The Old FarmhouseOf Our Dreams(An Update)

Dateline: 11 June 2014

Back in November of last year (seven months ago), I blogged about The Old Farmhouse of Our Dreams. I showed lots of pictures of the run-down house and property on two acres of land that is down the road a short way from where we now live. We had agreed on a price with the owners and gave a deposit with the official purchase offer. All that remained to be done was get a survey, make sure there was a clear title, and get the lawyers to do their thing. I expected it would all come together in the spring.

Over the winter I concluded that the old house with its leaking roof of just-plywood (with little scraps of tar paper clinging here and there) was probably too far gone to remodel into the farmhouse of our dreams. But it was not too far gone to turn it into a barn-like workshop/warehouse that I could start using right away for my Planet Whizbang business. 

Planet Whizbang is currently being run out of a shop that is smaller than the average two-car garage. I’m significantly hampered by a lack of space.

The big old house, with it’s solid post-and-beam frame would be an excellent (and affordable) solution to my lack of room. For less than the cost of a mid-priced new pickup truck, I could buy the property, put a good roof on the house, clean out all the trash, and have ten times the square footage of workshop and storage area that I now operate my business with. 

The big lawn with full-sun exposure would give me at least four times the garden area I now have on my 1.5 acre homestead. The layout of the property would accommodate  a retirement home for Marlene and I at a later date. These things (and more) added up to an ideal situation.

But it looks like it’s not going to happen. 

According to my attorney there is a holdup because of issues with the title. There may be liens on the property. He wasn’t too optimistic about the deal going through any time soon, if ever.  

At this point, my guess is that the owners will not pay the taxes on the property. If that is the case, it will go up for auction by the county in three years. By then, with a severely leaking roof, the house will probably be beyond salvaging.

Marlene and I are disappointed but not real disappointed. We’ve been through this sort of thing in the past and we have the same attitude now as we did then. We believe that God orchestrates the events of our lives and He knows better than us what is right and best. We are content with that.

Though the analogy may be a bit silly, I look at this like a child going through the checkout lane at the grocery store with his father. The child is looking at all the candy that is always positioned in those places. The child sees a candy bar that looks particularly good and asks his father if he will buy the candy bar for him. The father looks at it, thinks about it a moment, and says:  “No, you don’t need that.” 

We all know that some kids get upset and even make a scene in such a scenario. But I’m not one of those kinds of kids. The fact is, as nice as I think it might be to have that candy bar property, I really don’t need it.

So we will wait and see if anything develops in the next few months. If nothing positive happens by the end of the year, I’ll get the deposit back and keep my eyes open for other possibilities.

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One more thing…. it's a little off topic but I want to pass on something of interest that my attorney told me. He says that credit card companies are now putting liens on houses. This is evidently something new. Also, I've read articles about people who are now being put in jail for not paying their bills. This Article is one of several on the internet about the return of "debtor's prisons."