Financing from $500,000 for homes with acreage, lifestyle ranches, horse properties and small farms that residential lenders cap or decline. 5+ acres, up to 70% loan-to-value, 30-year terms, qualified on your non-farm income. Originated by UFIG and placed through its Capital Network of agricultural lenders.
A hobby farm is a residence on acreage where the land is part of the life, not the livelihood: a farmhouse on 20 acres with a barn and a few horses, a small orchard or vineyard behind the house, a lifestyle ranch with pasture and outbuildings, recreational acreage with a cabin. The owner earns a living elsewhere; the farm produces little or no income, and it does not need to.
A hobby farm loan is a long-term mortgage sized on the whole property, house and land together, and qualified on the borrower’s non-farm income. That is the difference from a working-farm loan, which is underwritten on the operation’s cash flow, and from a residential mortgage, which caps the acreage and discounts the land.
Program guidelines of the placing lender; subject to appraisal, credit and lender confirmation.
Most hobby farm buyers start with their mortgage lender and hit the same walls. A conventional residential loan is built for a house on a lot, and the rules that make it work for a subdivision make it fail on acreage.
Many residential programs stop at 10 or 20 acres, or require the appraiser to value only the “residential” portion and ignore the rest.
When the land is 50% or more of the value, residential underwriting treats it as a land loan and the leverage disappears.
An ag-exempt or ag-zoned parcel is a tax advantage for you and a disqualifier for most conforming programs.
Improvements built for animals or equipment are given little or no value, so the loan comes up short of the price.
Boarding a few horses, selling hay or hosting events can turn a “home” into a “business” in a residential file.
A lifestyle property that is not your primary residence is outside most hobby farm mortgage programs entirely.
The Lifestyle Ranch Loan UFIG places is sized like a mortgage and underwritten like one: the lender looks at your employment or business income, your credit (700 or better), your liquidity after closing and your overall debt load. Income from the property, if any, can be added, but the loan does not depend on it. That is what makes the program work for a physician buying 40 acres with a barn, a business owner moving to a lifestyle ranch, or a couple refinancing the small farm they already live on.
An agricultural appraiser values the house, the land and the improvements together, including barns, arenas, fencing, wells and outbuildings that a residential appraisal would discount. The loan is sized to 70% of that value. On a $1.5 million property that is a $1,050,000 loan, with 30% equity from cash, existing equity or, on a refinance, the value you already hold.
Terms run up to 30 years with monthly payments, on fixed-rate or variable-rate products that stay fixed for 1 to 15 years before adjusting. There is no balloon on the fully amortizing options and prepayment is open on most products, so you can refinance or sell when it suits you.
| Requirement | Lifestyle Ranch Loan |
|---|---|
| Loan amount | $500,000 minimum, $3,000,000 maximum |
| Acreage | 5 acres or more; no upper limit on the program, larger parcels priced individually |
| Loan-to-value | Up to 70% of appraised value, house and land together |
| Credit score | 700 minimum for each borrower |
| Income | Two years of personal tax returns and current pay stubs or business financials; farm income optional |
| Liquidity | Down payment plus reserves after closing; the lender sets the reserve months by loan size |
| Property | Residence on agricultural or rural land; barns, arenas, pasture, orchards, vineyards, ponds and timber all acceptable |
| Occupancy | Primary residence, second home or lifestyle investment property |
| Appraisal | Agricultural appraisal ordered by the lender; typically 2 to 4 weeks |
| Timing | 45 to 60 days from complete file to closing |
Guidelines of the placing lender, subject to change; UFIG confirms current terms with the lender before issuing a quote.
Horse properties with a barn and paddocks, gentleman’s farms, small orchards and vineyards, homesteads with a market garden, recreational acreage with timber or a pond, farmettes with a rental cottage or accessory dwelling, and lifestyle ranches with pasture and cattle for the owner’s own use. If the property has income beyond the owner’s use, such as a boarding or training facility, a commercial orchard or a working cattle operation, UFIG moves the file to the right agricultural program, where the operation’s cash flow does the qualifying and the leverage can be higher.
UFIG arranges hobby farm and lifestyle ranch loans in all 50 states through a Capital Network of Farmer Mac sellers and agricultural banks. Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma, the Carolinas and Tennessee, and the Mountain West are among the most active markets. Because UFIG works with lenders that already lend in your county, a property in a market the national residential lenders skip is still financeable.
Lifestyle ranch loans price off the same Farmer Mac rate sheet as UFIG’s farm loans. The rows below are the current fixed and variable-rate products, updated weekly from the lender’s rate sheet; your rate depends on term, loan-to-value, credit and loan size. For every program see today’s commercial mortgage rates.
| Product | Term | Amortization | Standard | Choice |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Month VRM | 15/20/25/30 | 15/20/25/30 | 5.94% | 5.59% |
| 5 Year VRM | 15/20/25/30 | 15/20/25/30 | 6.76% | 6.41% |
| 10 Year VRM | 15/20/25/30 | 25/30 | 7.36% | 7.01% |
| 15 Year Fixed | 15 years | 15 years | 7.32% | 6.97% |
| 20 Year Fixed | 20 years | 20 years | 7.72% | 7.37% |
| 30 Year Fixed | 30 years | 30 years | 8.25% | 7.90% |
Farmer Mac Standard rates, effective October 5, 2026. Choice rates require higher underwriting standards. Rates subject to change and locked at credit approval. See the full agricultural rate sheet.
One loan officer, one file, no hand-offs. Here is exactly how a hobby farm loan moves from first call to the closing table.
The short form or a phone call. Tell us the property, the price or payoff, the acreage and what you earn.
Your loan officer confirms the property and your income fit the program and tells you what the loan can be.
We pre-underwrite the file, choose the execution path (our Correspondent Lending channel or the Capital Network lender whose terms fit) and deliver a written quote.
The same officer manages the agricultural appraisal, underwriting and closing. Typically 45 to 60 days.
Call during business hours to speak with a hobby farm loan specialist, or submit your property for a 24-hour review. UFIG originates, underwrites and delivers your loan through its Correspondent Lending channel, or places it through its Capital Network when that gets you better terms.
Hobby farm loans, lifestyle ranch loans and financing for homes with acreage, horse properties, small orchards and vineyards and rural land in all 50 states, from $500,000. UFIG originates and places lifestyle ranch financing through Farmer Mac sellers and agricultural banks, and arranges agricultural loans, USDA B&I loans and bridge loans for working farms and rural businesses. Call (888) 556-4029.
