UGH. Are we going to BUILD??? (Part II, Land #2)

Bob and I know the market very well. We know what's out there, we know when something new pops up. Sometimes, it's hard not to check the real estate websites every day. So it took me by surprise when Bob said "what about THIS property?"

It had been listed for about a month. It was LAND - no house - so maybe that's why we had overlooked it. It was a little higher than what we wanted, price-wise, but it was in the perfect location. Exactly where we've been looking. It was ~30 acres, almost all pasture. I.e., no trees, except along the edges of the property. So any house you build will be roasting in the sun for 10-20 years. But it was worth a look, right?

It was initially a 60-acre pasture, and the front pasture area along the road had been purchased two years ago by someone who built a new horse boarding facility. Kind of gaudy (with a HUGE riding arena), but at least the area adjacent to the property in question was fencing/pastureland.

The front of the boarding facility, and the riding arena.

The pasture/fencing (try to look past it and see the beauty behind it :))

The property is on the other side of the fencing. That is a large (450') poultry barn on the property. Bob wanted to tear it down/sell the parts, I wanted to convert it to a basketball/sports court. The ceiling is low in part, but maybe we could elevate the roof in the middle or something. How fun to have a covered basketball court!

The LOOOOOOONG driveway (the property starts just past the treeline)

Oh, I WISH you could see the video with the 180 degree view!! It was sooo pretty!!

Siiiiiigggggh. Here's the breathtaking video. I know. Heartbreaking (that you can't see it!)

I'm from Texas, so I like views and lots of sky. After seeing the property, I told Bob I could definitely see us there. I imagined sitting on the front porch and looking out on that view (probably 100 acres worth of other land to look at). So pretty! I still didn't want to build, though. You always hear about how much more it's going to cost than you had planned - and I already wanted a lot! I also feel like you can get another room or two out of an existing house (because of the lower cost psf). And. God has really been working on me in terms of removing my obsession on houses. I think it's due to living in a rental for so long. It could have probably gone either way - either I'm bursting at the seams to have a house to design/decorate, or I'm numb and just ready to settle for anything. (I'll give you a hint - it's the latter). I just didn't want to build. But Bob was getting excited and was asking me what I wanted in a house, how I would plan it/lay it out, so I started warming up to the idea. And then. And THEN.

Five days after our attention was drawn to that property..... it's under contract. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were stunned. It was like getting punched in the gut. Everything had seemed to be falling into place - Bob got tenure, we found a beautiful piece of land in the perfect location, Bob and I were agreeing on what we wanted in a house.... 

Bob went into a tunnel of cynicism, and I went into a period of mourning. I'm serious. When I told my friends about the emotional roller coaster I'd been on since finding out it had been sold, they said that those were literally the stages of grieving. It hurt. But one breath at a time, one step at a time, we moved forward, telling each other over and over again that God knows best and he must have something better for us. 

So.we.still.wait............................................................................................................

WHAT A TEASE! House # 12 (AKA # 6)

SO.

In Spring 2017, I was studying the tax map - it lays out property boundaries and has information on house sizes, etc. I was trying to find acreage within our current school zone. Our zone is pretty built-up, so it would be tough to find a house with 10+ acres, but we'd like to try to stay here because it's so close-in (you can easily drive 20+ minutes to school and sports events in some parts of the county). And our kids wouldn't have to change elementary schools. So I was studying the map and came across a house we'd already considered and thrown away as an option.

The Two-Pond House. Remember - I wrote the owner asking if they'd sell their 100 acres and she told us about her 19 acres + house? I made an appointment to see it but she never got in touch with me.

Well, I wrote her again, asking if she was still interested in selling the house. She called back pretty quickly, and told she was thinking of listing it this year. Perfect! She lives full-time on the beach ~3 hours away, so making an appointment to see the house with her ended up taking forever. She'd be in town but then would cancel the appointment because something unexpected came up. Kiiiinda like last time.

But two months of scheduling and rescheduling, we got to see the house.

It's ugly but cute on the outside. The stone is pretty hideous, but I love the windows and the porch.
                                     
                                                                                                                        

  

The windows are SO cute!!

The stone? Shudder.

Pretty trees along the driveway


POND VIEWS
The upper and lower ponds are laid-out almost like an "8", with a grass berm/walkway between them. The upper pond drains into the lower pond via a pipe buried in the berm.
(a little too close to the house)  

   

That's all the lower pond. 

Upper pond:

  Upper pond views (above and below). You can see the grass berm/walkway that I'm standing on.

 Lower pond views (right and below) 

Pool views (good old-fashioned pool with a diving board!)

AND NOW FOR THE INSIDE (it took forever for us to see it, too!)

Family Room

  Bar area below; opens into a sunroom

The Sunroom!

Kitchen pics

Hallway from kitchen, past family room (on right) and dining room/entry hall on left. Goes towards the Master Bedroom and two other bedrooms (love the columns!)

Dining Room

A small bedroom best used as an office

 The master bedroom was spacious and light.

 Master bath/closet 

  

The other bedroom/bath (a beautiful view!!)

 Spacious laundry room; the door leads out to the pool.

Basement pics. Plenty of room/rooms

 

HUGE Guest room/bath. Would not keep the black tiles!! It's not 1980 anymore!!

(remember red/white/black? Reminds me of the kitchen in the Carousel of Progress (Disneyworld), or of Saved By the Bell (anything)) :)

SO - we totally saw ourselves here. Since it really only had 2 bedrooms (the other being an office and the basement bedroom not being an option for our kids), we would have to add-on to the house. I drew up many floor plans. We were pretty close to what the owner wanted price-wise. But she only wanted to sell the 10 acres. The property had ~1-2 acres in ponds, 4 acres cleared land an 4-5 acres on the other side of the ponds that were wooded. It didn't have enough usable land. We wanted the extra 9 acres that used to be a part of this property, but she said it was going to go to her kids, plus the 100 acre property behind it. We asked and asked and asked. She remained firm.

I saw the possibility in the property - you could clear-out a good portion of the 4-5 acres on the other side of the pond(s) and turn that into pastureland. Bob was against it. Too much work, time to get going, and of course money. I was afraid that it was going to be a Bob vs. Me battle in terms of seeing possibility in the property vs. being stubborn. Ten acres was enough for us! We should just say yes! But God stepped in. He drew my attention to the property line. Where the 10 acres was cut-off from the other 9 acre portion. The line was drawn RIGHT across the MIDDLE OF THE BERM. Hmmmm. So - that means we would share the berm with whoever bought the 9+100 acres from her kids. Like a housing development. And people would pretty much be able to walk into our backyard. And/or watch us in our backyard. Let's look at the pictures:

Look at the far left-hand side. That's the berm/upper pond. Hi to everyone watching us swim! 

 See it on the left side again, picture taken from "Lauren's" bedroom. Hi to everyone looking in this window!

This is the view FROM the berm (the lower pond in the picture is the one that would stay with the house). That's the house on the left.

I know, I know, we could put trees there, or a fence there. But (1) if you have 10 acres, wouldn't you think that that should come with some privacy? That's a huge part of the reason you want 10 acres!) (2) I don't want to have trees there, blocking my view of the pond, for safety reasons. What if my kids are playing on the berm or in the upper pond? I want to be able to see them! 

God was so good - instead of Bob and me battling because I wanted to make it work and he didn't, God gave me a 100% FIRM reason why I didn't want the 10 acres, either.

So even though we were shocked that this wasn't going to work out - we did hold out hope that she would call us and tell us she'd changed her mind - we kept trusting God. It was painful at times, for sure. I purposely didn't drive past the house because I didn't want to see a "For Sale" sign in front of it. We still haven't heard from her, nor have we seen any indication that it's for sale (via Zillow, etc). We heard she's unreliable, anyway, which is what we'd already experienced from our dealings with her. 

Siiiiiigh. Moving on.