So it’s been about 2.5 months since we closed on our land. Closing went well, the owner financing is going well, and cleaning up the property is going amazingly.
When we first closed, we walked into a property that was so grown over with vines, invasives and scraggly brush, that it was hard to see the beauty in it. There was a huge hole where the old house was, full of junk and house materials. There’s dumped trash in several wooded areas. There’s a barn that has good bones, but definitely needs to be made more stable. There’s brush piles from past logging operations, and there’s washed out roads. A lot of work for sure. We saw potential and we knew how beautiful this property could be... that’s why we bought it.
We’ve taken the last couple of months and worked extremely hard to start shaping the land to what we envision. We started with a chainsaw and quickly realized it was not the most efficient. A friend of ours brought his skid steer out for the day and did 10x more work than what we could do in the same amount of time with a chainsaw. This past weekend that friend brought his skid steer out again and we rented one. The difference is absolutely AMAZING. We certainly feel like a skid steer is in our near future, just gotta find the funds!
Here is a before and after of what we did this past weekend...
Now that we see the land shaping up, I’ve started thinking more about our financials and how land equity construction loans work. I talked to a guy at Farm Credit and he explained the process to me and advised we get a CPA. We used to have one and then I started doing our taxes myself because we didn’t have anything all that complicated. Now that we own this land and the tax code has changed, I really need some advice from a CPA on the smartest avenue for us. Do we pay down the land and create some equity there, or do we pay down the house and create equity there? Either way you can’t lose, I just feel like our house will hold value a little better than the land will. I think we bought that land for a lot more than what it will appraise for, whereas our house is inside city limits and in a good neighborhood. The only thing risky on that path is the housing market and what it will decide to do in 5 years when we decide to sell.
We’ve also really been thinking about ways to improve the value of the land. I think we are doing well so far with cleaning it up, landscaping it, and making it look nice. We already have well and septic on the property, so that’s a plus. We already have a fence around most of the property, it just needs to be finished and improved. There are spots that need some work. Dumping spots need to be picked up, bare dirt from clearing needs to be seeded to prevent erosion. I think this land would do well for hay... we just don’t have the equipment for it. Maybe soon?
Moving out there is 5 or more years away, but I already can’t help but to plan the house and decorate in my mind. It’s so much fun! I know everything I pick out now will probably be out of style by then! We picked out our house plan (for now)...
I love it so much! We still don’t know where the house will be, but once the land shapes up a little more, I think it will become more obvious.
I’d like to move the barn down to the lower access (there’s a lower gated entrance), so that Martin can use that entrance and that area in general as farm/utility. The house will be built up the hill, just not sure where exactly yet. I definitely want a big garden and garden shed, but I don’t know where that will go either. It would be beneficial to put it near the house, but I also don’t want it to be right in the back yard or be an eye sore or anything. We’ve started looking at driveways and entrances, types of fencing etc... and we both love this one...
The only thing we’d change is the white. We really want our fencing to be black, and the gate would also be black, and also probably metal. Love the brick columns. What’s neat is we plan to use the brick from the old house chimneys for the entryway columns.
I’ve also already started thinking about what animals we want. Martin of course wants cows, but I think I would like chickens, goats, ducks, and maybe or pig or two :) We’ll see.
We have a lot of work to do still, but especially after this weekend, seeing all the progress that was made with the skid steer, we are both SO excited for what’s to come. Stay tuned.