Thought I'd found some land

rbusby01

So bummed. I thought I'd found some land to purchase on TX/La border. Virgin forest land. It was so promising- great location, owner financed, etc. Then I discovered there were several restrictions I did not like. I want a plot of land for animals and food, and it just wouldn't work. Can you believe, they even wanted to limit it to 1 dog per 6 acres! Man, I'm glad I found out before I bought. Hopefully, I'll find my little piece of paradise soon :)

Monek Marie

@rbusby01 Its good you found out before you purchased it.

The right piece of property will come along. It just takes time sometimes

Linda Bittle

I have friends in Idaho who have had a terrible time finding the right property. Once they figured out that there was an illegal road built on a property that had been sold 3 times without anyone noticing!

They finally found a place to build their "forever" home on, and even now the permits have been hard to get. Hang in there.

frogvalley

My husband and I started walking into our real estate agent's office to write an offer on a piece of land in 1985. For some unknown reason, I hesitated to go inside the office door (which was/is really weird for me as I'm a control freak plus my husband doesn't like to do the money/contract thing, so I'm never out of a meeting). I'm an analyst to the bone, so I search high and low to the Nth degree before committing to a course of action. Measure twice, cut once type of person. A local newspaper was on a vestibule table signaling one final chance to see what might hold the key to our happiness.

I said a little prayer - "if there is a piece of property for us that we should buy instead of the one that we're writing a contract for, please let it be in this newspaper with the financing we need (it was a little complicated because my father-in-law was providing a down payment so we could give our two sons land in the future and I forget the details now, but it involved 1/4 cash down), no more than 1/2 mile off of a paved road (I was pregnant and got sick over 1/2 mile on a dirt road), near a highway (had to be able to get to work during snowstorms), and must have trees. Water (as in a lake/pond) would be nice, but not a deal breaker." I opened the paper to the listings of real estate and perused the many columns quickly as we had seen nearly all of them already. One caught my eye as it had the exact financial requirements spelled out. What were the chances?

I shouted into the office to stop writing the contract as we needed to see one more piece of property. Back into the cars we piled and turned off the main road onto a dirt road. The property sat exactly one half mile down the road overlooking the mountains. It didn't have a pond, but one could be made. There were some trees. It could be subdivided. "The highway had been planned for decades, but probably wouldn't be built" they said.

We bought it, financing was a breeze, the forester who lived down the street planted more trees within weeks, the highway was started within months, and the dirt road was paved to the end of the property within the year. We found out that not being near water turned out to be a good thing. We subdivide it and gave the kids two lots. We couldn't afford to have the grass cut, but a developer showed up one day and offered to give us money plus provide grass cutting in exchange for placing a sign alone the highway side of the property with a clause that said he had to do this even if the county didn't approve it (which they didn't but he still upheld his end of the bargain).

May your property dreams @rbusby01 and prayers be answered as quickly and wonderfully as ours have been for over 35 years.

JodieDownUnder

@rbusby01 when you least expect it, it will happen. It did for us, all our ducks lined up, took 6 months but we couldn’t be happier. All the best to you.

rbusby01

@frogvalley That is an awesome story! It was truly meant to be! I'm keeping the faith something will come along soon. What state are you in? I'm in Texas, but am open to moving to another state for the right property:)

RustBeltCowgirl

@rbusby01 Keep the faith. It will happen. I keep putting money in my down payment account and keep clearing out excess stuff.

Try looking next door in New Mexico. I know that I keep up on things available there, since that is where I want to relocate to.

JennyT Upstate South Carolina

@rbusby01 Glad that you "dodged that bullet" so to speak. My husband and I are in similar circumstances. We have looked once or twice but property here, well houses too, in South Carolina is barely staying on the market long enough to have the chance to see it. We thought we had something worked out for someone to by our house but it was a young newly married couple and they just aren't ready yet. So we're doing a couple last minute "fluff and tuck" things to our current house and will list it as buy owner. This way we're hoping to be able to keep as much of the money as possible and not have it go to realtor fees, etc.

I have business plans in mind and I have certain requirements of the property we find. It was very discouraging when we looked that first time. So we're waiting until the sale sign is in our front yard then we'll look more seriously, that way if there is something we can pounce on it immediately.

I keep praying that all these delays we keep having are because the property that we're meant to find is not ready either. All I can say is tons of prayers are being said by my husband and I, our family and friends that we find just what we need. I'll be sure to say a few prayers for you too.

Good luck in your search.

maimover

@rbusby01 i certainly understand your frustration. I looked for over a year for land in Maine. Finally found 4 acres with a ROW to the stream back in the woods behind me. Purchased in 2015, visited once or twice a year since purchasing, except 2020. Problem is as hard as I’ve tried finding someone who can fix my foundation it has proved to be almost an impossibility. With that being said I know everything happens for a reason and for whatever that reason is I’m supposed to be where I am. For now at least. It’s a hard pull to swallow as moving to maine has been my wish for more than 20 some years. I am a firm believer in the universe giving us what we need when the time is right. Learning to listen to those clues, seeing those signs, and accepting same isn’t easy but in the long run things will work out like they should...

karenjanicki

I'm sorry. That really stinks. That has to be frustrating. I'm glad you found out ahead of time though.

tilathehunn

National forest land?

Michelle D

All the restrictions that are put on things do make it hard to find the perfect place. I have thought that I had found what I wanted several times only to be told that I wouldn't be allowed to have all the things that I want there. It really can be frustrating and aggravating.

@rbusby01 hang in there. Keep looking. You will find it when the timing is as perfect as the land. (I'm speaking to myself here a bit too)

Kirsten Mortensen

First time poster. I am a country girl who has lived in suburbia for many years. After the last year+ — the lockdowns, lost both my parents, etc. — my partner and I decided it’s time to get out (we are in SoCal).

An acquaintance recommended we look at east Texas, so in February we flew into Dallas, rented a car, and started looking at property.

We spent day 1 driving from property to property, but couldn’t find a single thing that felt right. We wanted space, privacy, and quiet, but didn’t want to be too far from at least one larger urban area since we enjoy eating out once in a while. Everything we looked at had some issue that made it completely wrong for us.

That night, I said a quick prayer and went back online to look at listings again. A piece of land that we’d noticed before but crossed off the list jumped out at me. It wasn’t far from the Air BnB where we were staying, so we decided to swing by the next morning.

We loved it. We walked it later that day with a realtor and loved it even more.

We agreed we would talk it over and call the realtor the next afternoon, after we got home, about next steps.

By the time we got to the airport, there was an offer on the land. By the time we got home, there were two.

We’d lost it before we even started.

A week later, our realtor called.

The sellers had rejected both offers, had pulled the land off the market, and would be adding two more acres (!) and then re-listing.

We waited.

Snowmageddon hit. Everything in Texas shut down. We waited some more.

Finally, the listing went live again.

We put in an offer.

Someone else put in an offer, too. The seller’s realtor invited us to raise our bid.

We did.

They took the other offer.

That time, I admit it, I cried. That piece of land was so pretty, and what’s strange is that I could feel like it was “our” place. We had seen instantly right where the house would go. I could see our garden, and our chicken coop, and our orchard. I could feel the summer breezes on my skin as they wafted through the house, I could see how the front yard would look after a snowfall. It all seemed so real. How could we have lost it?

A week later, our realtor called, again.

The other buyers had backed out.

We re-submitted our offer, and after a bit more back and forth, it was accepted.

No words. I am such a happy camper!!!

We have a lot of work ahead of us! We have to sell our home and build the new one. Realistically, I won’t have a garden until next spring, and the chickens might have to wait even longer.

In the meantime, I’m hanging out here and living through you all vicariously :)

And I’m brushing up on my skills! I had huge gardens many years ago. I learned a lot, I even taught an organic gardening class at a community college a few times. But wow is there a lot of new information out there. So glad I found this website and community!

And at some point I’ll be jumping in and pestering you with questions, I’m sure :)

Torey

Welcome @Kirsten Mortensen!

When you have time please check out "Our Front Porch Welcome" at: https://community.thegrownetwork.com/categories/our-front-porch-welcome%21-%28please-read-before-posting%29

And the Introductions section at: https://community.thegrownetwork.com/categories/introductions

Congratulations on your purchase of land!

You will find lots of like-minded people here with plenty of experience that they are willing to share.

While you are waiting for your house to sell and get started building, there are all sorts of things that you can do to get ready. It sounds like you have lots of gardening experience which is an excellent start. Make sure you check out TGN's Academy. So much good information. I'd advise getting some field guides for your new area to learn about the flora and fauna. If there is an invasive species council or branch of government, that is a good place to check for things that you might not want to plant or that could cause issues in your new garden.

vickeym

I try to think when things like that happen it is because the good Lord has something better coming for us. When my husband and I were about to be married we almost bought a piece of land, we thought would be great. It was only 2 acres, but we could live with that. Had a junk pile where someone had been throwing things like old bicycles, metal scrap and all kinds of non-paper trash. And we would have to get rid of all of it within 3 months and they would take $2000 off the price. Cabin on property was not in very good shape but we planned to build our own. The street name was Bridal Lane. Seems like it was meant to be. We went in to sign the papers and of course we read everything. Found out the property was in foreclosure, which the real estate company never told us. They said they could get a sign, notarized affidavit from the previos owners to relinquish all rights to come back to the property. We were willing to take the chance. Half an hour before we were to go for second attempt at signing, they call us to tell us they "just found out" there was a $10,000 lean against the property and we would assume the lean if we bought it. We walked away quickly.

They we found a 5 acre piece on a creek, owner financed, small down and small payments, no r3estrictions, no strings attached and less money per acre than the other piece was. Bought it and lived happily there for 13 years.

flowerpower *

Sounds like it was for the best. Crummy bylaw, dogs need company.

Sharie

Until this current plandemic situation, I never really had a huge desire to own land but for visa purposes was always looking. Lots of people get ripped off for land here but eventually the perfect situation presented itself at less than half the property tax value. It's literally the one and only place within a 15 minute drive from town that is quiet. No roosters, dogs, neighbours. That's huge anywhere in South America where roosters crow around the clock. There was nothing on the land. The bargain price means we can install all the things we need with the savings and the property value will skyrocket once it's completed, not that I'd want to sell it! Getting to know all the laws of the land is good and also learning which ones are flexible. You may have saved yourself a lot of grief and like the other posters, sometimes we end up with something far better but the disappointment is sure real! Hope you find something great soon.

frogvalley

@Kirsten Mortensen that's way more heart stopping than what we experienced looking for our retirement home six years ago. I found it on a real estate app and then the next day it was gone. We searched the state for another house, but couldn't find anything. I prayed on the way back home and looked on the app again. It was there! We went and got it. I would have had a heart attack if everything you went though happened to me.

rbusby01

@Kirsten Mortensen So glad you found your place! Sounds like a roller coaster ride, but glad it worked out:)

rbusby01

@vickeym it sounds like you were saved from the first place, and found your meant to be place with the second one. Happy for you:)