Of course that couldn't last. There was a falling out, and suddenly I had no horse to ride.
What's a girl to do? I promptly went out and purchased the first horse I looked at with my trainer, brought him home, and boarded him at the above mentioned property. The acreage needed to properly keep a horse is almost impossible to find here. Real estate is way overpriced. I was even able to offset monthly board by managing the property. Again - an ideal situation.
Four months in, the property owner suddenly put the lot up for sale. Surprise!! A twelve hundred pound thoroughbred was not going to fit in the backyard. And what about all his stuff?! Boarding him at my trainer's place three hours away wasn't feasible either.
While discussing the situation with the property owner, the idea of me buying the place came up. 2.7 acres for $250,000 was out of my price range and I told her so. She asked what I could offer. Thinking we had strolled off down the road to fantasy land at this point, I gave her a figure, expecting she would laugh out loud or possibly be greatly offended. To this day I'll never know why I spoke up. I figured it was all pretend at that point anyway.
She accepted my offer.
Now I was really freaking out. I did not have much money saved up. Mortgages on raw land require at least a 50% down payment if you could find someone to lend to you. My local bank literally laughed at me when I went to them.
Again I improvised. Owner finance was the only way to make it work. To my utter astonishment within weeks we had a deal. The plan was five years owner financing culminating in a balloon payment which I would roll the balance over into a construction loan, pay K off and build my house.
Fast forward to September. Property values on the island have conveniently fallen 30-40 percent. The housing/mortgage crisis + great recession has scared the pants off banks and mortgage lenders. I put a big dent into my savings supporting myself while I was laid up, and the appraisal (where the appraiser never set foot on the property or looked beyond the front gate) was appallingly low.
After months of finagling I procured a mortgage, two more years to apply for the construction loan, and best of all, piece of mind.
The funny thing is, without Val, I never even would have known about the property. Nor would I have had the
No experience, single income and minimal savings + a great big dream.
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♬♪♫ On the Fifth Day of Christmas... ♬♪♫
This video is amazing. Do watch the whole thing. A great lesson in what we can accomplish when we put aside fear.
