No one may yet be reading this blog, but the universe and God are aware that I skipped last week, when I had so much to be thankful for! Just days after the first blog post, Joe’s home sold! The family toured in the morning, made an offer and in less than a day had a signed contract. We were so excited and grateful, feeling blessed and full of hope.
We looked at a property that we didn’t think would make the cut, but it was close to home so worth the short drive. As always, Jake fell in love with it…strange layout of the house, with a small kitchen (not working for me!) 1600 square foot master bedroom that had a fireplace, but only a tiny bathroom with small shower stall. What he loved most (and what Joe and I disliked most) was the huge in-ground pool in the middle of the house, with a built-in bar, hot tub and lots of entertaining space. We all loved the barn and the huge workshop, but the house was too odd, in disrepair, and asking an outrageous price.
But now that we had a signed contract, and buyers who wanted to close within six weeks, we had to get really serious about finding a place. Joe and I drove two hours through a tropical storm to view another property in Live Oak that has two well-appointed manufactured homes on 10 acres, each is 4/3 with 2,500 square foot and has the requisite bonus room for their “man cave”. It also has a separate concrete and steel three-bay garage, and a one-bay one, plus a beautiful 4-stall horse barn with covered training area. The property is fenced and on a paved road less than 10 minutes off the interstate. The buildings are all only three years old and the price is just perfect! We were sure we had our farm, and the drive home flew by as we discussed our plans.
Our elation faded when we discovered no lender would finance a property with two manufactured homes. One site-built and one manufactured, fine. Two site-built, fine. But two equal sized manufactured homes — even as new and luxurious as they both are — no dice. It makes no sense whatsoever, and no one will give us a reason except to say “it’s not in the guidelines”. We have been through five lenders so far, have one last shot. Joe’s credit is excellent, no one has issue with that, it’s only the property. If the last one says no today, we’ll ask the seller if they will finance, as they apparently won’t have any other options to sell it apart from an all-cash deal, which isn’t as likely in this market and price point.
We have a back-up property we’re going to see on Friday in another city. We also think it’s worth going back to the other property we all loved that came off the market because of the pandemic, see if they are ready to sell. And I will get back to work researching homes with owners who might be thinking of selling, but not yet gone to market. This is the week we will find our farm. Tomorrow is Joe’s birthday and we then have only 30 days before they need to vacate their house. We are ready and open to take ownership of the property that is meant for us!
Eden's Acres 