Location: firmly planted in the postmodern pastoral economy
Posts: 12,986
Just when I thought I knew what we were doing...
this woman comes over to my house today. She lives in the log cabin that we pass on the way to the land/camp we're buying. I always look at it and go, wow, that is one amazing house. It looks out over the valleys and mountains; it's a bit higher up on the hill than our land and has about 6 acres of cleared pasture, a big workshop/garage, a chicken coop, a barn. It's amazing.
She comes over today to say that she is selling her log cabin and the 25 acres it's on and she wanted to let us know because she had heard through the grapevine that we were looking for a place.
She's asking about 3x the cost of the camp and 12 acres that we are under contract to buy. And it's an incredible deal at that price.
Here's the thing...no matter how cheaply we build on the 12 acres, it is going to end up costing us as much - in fact, more - than what she's asking. But we were going to do it mortgage free over years and with this cabin, we'd have to have about a $500/month mortgage payment. Still affordable for us though.
This land is 2x as much acreage and it's all set up to have animals...which we were considering doing. Our land would cost a lot of time and money to set up that way.
The log cabin is still pretty small, about 950 sf, but workable for now and we would consider maybe adding on in the future. The kit itself costs $24,000; we called today to ask, LOL. It's five years old. So the septic is new...all these costs that we have on the other land are already taken care of.
What would you do? We have to make a decision quickly. We're a little afraid that maybe she'll change her mind. That we will back out of the camp deal, lose $1000 possibly, and then she'll decide not to go down to Florida to be with her dh (that's why she's selling, they were going to split up and now they aren't, apparently) or something else will happen.
We considered, even, buying both the camp and the log cabin. One whole side of the 12 acres adjoins this 25 acre plot. Isn't that amazing? And once we did that we could bring power to the camp a lot more easily. We could use it as a guest retreat for our parents. But we really can't afford to do that. The other advantage is once you have 26 or more acres you are eligible for a farm exemption on taxes, but this log cabin is only on 25 so they miss it by one acre. If we owned the camp too the whole acreage, minus maybe one acre for each house, would be taxed at a lower rate. We considered asking our parents if they wanted to buy the camp, too; but are not sure if they would want to or if that is a good idea.
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b) if it were me. . . I would do what it took to buy both. If things became too tight, I'd sell off all but 26 acres (I'm assuming that if you owned both plots, you could sell a portion of one of the plots rather than have to sell the entire plot).
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Rebecca, wife and mother
Happy Holidays
(and it was the best I could do - I gave it three different photoshoots)
Buy both !!! .. With good deals for both .. and land prices going up.. that way you can keep people from getting to close to you if you want .. and not only that , but later when your children are older you could split the land for them to build on if they would want to
My Great grandfather did that .. gave land to his children.
b) if it were me. . . I would do what it took to buy both. If things became too tight, I'd sell off all but 26 acres (I'm assuming that if you owned both plots, you could sell a portion of one of the plots rather than have to sell the entire plot).
if not, honestly, i'd look into buying the property that is all set up. how cool!!!
you make me want tp pick up and move there!
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"If you only believe what you see, then you are limited to what's on the surface. If you only believe what you see, then why do you pay your electric bill?" Dr. Wayne Dyer
just from reading your post...it sounds like you REALLY want to live in the one that is already set up. just what i get from what you typed....but i agree..if there is any way to buy both that would be really cool!!!
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~julie~
mama to savannah, jackson and baby scarlett due in 2009! STUFF I HAVE FOR SALE
the tax savings on buying both might be helpful enough to help swing the smaller mortgage on the undeveloped property. I'd get both, too. It'll be worth it, don't you think?
Is it your dream to build?? Is it something you really really want to do??
We are about to build on some land and I'm not sooo sure anymore...so, I think I've convinced dh to move to Hawaii for 2-3 years and just to *sit* on the land.
I wouldn't buy both...that's just me!! I'd buy the cabin with the 25 acres!!!
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Nanci
wife to Chris (10/90)
mama to Izzi (11/95)
and Griffin (12/98)
Location: In the Land of Golden Warmth, Surrounded by Majestic Mountains, Inspired by Desert and Ocean, Cocooned in Love
Posts: 2,943
I know having both sounds fantastic, but what is the real goal Lauren? If you go for the bigger acreage with house, you get a mortgage. Will you and Matt ever get to realize your dream of both writing? Will he be tied to the school district for the next 30 years?
What is enough? Which parcel helps fulfill your dreams? Short term, the bigger acreage with cabin is more liveable, but what do you want long term?
I know having both sounds fantastic, but what is the real goal Lauren? If you go for the bigger acreage with house, you get a mortgage. Will you and Matt ever get to realize your dream of both writing? Will he be tied to the school district for the next 30 years?
What is enough? Which parcel helps fulfill your dreams? Short term, the bigger acreage with cabin is more liveable, but what do you want long term?
I wish I had more time online to really follow what is going on but from what I have gleaned, I have to ditto what KimberMama said. Plus I'm looking at this whole thing from my own filter and experience which currently has us trying desperately to get out of debt so we can realize our dreams. (I think I'd do about anything to avoid any kind of debt) But that is my own "filter" talking.
gosh I wish I had more time here like I use to when I was at-home all the time!!
sitting here just laughing after being a little puzzled......my name is tonya too & i kept seeing you refer to me & thinking, "uh, what did i say? have i been drinking?" then i realized knittingmama is the tonya you kept referring to
Plus, I don't think it's that easy to get out of a purchse and sales agreement.
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