New home.

Well we were negotiating all last week for a property that we had looked at last spring and we accepted their counter offer on Friday! The property was listed for sale then it was removed from the market this summer. Our curiosity made us drive out there this summer to just to take a look. We saw that there was a construction company trailer parked outside and a realtor’s sign by the driveway. We called our realtor and asked him to find out some information about it. He told us that it was under contract and not currently on the market.


About 2 weeks ago we just happened to be looking at some online listings and saw that the house was back on the market! We had our agent arrange a showing for us and then we agreed that we wanted to make it our home.

The house is an old farm house with about 1700 square feet. She looks like she was being restored but mostly with good intentions. She is going to need a lot of work. The reason it was off the market was that the bank had hired a construction company to dry up and sturdy up the basement. The basement is still super creepy and in need of some more work and A LOT of money which is going to suck…big time. But we were able to get a good deal on the house and property.

The property is 6.07 acres and was one time fenced for horses. The fence posts are all still up but the fence is down or missing. Its hard to see much as the yard and pasture are overrun with weeds that are taller than me in some spots. The pasture also has an automatic Richie waterer, but it’s pretty old and looks like the drinking bowls are pretty rusty. I’m not sure if those can be replaced or if the whole thing needs to be replaced. It has a barn with a lean. The barn roof needs some work especially over the lean. I think we are going to replace the roof with a steel roof since it requires much less maintenance. The previous owners looked like they were trying to fix the barn up though as there are new garage doors on both sides as well as a garage door up in the loft. They also built three brand new box stalls inside the barn. The Tack room is very tiny so we will obviously have to do something about that! My tack has been multiplying by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the summer. Hubby added a new saddle to our fleet making making our grand total number of saddles 5. We have 5 saddles and only two horses…hmm guess we can fix that by getting more horses!!! Haha just kidding.

Up by the drive way there is another little pasture/corral. I am thinking that they had goats, or sheep or maybe mini horses. There is a tiny shelter as well as an old hay bale in the middle. I want goats. I’m really not sure why I want them but I do. I think they are hilarious! I often joke that I want to start a goat lawn mowing business. Especially to help out these realtors that have rural foreclosed properties that tend to get wildly out of control regarding weeds. I’d show up with my herd of goats and let them take care of the property then haul them away to the next place. I think it would be great. Hubby doesn’t think it would be great. He’s pretty much drawn the line telling me absolutely no goats. Sad day.

I also have other crazy ideas for the farm. I’m obviously joking and will never go through with all my crazy ideas but it’s fun to think about the possibilities. The property has 4 grain bins that are too small for farmers to get any benefit from I want to convert them into….guest houses!! Anyone who has ever gone into a grain bin on a hot summer day will tell you that that is the stupidest idea they have ever heard. BUT with insulation and a lot of other work I’ve read that they make very comfortable homes! A lot of these big city architects are taking them and converting them into “green” homes. They actually look pretty cool.

I was joking with my in-laws a few weeks ago that I am going to start an Agritourism business. My guests can come and stay in one of my beautiful ag themed guest bins and spend the day doing farm-y things. Activities would include riding horses, milking goats, tending a garden, canning vegetables, enjoying a relaxing mud bath, taking a hayride to the barn dance that takes place just 2 miles from the farm, collecting eggs, and doing farm crafts like quilting and knitting. My coworker thinks that no one in their right mind would want to go out and stay at a place like that. But I think that with the right marketing a lot of big city folks would love the chance to come and relax on the farm and do farm things! Heck I’d love the opportunity to go and vacation at a place like that! But obviously this will never happen. It’s fun though to think and dream about it.

But back to reality. We are set to close on October 7th. But we wouldn’t be moving in until after we go the house ready for us. One of our first jobs will be getting the pasture ready so that I can bring my horse home and start fattening him up with treats.