How Listings Qualify as Farms and Ranches

Farms and Ranches does not show every listing with acreage. A listing appears only when both of these are true:

  1. It is authorized for display. The listing is active (or another status the site is allowed to show), for sale, from a participating MyStateMLS brokerage, and its display permissions allow internet display. These rules always win: no review decision can show a listing whose display rights were withdrawn.
  2. Its own data reports a farm, ranch or agricultural use, under the rules below.

The rules

MLS property type Farm. Listings the brokerage classifies as a farm or ranch are included, unless the description says agricultural use or livestock is not allowed, the listing carries no agricultural detail at all, or it is marketed as a development with no agricultural use. Those are held for a reviewer.

Land. A land listing is included when its description reports current agricultural use (for example tillable ground, pasture, hay fields, cattle, an orchard or irrigated acres) in at least two ways, or once together with a supporting listing field such as a barn, stable, agricultural zoning, fencing or a well. A single mention is held for a reviewer.

Homes (farmsteads and small farms). A residential listing is included only when it reports agricultural use and agricultural facilities, such as pasture with a barn or horse facilities. A house on acreage is not a farm by itself.

There is no minimum acreage. A small market garden with a barn and a reported growing operation can qualify; a large wooded lot with a house does not.

What never counts on its own

  • A "Ranch" subtype or a ranch-style house. In this feed, Ranch is a house style.
  • "Farmhouse" styling (farmhouse sink, modern farmhouse design).
  • A street, road or subdivision name containing Farm or Ranch.
  • Possible use ("ideal for horses", "room for a garden", "bring your cattle"). These describe what a buyer might do, not what the land is used for.
  • Hunting, timber or recreational land with no reported agricultural use.

Types shown on the site

  • Farms and ranches: MLS farm listings, and land with agricultural improvements.
  • Agricultural land: land reported in agricultural use with no home.
  • Small farms and farmsteads: homes with reported agricultural use and facilities.

Each listing also shows the uses its own data reports (crops, livestock and grazing, hay, equestrian, orchard or vineyard) and features such as barns, wells or fencing, each labeled with where it came from.

Auctions, pending and coming soon

Search results show active listings for sale by default. Under contract and pending listings, and auctions, are available through filters. Auctions are always labeled and never shown with an asking price, because an auction's list price is often an opening bid or a placeholder. Lease-only land and business opportunities are not part of the for-sale collection.

Reviews and corrections

Ambiguous listings are held for a person to review. A reviewer can include or exclude a listing with recorded evidence; if the listing later changes, an inclusion is suspended until it is reviewed again. If you think a listing is shown wrongly, use Report a wrong classification on its page.

The rules are versioned. When they change, every listing is re-checked and the change is recorded, so a rules update is never confused with listings leaving the market.