It’s 2018! Everywhere I look, people are singing its praises and setting lofty goals and noble intentions. I, however, find myself sort of tumbling into the new year, tripping, if you will – disoriented and blinded. I’ll find my footing, I always do, it will just take some serious thinking.
As many of you know, we’ve been looking for a farm, or country plot, for at least a solid year now. We didn’t expect this hunt to be as difficult as it has turned out to be. Oh so much we’ve learned a long the way; that’s another post, indeed!
We have been keeping the details of our hunt to ourselves because there are so many moving pieces. We planned to share “the news” when things were final. Though this was prudent of us, I hadn’t actually planned on anything changing once we had that accepted offer.
It was in the end of October, just when we were planning for our hunt to slow down with the coming of November snow, that we came across that gem of a place and landed an accepted offer! Inspections and such moved sluggishly in part because banks are slooooooow, both realtors were deer hunters (very bad timing), Jesse and I wanted to be thorough about such a large purchase, and in part because the sellers were in no hurry. In fact, they wanted the closing date to be pushed out to May 1st!
We all worked to tie up loose ends and get contingencies removed (namely, inspections). I won’t go into details in such a public place as this, but suffice it to say that this process wasn’t smooth. It was really quite the headache. Countless hours, oh so many hours of time went into this transaction (and also hundreds of our dollars). Just when we thought we were in a position to wrap it all up and remove the inspection contingency, the sellers sent us a cancellation notice! What?! No letter, no explanation, just a cancellation!
It goes without saying that this was unanticipated, but we had no other way forward than to let the farm go. Given that we had been working on this transaction since the end of October, it was really disorienting, and to receive this news just a few days before Christmas was a blow to the joy of the season.
I am just sort of returning to normal life now, after doing the busy of Christmas, my eldest’s birthday and the new year. We are just now getting some time to grapple with the follow up questions. Now what? We thought we were a month out from selling our house! We started packing unnecessary things, making piles of things to get rid of… We had been anticipating living in the country in short time. I was researching nearby places to get little piglets as soon as we moved in. I was so very excited for Spring piglets!! We were already brainstorming that bathroom that we needed to put in on the second floor of the old farmhouse. All of that a waste. Back to the beginning?
Before this particular transaction, we were doing some legwork on a different property we wanted to buy. The neighbors caring for 20 roosters ended up making this a no-go. Between that, and all the hunting in-between, we’re feeling too exhausted to just start back over.
Looking for a farm is really a lot to try to fit into the busyness of life with kids, and this is just stretching on for too long…Every time we want to see a place, it’s usually at least a couple hours of driving. And, every day in between that, we’re having to look at listings. Sure, that’s enjoyable the first week. But I quickly became cross-eyed and tired of spending my rare child-free moments on that task. All you parents know how hard it is to get any computer time when your kids are around (which for me is basically all day). The computer is like a magnet – they could be happily stacking blocks, but when you sneak away to type, they flock to you.
Speaking of which, I have to wrap up my ramblings because little man is up from his nap and punching on the caps lock key while simultaneously spilling my black tea on the wool rug.
More updates to come, I am sure, but for now, we’re taking a breather from the farm hunt. Thanks to all those caring friends who we keep checking in with us on this big move!
Oh Holly, I am sorry that the farm you were planning on buying did not work out. What a disappointment!
But . . . I have to believe that sometime in the future you will have the farm you are meant to have, and it will be better than the farm you almost had. I know there is good farmland in Wisconsin. We’d love to have you back in our neck of the woods!
Thank you, Sue! We really appreciate your support. We need all the cheerleaders we can get. Hugs to you guys!
Holly I’m so sorry! Where are you looking for the farm? If you’d like I can do some networking for you and see what I come up with. Losing a home you were set on is never easy. Ive had it happen to clients before but so many of them are so much happier with what they end up with. Let me know if I can help. ❤️
Thank you so much! I appreciate it. I really do think we are shelfing this for a while, though. Not in hearts and mind, but in our time put toward the search, for now.
Hi Holly, Do you know of any farm groups? They may be a source of information for farmers who are retiring or selling their farms. However, I am not sure how much land you want or how large an operation you are planning. I know travel is a long way, but how about western Wisconsin? Don’t fret, “ask and seek”.
Thanks Cheryl! It would be great to connect with farmers getting ready to sell. We have seen MANY properties where the retiring farmer is keeping the house and selling all their land around it. But I’ll have to do some digging on what you describe. As you know, we are very limited in location trying to be a reasonable driving distance from an Eastern Orthodox parish! Anyway, eventually…