Hey All,
I've been keeping my eye on a particular property here in Chester County, PA for a while now and just saw it drop significantly in price since it's been on the market for a while. The old asking price was way too high given the work it needed, but now it's about what I thought was on the high-side of fair. I think it would make a great homestead, but wanted to get some feedback from folks that have been through this before as no-one in my family has...
The Place
The place is a 10 acre farmstead and has several older buildings on the property. The land is relatively flat, but has enough contour to make it interesting. It is mostly open, with some trees near the house/barn and property boundaries. It is a corner lot on a main-ish road (main for the country) and has some great schools. Taxes aren't great, but at 10 acres we can start applying for some farming/ag exemptions. We can pay it as is, but I like to give the government as little as possible on general principle. The soil survey says the property has the following makeup
CaB Califon loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes 2.5 25.7%
CpB Cokesbury silt loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes 0.4 4.5%
GdB Gladstone gravelly loam, 3 to 8 percent slopes 5.9 60.4%
W Water 0.9 9.5%
The main building was done in 1774, with three additions done after. One of those additions was remodeled into a separate suite/apartment which is probably where we'd live while doing renovations on the rest. The whole thing is solid stone. The layout is a bit rough, but my wife (an architect) and I (a competent builder) think we can relocate the stairs to improve the flow, and then redo the bathrooms, kitchen, and interiors as necessary. From what I can tell, there are no structural issues with the main building.
There is a carriage house that has been updated into a stand alone apartment, but it needs some major work done to the roof. It's a really cool building, though. Water comes from the main house and it has it's own electric water heater, kitchen, bathroom, and electric heat. It also has a chimney set up for wood heat.
There's a shop/garage that's a bit rickety, but in decent shape. There's also a small one-car garage that needs to be taken down.
Rounding out the out-"buildings" is a genuine, concrete, walk-in spring house, complete with trench, which feeds the 1 acre pond. This is a major selling point for me, and also one of the reasons the place is a bit expensive.
Finally, there is the barn. Oh, the barn. It's an old stone bank barn, probably close to three stories, and just recently had the roof redone. It's down-right awesome. The problem is that the floors are in very rough shape, and that one of the timberframe joints (
a nibbed scarf joint) has slipped about 4". This has me worried as the only way I think a joint like this could slip is if the outer walls have bowed out. In my mind, that's a type 1 problem that can't really be fixed. I'll be bringing a level and camera to look very closely at that this coming week. The end goal with this would be for shop space in the basement and event space in the main area.
The Plan
The wife and I are currently working about a half hour from the place. It's within an hour and change commute of Reading, Lancaster, and Philly, so long-term job prospects are good for the both of us. We would move in to the in-law apartment and do the base required renovations first. This would probably mean moving the stairs, redoing the bathrooms (they need it for more than just cosmetic reasons), and getting the barn professionally repaired (that's just out of my league). We'd also paint (me) and seal (professional) the house right away.
Next year, we'd look at hardscaping changes, getting sheep/ducks/fish, starting the perennial plantings, and probably having kids of our own. We'd probably rent the carriage house out for a few years to bring in some extra income.
Eventually, we want to turn the place into a sustainable B&B and permaculture project space. Ideally, this would support us, but we would be willing to keep doing part-time or project based work as necessary. Even if the B&B didn't happen, though, it's a great area to live, have a family, and really live.
The Issues
I'm really worried about that barn beam. I'm going to try and track down an Amish barn inspector team and see what they think. Obviously I'll also be getting a full regular inspection done of the whole place, and will be contracting with a realtor to assist with that stuff as well. If the stone walls are bowing, I think that's a type 1 issue.The old lady who used to own the place passed away and the house is an estate sale. My real concern is that there's no property history or buyers statement. I'm not too worried about this, but wanted to see what folks thought. It's expensive. The thing is at the upper end of our budget, but well under what most calculators say I can afford. I've redone the number with taking my wife's income out of the equation and we can still handle it, but if I lost my job it would be rough. I'm not too worried about that, but if it happened while we were doing the renovations I'd have to rely on a home equity loan which I'd rather avoid if possible.It does need work. Not a full gut and remodel, but a good amount of work none-the-less. It's livable as is, which is a big plus, but the things that need work, off the top of my head, are: Kitchen rip and remodel, 3x bathroom remodels, full paint job interior, external stone sealer, possibly move staircase, ideally convert from oil to propane, redo barn siding in non-stone areas, rebuild roof on carraige house...It's very overgrown. There's a lot of general cleanup work on the property, but that's not a big deal. Wondering if I should try and do some clearing to look at anything in particular?
So...
I think the place is a fantastic opportunity and am leaning towards yes. The wife's largely on board at this point too, but is holding he full judgement until we do some measurements and get the inspections done. Just wanted to get some feedback and thoughts from folks that have been through this before.
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