2.5YR8
Well-Known Member
- Deleted by 2.5YR8
- Reason: duplicate
We bought our place in August and December of 2019, but our history with it started in 2016. A lot of it was luck and good timing.
I worked through college to keep my debt as low as possible while still saving $$ every month. I met my wife while in college, and unfortunately her parent's advice was to borrow as much as possible so she could enjoy college. She got a bachelor's degree and walked away with just over $60k in debt in 2009. Luckily she has a good work ethic and we both worked 2 jobs for 3 years to get it paid off.
While paying the student loan debt off we also got married and started a family. Our careers brought us close enough to Des Moines and Ames that real estate prices were pretty inflated. I got some info on a house that was part of an estate that the family was going to sell through an attorney. The house needed some work, but most of it I could myself. We spent 8 years in the house while I updated it and kept my eyes out for land to buy, but knew it was going to be tough in our location.
Fast forward to 2016, and my father in law calls to tell me he was looking at buying a foreclosure that had 15 acres of land with a house and a Morton building on it. The property had been vacant for about 6 years, and looked rough. You couldn't even see the house from the road because of everything that had grown up. He was wondering if I would be willing to help him get it cleaned up if he got it. I looked the property up and despite the size it looked promising as far as hunting. I agreed to helping with whatever he needed on the property if I could deer hunt it. I killed the deer in my profile picture there in November of 2018.
In 2019 I saw 10 acres next to this property was on tax sale. I managed to get contact info for the owners. I explained that I was planning on buying it on the tax sale, but I would feel better about buying it from them and I would pay the back taxes. They agreed and we closed in August 2019. About this time the county where these properties were opened a position in my career field.
We didn't really have any intention of moving, but my father in law approached us about buying his house with the 15 acres for basically what he bought it for. We still weren't sure, until a local realtor approached me inquiring about my 1st house. She had a local client that had heard we may be moving, and they loved what we had done to the house. They looked at it a few days later and made an offer that allowed us to payoff the 10 acres, and 50% of the property from my father in law.
We ended up with 25 acres, that's about 10 acres of timber, with a 1.3 acre stocked pond, a 4,000 square foot house, and a 20'x40' Morton building for $235k.
I worked through college to keep my debt as low as possible while still saving $$ every month. I met my wife while in college, and unfortunately her parent's advice was to borrow as much as possible so she could enjoy college. She got a bachelor's degree and walked away with just over $60k in debt in 2009. Luckily she has a good work ethic and we both worked 2 jobs for 3 years to get it paid off.
While paying the student loan debt off we also got married and started a family. Our careers brought us close enough to Des Moines and Ames that real estate prices were pretty inflated. I got some info on a house that was part of an estate that the family was going to sell through an attorney. The house needed some work, but most of it I could myself. We spent 8 years in the house while I updated it and kept my eyes out for land to buy, but knew it was going to be tough in our location.
Fast forward to 2016, and my father in law calls to tell me he was looking at buying a foreclosure that had 15 acres of land with a house and a Morton building on it. The property had been vacant for about 6 years, and looked rough. You couldn't even see the house from the road because of everything that had grown up. He was wondering if I would be willing to help him get it cleaned up if he got it. I looked the property up and despite the size it looked promising as far as hunting. I agreed to helping with whatever he needed on the property if I could deer hunt it. I killed the deer in my profile picture there in November of 2018.
In 2019 I saw 10 acres next to this property was on tax sale. I managed to get contact info for the owners. I explained that I was planning on buying it on the tax sale, but I would feel better about buying it from them and I would pay the back taxes. They agreed and we closed in August 2019. About this time the county where these properties were opened a position in my career field.
We didn't really have any intention of moving, but my father in law approached us about buying his house with the 15 acres for basically what he bought it for. We still weren't sure, until a local realtor approached me inquiring about my 1st house. She had a local client that had heard we may be moving, and they loved what we had done to the house. They looked at it a few days later and made an offer that allowed us to payoff the 10 acres, and 50% of the property from my father in law.
We ended up with 25 acres, that's about 10 acres of timber, with a 1.3 acre stocked pond, a 4,000 square foot house, and a 20'x40' Morton building for $235k.