New Home Owners!

Well, been meaning to get this out since we got back from signing for the house but needless to say I am running behind!  We have had so many people ask why we are doing this now so I might as well try to explain.  Originally we were looking at building a house on the property we got from Terri’s parents but it was quickly obvious that if we did that it would be very difficult to get started on it before we got back.  Add to that it is an unimproved property so besides the long process of building we would have to get electric lines run and a well put in pretty much before anything else.  We are looking at getting back in the March time frame when the ground may still be frozen it could mean conceivably having to stay with Terri’s parents for six months or more while we build the house.  That is something we really did not want to do so it looked like buying would be the best option for now and we could take our time building our retirement house.

Now the question was when.  Some things to remember, the area we are moving to is pretty much farm land, houses are generally at least a mile or more apart from the closest neighbor (not always but generally.  What I am getting at is there are only so many houses in the area.  We set up what we were looking for, we wanted to be relatively close to the property we were already working, we wanted at least some out buildings so that once we did get out I would not have to do a lot of building before I could at least get started, and we wanted enough property that we could get started on that property and gradually move it to the other property.   We decided if we could find a piece of property that fit what we were looking for we would go ahead and get it since there is no telling if something would be available later that would be a decent value for the money.  

The first house we considered had a decent barn, but was a pretty small house, only about 1300 square feet which by itself was not bad in size but we it was not something we fell in love with, it was on 6 acers and the property had a good shape to it and it was only 1 mile from the other property.  The catch was $170k, basically about 40k more than we thought it was worth on the high side!  Not to mention it would still take quite a bit of work and fencing before I could really get started with the homestead. 

The Second house was a bit bigger with what I considered great outbuildings, it was a split level about 2500 square feet on decent acreage but the shape of the lot was not conducive for what we wanted to do. It was an odd shaped lot with a long narrow drive way that used up a decent portion of the acerage.  I also was not sold with the kitchen being on the top floor of the split level.  Priced at about 230k at least I felt it was closer to the worth of the property.

The third house was the last one that fit into what we were looking for.  It is the one we ended up buying, we decided on this one because it was to closest to being ready for what I wanted to do and we felt at 250k (asking price)  it was the best value for the money.  Compared to the first house for $70k more we got 2500 ADDITIONAL square feet of living space, an attached two care garage, two fenced in pastures, and two additional out buildings not to mention a couple extra acers .  To use a football analogy sometimes you just have to take the best athlete in the draft for the draft position rather then fill the slot you need to fill with a lower caliber player.

At the end of the day we are homeowners, again and one step closer to our retirement goals!  The fight back to the states to sign for the house was pretty uneventful just long.  We made it back and enjoyed a dinner at Texas Roadhouse before heading down to do a drive by of the property.  Once we got there we got out first surprise of the trip!  As part of the conditions we specified that we wanted a survey done to verify the property boarders.  From looking at the overhead pics from the tax office we knew that the boundaries on the south and the west extended beyond the fence line into the surrounding farm land.  On the south it ended up about 10 feet off and on the west it was probably closer to 15-20 feet both to our benefit!  On the flip side the boundary on the North was about 5 foot off to the neighbor’s benefit. The huge issue there is that is part of the fence line of the pasture is technically on the neighbor’s property!  The fencing was one of the main reasons I liked the property.  So the plan of action is to try to get ahold of the farmer to work out a deal to shift the property lines to the north!  Should be a simple process which means it will be pretty painful even if we agree in to everything in principle!!

I do love the property but it is not quite turnkey ready for what we want to do so we will still have quite a bit of work to do not nearly as much if we had to start off from scratch.  It even already had a chicken coop on it!  Speaking of work to do that is where we will probably start the area around the coop is pretty overgrown and who ever set it up put way to many nest boxes for such a small area and did not put a roost in at all!  Right now there is nest boxes all the way around the inside of the coop, about 15 next boxes total for a coop that is probably only about 250-300 square feet.  So we will knock about all but about 5 of the nesting boxes and put roosts were some of them used to be!

The fencing will need to be re-run in a few areas, but the big thing is the posts are already in the ground, I am just estimating on the size but it should already be set up at about 2.5 to 3 acers in each of two pastures. I figure we will put the livestock on the homestead for the first year and winter then move them out to the other property the following spring.  After that we will most likely winter them on the homestead and keep them out on the other property the rest of the year while the homestead recovers.  There is still a lot more to say about the property but will go more into that later!

Well that is it for now, will write more soon!