>> If you guys were going to buy a place, what non-obvious but critical stuff would you attend to?
Here's a long winded response to your question. Much of it is probably obvious to you, but hopefully there'll be a few worthwhile nuggets.
The first thing I looked at was location:
- Is the work commute doable on a day in day out basis in all seasons given that I will have chores to do at home in the morning and evening. Also, I wanted time to spend with family. In my case this meant a drive of less than 20 minutes each way.
- Are you close enough to family & friends. An individual decision, but for me this ending up meaning less than an hour from my in-laws.
- If you plan eventual roadside sales is there enough traffic on the road to make this realistic?
- Development trends - Are the town and county encouraging development in your area? If their dreams come true, what will the area look like in 20 years. Check their master plan, if they have one, and see what the planned path of development is. Also consider unplanned development. As an example, my town doesn't have a real master plan, but on a piecemeal, ad hoc basis, every road which has city water is seeing its frontage sold off and manufactured housing erected on ~1 acre lots.
- Taxes and tax trends. Not necessarily a deal breaker, but understand what all of the taxes are - county, town, school, any other special assessments - fire, library, etc.... Don't just look at the current tax bill. Check what your taxes will be. Often the current bill can be based on an older assessment which will be updated when you purchase, or may have exemptions or discounts due to the current owner's age, income or the place's farming status. Understand what the tax trends are also. My town boasts that it works hard to minimize tax rate increases. Unfortunately, they do stealth tax increases by frequently increasing the assessed value of town properties.
Others:
- Water, is it good? Do you have enough for irrigation? Any market gardening enterprise will require some irrigation. I think the rule of thumb is 15,000 gallons/acre/inch of water.
- How much land do you really need? 40 acres sounds nice, but its a lot to take care of and pay taxes on. I looked at places ranging from 3 to 85 acres and ended up with just over 7. For me, 7 is enough for my tasting orchard, small fruits and market garden. Also, with the 7 acre plot, I ended up with a piece of real good ground. All of it is considered either "Prime" or of "Statewide Importance". I live in an agricultural area and the larger plots which were for sale with a house, typically had low quality agricultural land.
- Condition and size of buildings. Try to avoid getting stuck with bigger buildings than you will need or a lot of buildings which are best renovated with a bulldozer.
- Check if there are abandoned underground gas/diesel tanks. You may also want to do a soil test in the area of any tanks to ensure you don't have a contamination problem. The same also goes for the area where pesticides were stored and mixed. Many people's handling practices were casual at best and contamination may be an issue.
Finally, Don't rush out and buy equipment. Used is nice, but antique can be a real PITA unless you enjoy spending as much time underneath the equipment as on it. Buy it with cash and make sure it's money that you don't need elsewhere. I've bought the equipment I need for my small market garden/berry patch/orchard over the past three years. With the exception of a rototiller and a few shovels and rakes, I bought all of it used, mostly at auction and have found that for the pieces I don't end up using, that on average I can sell for close to what I paid.
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