Joint purchase of rural Centralia home and property?

Hi, all - My husband Joe and I have uncovered an amazing country living situation. 11 acres 10 miles off I-5 just south of Chehalis with a very big, clean & well-maintained mobile with soaring ceilings. Vintage orchard, smokehouse, goat pens, woodland, well, outbuildings, creek - right across the street from a permaculture couple who have been on their 100+ acres for 60+ years. They have infrastructure & tools to share, greenhouse, gardens, etc. Total cost: $120K. We have $70K to spend. Wanna go in on a small community or country retreat opportunity?

We are looking to move out there as soon as we sell our adorable Seattle urban permaculture home, probably end of August/early Sept. The country house is up off the valley floor, a Redman model Eaton Park bought new in 1994 with a heat pump. The current owners added 2 bedrooms, a large south-facing deck and mudroom/root cellar/garage (would be a great outdoor kitchen), and have kept it sparkling clean and well-maintained. It's being sold out of the family, and we have the opportunity to purchase it before it goes on the market. There is 9 acres of marketable timber on a foothill behind the house, which we'd prefer not to cut right away, unless to clear more around the house itself.

About us: I'm a permaculture designer, educator and organizer - 5th generation Washingtonian, 50 years old, finally recovering from a major health crisis. I've lived in Seattle all my life, and have longed for country living for the last 15+ years. Lots of experience in small animal husbandry, Intentional Community, personal development, plant knowledge, & book learning on natural building. Paul Wheaton can vouch for me - I'm educated & dedicated. My husband is 33, certified Arborist, huge video game nerd and kung fu prodigy, high-functioning autistic who can seem boorish and opinionated at first, until you recognize he's a BIG teddy bear with stunted social skills. We've successfully rented out rooms in our Seattle house for the last 2 years, so we have current experience in group living.

This property is AMAZING, and holds potential for all kinds of workshops, festivals, ecotourism. We simply can't afford the whole shebang ourselves, and the family members who want to sell prefer cash. I'd prefer not to get a bank mortgage for the remainder, because I don't trust the current economic system to stay stable for much longer, and I DON"T want to lose my retirement property to shady bank dealings.

What we're hoping for is another couple or small group, no kids at home, who would be interested in taking one or two bedroom(s) and sharing the rest of the common space - with occasional workshops on site (inside and outside), healthy home-grown and home-cooked food, fermenting, small dairying and living lightly. We have 2 pampered cuddle cats, so no inside dogs (probably). We'd like to add solar and cisterns and RMH to be able to go off-grid as needed, and live on the property full-time. Perhaps you want to re-locate too? Perhaps you want a country retreat that's always waiting for you with a clean room and a well-stocked fridge? Perhaps ultimately you'd like to add a tiny house to accommodate more community peeps? We're open to all kinds of outcomes.

This will all happen (or not) within the next 3 months, if not sooner. If you're ready, so are we. Let's talk!

Hi Laura, I just added this to the intentional community forum. If there are others to add it to, one can always click the report to moderators button to request more.

Kind of pursuant to your Facebook conversation, here's a couple things.

Some friends here in Montana recently purchased land that they wanted to ensure remains farmland. They looked into creating a trust and asked the PCC Farmland Trust about it, and I heard they received a helpful reply.

Kickstarter frowns on real estate things - they're more about products, things people create. A differert crowd source funding might be better if it's purely about purchasing land. As for the retreat idea, I'm not quite sure which platform would be best. Maybe We The Trees would be a great fit. Wethtrees.com

Hey Laura - the place sounds awesome and I hope you guys find just the co-owner you're looking for. I work in the mortgage industry though, and if it comes down to needing a mortgage or missing out on the place, I can tell you that the collapse of the banking industry is more likely to work for you than against you, if it comes to pass. If you'd like to chat about that side of things, you can send me a PM, or I think you have my contact information on Facebook.

The timeline on this property has gotten quite a bit shorter: we need to raise the add'l $40K by the end of June, at the latest. The family is chomping at the bit to list the property, but they have to dig a new well (for an adjacent parcel) first. I'll post some (poor, unfortunately) photos tonight if I can figure out how to get my computer to download them "Dammit, Jim, I'm a farmer, not an IT tech!"

Oh, dear, I may be dating myself...

you might want to check out this iinfo about farm loans still available ...With less than five months remaining in the current fiscal year, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) still has nearly one billion dollars available for farm loans to help family farmers across the country buy land....to learn more go to http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/farm-loan-funding-available/

A brief update to this thread: my husband and I didn't get any takers on the joint purchase strategy, so we ended up buying a different property on our own about 5 miles away. Turns out the owners haven't even put the property on the market yet at all - I guess they're trying to update it enough that it would qualify for bank financing so they can get top dollar for it.

A happy ending for everyone!

Hi!!

I also live in Lewis County, and made the move from Seattle. I grew up down here, but lived in Seattle for around 10 years. Sorry the first prospect didn't work out, but I'm glad you found a place down here!