Today I remembered that I had this blog! It's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? It's been a roller coaster of a summer, so buckle up, and I'll see if I can remember all the details in the proper order.
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Our desired proximity to town was a pretty limited area, so after a long dry spell with nothing good coming on the market, we decided to look a little further out. At the end of April we found a very pretty lake property north of Buffalo, but it already had a pending offer on it, with contingencies. We made an attempt to put in an offer in case their contingencies fell through, but that purchase went through without us.
Next we started looking south of town, which would give Sid a significantly longer commute due to having to get through town with multiple stop lights, so that wasn't our first choice. On a Wednesday I found a spot about 5 miles south of town. It was open land with a tree line down the west edge, and had a spring and pond on the back portion. We drove out on Saturday to take a look. We both loved what we saw, came home and looked up the listing to get the info to send our realtor, and it was now Sale Pending! Bummer! We also looked at a couple others in that direction, but nothing we really liked.
In early June, with nothing else coming up for sale (other than lots of farmland, which we DON'T want) we made another stab at the overpriced one from February (previous post). The location was really ideal, though we still had reservations re: the wet spot. We finally came to an agreement on price with the seller- more than we wanted to spend on it, but well under his asking price. We wrote up the offer with a contingency re: an official answer on the wet spot. We couldn't actually get someone out there to check it until we had a signed agreement. Which didn't come. And didn't come. (We're talking days here, not weeks) Checked with the realtor, and the seller was trying to work out some kink re: a lien on the property. So we left that offer sitting open, but I was still watching the listings.
Mid June I had a trip planned with some girlfriends. Before leaving on that Friday, I glanced at the listings. A new one was up only a couple miles west of town and it looked beautiful! Lake frontage too! I left town; Sid went and looked at it and liked what he saw. After I got back Saturday evening, we both went back for another look. Loved it! Sunday we contacted the realtor. We could still pull out of the previous deal because the seller had never signed. We asked her to write up an offer on the new one, and cancel the previous offer. First thing Monday morning, she contacted the realtor of the new property, only to be told that the seller had made a private sale and was pulling it off the market! GRRR! Did we still want to cancel the previous offer? No, let it stand. Later that afternoon, she called to say that seller could not work out whatever the problem was with the lien-holder and was pulling the land from the market! Dang! TWO possibilities lost in one day!
Kept watching the listings. Nothing. More Nothing. A couple listings worth looking at, but nothing to get excited about. If we were going to spend that kind of money it should at least be something worth getting excited about!
Three days ago, again on a Friday, a listing that looked good showed up. A little further out from town than I'd like, but definitely do-able. Spotted it in the afternoon, and we drove out after supper. LOVED it! Very good price, too!
Contacted the realtor that night and she wrote up an offer, which was ready to sign on Saturday morning. She let us know there were already other offers so we upped our offered price slightly above asking. Saturday evening all the realtors involved were told there were several offers, and the sellers would "review them all on Monday", and did anyone want to sweeten the pot? We upped our offer a bit more, said we could be flexible on closing date as long as we had time to make sure about it being legally build-able, and proceeded to chew fingernails!
I will state here that I officially do NOT like the process of buying land! We have lost out on multiple different places this summer, all for different reasons and none of which involved being outbid. What is the actual meaning of "We're going to review them all on Monday"? They haven't even looked at them yet are are waiting to see if more come in? There is a clear high bid, but they want to yank everyone's chain and see if more money falls out? There is a tie for the highest and they want to see who will raise their offer the most? Why can't they just say what they mean and give people a straight answer so buyers can make informed decisions?
Today I got a text asking if we could close by the 24th. No other info. Just that question. We said yes, with the same contingency. The realtor dealt with her end; I proceeded to track down the info we needed - not an easy task since I was not home and all my links and phone numbers were! My daughter's computer, a few quick searches and several phone calls later and we had a partial answer.
I tell you, it sure helps to know people!! In short, I needed to be sure that: 1. Can we put a house on this lot (county - zoning that restricts houses per 40 acres in farming country), and 2. Can we put in a driveway where we need it (township - because they maintain the road, not the county), and 3. Can we put in a septic system (county - requires a perc test on the ground). I started with a call to the appropriate department at the county. The answers she gave me were wishy-washy. Like the clerk was afraid she'd get sued if she gave inaccurate info and therefore would not commit to her answers. Maybe it was just her style of speech but it did not lead to a confident feeling on my part. They were the answers I needed, but left me feeling like they were all "maybe" not definite. Next I called a friend whose husband does a lot of real estate business, hoping to get a better answer on exactly WHAT I needed to research in order to get definite answers. He listened to my questions and referred me to a friend from church who works in the office I had already called (but deals with a specific aspect of the office and "clerk" is not his job) Assured me he always asks for this person directly and gets much better answers. I looked up this person's number, played a brief round of phone tag, and finally got some real answers. Short version- YES, this is a "build-able" lot and is already approved for a house and septic. If we want to build on the bare hill-top (we do) we are good to go! The township question re: the driveway is still unanswered. I called them, but they are only open 3 half-days a week, and I had missed the hours today. Should be no problem as there is already a temp driveway in place, good visibility and no ditches to cross.
At the end of the day- WE HAVE LAND!! Papers are signed, earnest money has been paid, and we close on Aug 24th. Still have a contingency in place re: all of the above in case something goes wrong re: the driveway, or I learn of some other requirement that I don't know about yet. Don't know yet how much we can get done this year. The next step is to find a builder.
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