six generations care about. The transaction is the easy part.
Conor Murray's practice is dedicated to that work — across four overlapping categories of country real estate. Each category has its own diligence rhythm, buyer pool, and pricing logic. Below is what we represent and how we work.
Four Categories
How we organize the country market.
Diligence
What we check before you sign.
Easement review
VOF, ACE, or private trust — pulled before showings on protected parcels.
Water rights
Springs, ponds, streams, wells. Yield in dry years. Existing irrigation.
Soil + grazing
USDA NRCS soil maps. Pasture quality, drainage, animal units per acre.
Outbuildings
Barns, sheds, shelters. Power, water, septic, condition.
Septic + well
Age, capacity, recent inspection records, perc test if raw.
Access + frontage
Public road vs. recorded private easement. Right-of-way agreements.
Mineral + timber rights
Often severed in older deeds. Confirm what conveys.
Use Value Assessment
Property tax reduction for qualifying agricultural land. Rollback risk.
FAQ
Frequently asked — Virginia farms & estates
The Virginia farm market is largely off-MLS — many transactions happen privately between neighbors, through brokers' networks, or before properties ever reach the public market. The most reliable path is to work with an agent who specializes in farms and country properties in your target geography. In the Charlottesville / Albemarle area, Conor Murray maintains active relationships with farm owners across the Piedmont and can often source parcels before they hit the public market.
Farms are working agricultural properties — cattle, hay, vineyard, orchard — typically with a residence and outbuildings. Estates are large country properties where the value is primarily the residence + grounds + view, with agricultural use secondary or absent. Equestrian properties are horse-specific farms with purpose-built infrastructure (barns, paddocks, rings). Land is raw or lightly improved acreage — hunting tracts, timber, buildable parcels. Conor Murray represents all four categories across the Virginia Piedmont.
Conor represents buyers and sellers in farms and land transactions across the Virginia Piedmont — Albemarle, Madison, Orange, Greene, Nelson, and Augusta counties — plus select coverage in the Tidewater counties on the Chesapeake Bay. The work is regional by design: knowing the creeks, the hunt clubs, the conservation easements, and the families who've held the land matters more in country real estate than in almost any other market.
For anything over ~25 acres or with material agricultural use, yes. A residential agent who works primarily on suburban homes is unlikely to know the easement nuances, the well/septic diligence, the soil maps, the hay and cattle lease conventions, or the difference between a VOF easement and an ACE easement. Conor Murray is one of a small group of Charlottesville-area agents whose primary practice is farms, estates, and land.
Longer than a comparable residential transaction. Typical days on market for $1M+ farm and estate properties in the Charlottesville area tracks 60-180+ days, with diligence (well/septic, easement review, soil maps, mineral rights, surveying) typically adding 45-75 days from contract to close. Pre-market and off-market transactions can be substantially faster.
Looking at a specific farm or estate?
Conor reads every inquiry himself. Pre-market and off-market work is welcome — start with a phone call.