Thank you very much TJ, Eric, and Myrth for your insights
Yes, I am moving slower on this because I would love this to be my forever home. Over the past few years, I have thought a lot about what I want, what I must have, and what things I'd like to try for fun or to see if it is for me. Unfortunately, I am not able to get the property I originally posted about because it was sold before I could see it. But now I am being notified of new listings.
The market here is very hot, so it probably isn't the best time to buy if I want any equity anyway. However, I just can't seem to stop the excitement of looking at listings and seeing if the spot for me pops up.
Funny story actually, just yesterday I came across a listing for a real "dog" of a house. It had a BEAUTIFUL property of 12 acres, part tillable and part wooded. But the house was missing part of the roof, the inside looked terrible, and it was overgrown. So, I call my realtor. I say, hey, let's go look at this! Maybe if the price on the property is right, I can get financing to fix up the junky house. So, she talks to the selling agent who lets us know it is a hoarder house, but they already have one offer that they are countering. However, the house can't really be saved. So, I'm talking it over with her and we are trying to get creative with how we could make it work.
Long story short, we figure out several solutions affordable to me and could let me make an offer, all involving getting rid of the house and putting a mobile home on the land to live in and possibly rebuild over a longer period of time. Ideas to get rid of the house ranged from having a demo team come in, to having firefighters burn down the house for practice. (I swear, I am so happy I have an agent and a friend who is willing to go along with all my crazy ideas, and even come up with some of her own!!! It is a huge gift!)
Well, I thought I had enough time to go look at this property, but turns out, later that same day while we were brainstorming, they got three more offers and accepted one. So now I like to joke that I can't even buy a house that I'll burn down! LOL
I guess the lesson here is to never give up, and don't pass on something you love if you think you can make it work in other ways. It would have been totally possible for our crazy scheme to work and I would have owned some beautiful land. Unfortunately, I just couldn't beat the other buyers to even see the property in person.
After a lot of thought and looking at a lot of listings (even outside my price range), I'd say that these things are really important to me:
- Low cost of living, low taxes
- Between 5-15 acres of mixed wooded and cleared land
- Privacy (I like neighbors, but not right outside my door)
- Freedom to own livestock if I choose that
- Within a 45 minute commute to work
- A clean, dry, safe place to sleep - I don't really care about the house style or whether it has a lot of bedrooms and extra bathrooms or a really nice sun room, or whether it is a mobile home. A sun room is nice to have, but it isn't what I'm really looking for at the end of the day
Things that would be nice to have, but can be added later:
- Pond
- Outbuildings - shed, chicken coop, pole barn
- Fruit and nut trees that are producing