BIGGER IS BETTER

HUH?  FOR SALE?  SOLD?  WHAT?

Buying rural land

No no, we didn't sell, we actually bought!

It's been in the works for the last couple of months but I didn't want to bring it up for fear of jinxing it.  Our blog header has always said it will document our "journey to 10 acres in the country".  That was actually rounding off.  We actually owned about 9 acres.  There was another section of land that we hadn't purchased yet and we've been planning for it the last couple of years.  We actually thought it might end up being another couple of years but we were asked if we wanted it sooner rather than later and we said yes!  It meant we had to put off some projects, such as the new roof for example, because we had to use savings for the down payment of course.

This is land we've already been using, or at least had access to, and were told to just treat it as if it were already ours.  So I've been mowing it and including it in our adventuring around the property.  In a way, this is just a transaction that's a necessity for legal purposes and we won't have a new spot on the property to play with or explore.  But hey, at least we know now that it's ALL OURS and that's a good feeling. 

Buying raw land isn't quite as easy as you might think.  Trying to refi the house and existing land was not something they (the bank) wanted to do, we hadn't owned it long enough for that...plus they don't really like raw land at the big 'national' bank chains.  Paying cash for it was not something we could do either. Land in these parts is going for quite a bit per acre.  We were told to find a rural bank in a small town near the farm.  We got a great referral from the survey company and the process has been great.  With no buildings or structures or utilities, they pushed it right on through.  We just had to make sure that the appraisal was at or higher than the purchase price (it was).  The financial terms on raw land are a bit more than on land with a home already on it; a bit higher interest rate...less years to pay for it...and a larger down payment.  We figure in a few years, when the house is in better shape for inspection and we have a barn and other infrastructure done, we'll just roll both loans into one note.  

Yesterday morning at 10am was our closing.  It took about 15 minutes...5 minutes to sign the paperwork and 10 minutes to talk about the recent weather...gotta love life in small towns...

So now we officially own not 9, not 10, but 11 acres of land...and the blog header has been adjusted...