Saturday, September 29, 2012

Farm shopping...we're up to nine now I think


Looked at four farms today. Three scheduled and one bonus. While they all had something really interesting about them, they each fell short in one way or another. HOWEVER, I had found a place further west, in WV with a huge house, 20 acres, and all the out buildings we needed that my husband first dismissed as being too far and now upon second glance, has decided that we want to look there. In addition, we upped our upper price limit up a tiny bit and found a HUGE gorgeous newer (2000) house that looks like the quintessential organic farm house but with decent sized bedrooms, level floors, and no odd smells...

The good thing about all the farm shopping is that the more places we look at, the more we are able to realize what is really necessary and what is not acceptable.

Case in point: while three of the places we saw today were absolutely adorable as far as being the quaint farm house we wanted with some updates...everyone one of them fell short in one aspect or another.

First house. Adorable... Organic looking farm house (that's my definition of the basic colonial with additions that makes it look like it just grew and grew as was needed) with hidey-hole storage and nice front porch. Two ponds. However...the main stairway was kind of off-kilter leaning to the right. Loved the big front porch with the beadboard and the blue ceilings. Kitchen was newly remodeled with all new appliances. Dining room was overly large and I wouldn't have space for an work space since I have to keep my tech editor job. The closets in all the rooms were about the width of a hanger and had the old interesting but dirty wallpaper lining them. Attic access storage was via a hole cut out in a bathroom. Two bathrooms - both tiny. Basement storage was from the outside of the house. Did have new windows and a wonderful balcony off the master bedroom aread. Good storm cellar in case of of tornado; or root cellar. Good sized outbuildings but limited acreage in that it was about 13 acres.

Second place was oddly situated. We had to drive through a church parking lot (Disciples of Christ with an attached cemetary) to access the property. Layout was odd. While there were four bedrooms, one bedroom didn't have a closet. There was only one bathroom on the second level...and the "master bedroom" was rather not so masterly. The property was about 11 acres but was rather high in price for what you got. It did have a nice layout, hard wood floors, and fenced acreage, it ended up as the best choice for the day's looking.

House three was actually a bonus house. The realtor I contacted regarding house two brought along the information for something she thought we'd like. The house was really beautiful. It was built of stone with a stucco-like coating, but the walls were like a foot thick! The windows were newer. It had three bedrooms with two baths...and was all renovated. Had the house been on a lot that wasn't just 6.7 acres with a decaying barn it would have been a contender. The other negative was the sizes of the other rooms. The Master BR with the en suite bath with two-person sized tub was perfect for a family with no children as the other bedrooms were super tiny. The kitchen was amazing...but again...there was no land.

House four was just not acceptable. It was a nice sized...but it was so predictable in the layout that I was able to open a door and say "closet, bedroom or basement" and had no misses. The outbuilding consisted of one new barn/three-stall stable configuration and there were 16 acres of fenced pastures. But it had no soul and no shade for the critters come high summer. And that's the one that I thought smelled funny. And to be honest, the person who was a representative of the listing agent was an Eeyore kind of guy. But that place I didn't like within five minutes.

So that leaves us to looking at two properties within the next week. One under budget with a large house and good outbuildings but in WV OR a house equally as nice, large out building closer to the husband's work that's in Edinburg VA. The problem with that is the GPS and satellite imagery are having issues trying to find the land and showing the almost 26 acres.

The other place we really like is further west, in WV, but WAY less expensive at $349K with 20 acres and a beautiful old farmhouse with a main section built in 1800.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Gigantic set-back


Can you say "I hate old people's caretakers" with me?

We put an offer down on the Wilson's Road property. It was a reasonable offer considering the property was on the market for over 18 months and nothing was going on.

So we offered 20K less than the list price and asked for closing costs and all the appliances in the house ( fridge, washer/dryer, generator, freezer, etc). We waited...

And waited.

And then we heard from our realtor (the "buyer's agent"). He was not happy. Apparently the owner of the farm, a 92-year old woman, took out a reverse mortgage on the property after she tried to sell her dead-husband's business for a profit and found out that one of her sons had managed to drive the business into the ground. Instead of a profit from selling the business, they had a negative. So it sounds like they took a reverse-mortgage out on the farm and then stupidly listed the farm for LESS THAN WHAT THE REVERSE MORTGAGE WAS? Who the FUCK does that?

You don't go house shopping and when you find the property you want to put an offer on say "Hey, I know you said it was only X amount but I want to offer you 50K more!" NO ONE DOES THAT!

What really happens is what we did - we found a property that was on the market for over 18 months and offered 20K less than list and asked for appliances and closing costs.

The other realtor came back and said not only could the seller NOT afford closing costs, but they couldn't afford to pay the realtors because they listed the property for less than the mortgage amount.

Major disappointment. I LOVE THAT HOUSE! It's perfect for what we need as it is with minor adjustments. Most other places need more significant renovations.

This sucks.

At least we're renting now and don't HAVE to vacant the premises in a set period of time. We can afford to wait...and save more cash for the things we'll need.