Three Months Later...The End Is Near

The end is near, but the beginning has just started.

Today the seller finally met us with an offer on our 40 acre dream property that we were able to accept. $2000 less than the offer we submitted to them a full two months ago.

So, Frankie's dream of a farm...just became a reality.

It will be a struggle. It will be hard work. It will be sweat, tears, and knowing us...blood.

But it will be ours.

Pictures taken two weeks ago, when we made our most recent initial offer.

The "back 40" - it goes far past the first grove of trees in the distance.

Countdown...

It's about a week, to a week and a half, before we put offers on one, or two (depending on how the first one goes) farms. It's been nearly three months of failed offers, and waiting.

The first property: 40 acres consisting of loads of trees with a small rolling pasture, a huge yard around the house with loads of garden space, lilac bushes, a young apple tree and the willow tree that we have mentioned in the entries about the property on the other blog, and three pole sheds in mediocre condition, one of which is giant.
Property number two: 20 acres of mostly tillable/pasture land with very few trees, a nice sized yard, and three maples in the handful of trees in the yard - for tapping syrup - the house is half the size of the first property and it has three buildings in very good condition, one of which is very small.

Both houses need A LOT of work.

It's getting close to fall, which is a good time to select gardening spots on those properties - they currently don't have any from the last owners - and till it up, working the dirt, preparing it for it's first growing season.

Soon we will have renovation tales, and photos of as much as we can, and we will be a whole different kind of stressed, the kind that comes with a massive uncertain future, as the whole of us, and James, try to build a self-sustaining existence and become "farmers".

Step One: Find Property

We might be making our first offer on a piece of property.

40 acres of mixed grazing field, woodland, and house/yard site.

Buying an old farm/ranch is difficult, the well and sewer are all private.

The septic (sewer) system currently on the plot is a leaching type, which goes into a tank that has perforated holes in the bottom, and then leaches, or "drains" over a treatment bed (made of soil and natural bacteria) and then into a leaching bed, which may be one of two types, which we don't know.

The well is old, there is no township or county data on it (same situation with the septic system), so we're looking at the possibility of getting a new one dug, because the property used to be a farm and also had a good amount of auto mechanical work done on it, which means contamination to the well, depending on it's current location.

The house was left mid-remodel, so that needs to be finished, almost completely.

Sounds like a trap! A $20,000 dollar one! However, with a low offer we have the funds to put $20,000 into the new systems.

The house is a very perfect size with a decent layout, and lots of potential. The property has many out-buildings, as well as a large pasture, lots of trees and space for gardening. An giant oak tree stands in the front yard, and the driveway, which is along a dirt road, but less than a mile from a paved road (from our memory) is a horseshoe shape.

We hope to make an offer on Monday. Hopefully the bankers involved in accepting the3 offer (because it's a foreclosure) have a good weekend and are in high spirits.