Follow our story as we make the biggest decision of our lives. How and why we decided to move from a subdivision, after 40 years, to start a hobby farm for our grandkids with ZERO farming or gardening experience, lol!
Here is what happened…
My oldest daughter (Abbie) was walking on the bike path just blocks from her home. She saw a sign posted on a white rail type fence stating
For Sale By Owner
House – Two Outbuildings
9.33 acres of Land
……she called, telling me about the sign and the property. Trying to explain where it was, just four miles from the house we had lived in for forty years, lol!
Too late in the game...
We had thrown around the idea for years of getting some property in the country, getting a couple of dirt bikes for the grandkids and so on…but now I had retired, and my husband (Ken) was retiring in two years. Too late in the game to consider moving and starting over.
Ken and I had decided less than a year ago to retire in our current house. The grandkids all lived within a 10-mile radius, and we wanted to be a big part of their lives.
Our kitchen had been remodeled just 8 months ago and all the carpet in the house was taken up to have 5-inch maple hardwood floors put in.
Ken replaced the boards on the 30-year-old deck and installed modern cable wires for railing. We bought a new air conditioner and had the house in pretty good shape. We weren’t going anywhere.
Did those words just come out of my mouth?
While talking to my daughter. For some reason I said…”ok, I’ll get in the car and go see it.” Did those words just come out of my mouth? Driving over I was thinking…what am I doing, we just finished the house. Ken would never agree, he wouldn’t even consider looking at it.
Small green ranch style house
Here I was in the driveway of a small light green ranch style house. Nothing special but well kept, I thought to myself. I could live with this.
Knocking on the door, no one home. I left a message on the answering machine that I was interested in seeing the house.
That evening I received a phone call from the owner of the property, he was out of town for a week, but he could tell me a little bit about the house. All the homes on that street were originally on 10-acre plots, he had been there for over 50 years and his lot was the only one left that had not been subdivided. Neighborhoods were on all sides now.
His wife had died, a few years ago and he was ready to move on with his life. I made an appointment to see the house the following week.
Had I talked to my husband yet?
Had I talked to my husband yet? No. He was traveling for work and would be calling soon. How would I start? What would I say?
Hi honey. I know I talked you into taking money out of our 401 K to remodel the house that we were going to retire in but… or guess what Abbie called about today?
I always explain our personalities as: I’m an optimist and my husband is a pessimist. He says “He’s a realist and I live in Sandyland lol!” ….and that is exactly where I want to be.
Anyway, the conversation got off on the right foot. He could hear my excitement and didn’t say anything negative at all. As soon as I told him there was a pole barn and a koi pond…I could feel his demeaner brighten, lol.
First look at the property
Even though the owners were still out of town, that weekend, Ken and I took a drive over to the property.
Pulling down the private drive, back to the pole barn, I thought… What are we doing here?
This place is huge…we don’t know one thing about farming!
I’ve talked about a garden, even dreamed about it, but I’ve never actually planted one vegetable. lol!
The property is a long rectangle, surrounded by approximately 15-foot deep, sections of scrub trees and pine trees on three sides. There are neighborhoods on all three sides, but you couldn’t see them through the trees.
The yard and fields were meticulously groomed. The field was approx. four or so acres, with an few other acres on the side and front of the property. The field was filled with wildflowers, and prairie grasses. It was incredible…
There were two outbuildings. An old garage with a lean too built on the side and a newer pole barn. There was not one weed or blade of grass around those buildings. The private lane was well maintained, the cement driveways in front of the buildings were in good condition.
Obviously, the previous owner had taken pride and care of this land. My husband was quiet but said “Well, go ahead see the house next week if you want to.”
My secret fear
Ken traveled 3-4 days a week for his job. He was looking so forward to retiring. The past few years, the neuropathy in his legs was worse.
My secret fear was that after he retired, he would sit in a recliner all day and watch TV. That would drive me insane. I must have something to plan or a project to work on at all times…. Now that I was retired, I was free to learn, create, plan, and grow whatever I wanted to.
...and the dreams begin
This could be an adventure, we could get some animals, Ken loves animals. We could work on it together…it could be a whole new beginning for us!
Plus, the grandkids could walk over after school!
Oh, and the dreams began… I could plant a little orchard and a huge garden …and a pumpkin patch! We could have a farm stand…I could start a community farmers market! Oh oh…Maybe a pop-up Vintage Market in the field!
We could have suppers in the barn and host our family re-union!
The house was VERY small
The day of the appointment finally came. The owner met me at the door, and we stepped inside. The house was SMALL… I stood there for a minute, in a small formal living room. Immaculate white carpet, traditional furniture in neutral colors. You could see the kitchen/dining area through a small half wall, divided by maple spindles.
I walked down the hall (literally six steps to the end) to three bedrooms… The smallest one was only 9×10. One bathroom, at least they had put in a new walk-in shower.
All I could think about was how I would never be able to fit my furniture in this house.
The rest of the house
The owner took me back down the hall, through the dishwasherless kitchen, to a nice sized family room that they had added on probably, twenty years before. It had a ½ vaulted ceiling with lots of big windows and a fireplace.
The upstairs laundry room was immaculate, just like every other room… but it had a weird flow from the kitchen, through to a small 4 season porch. The strangest thing about the laundry room, it had a random toilet in the corner, lol!
Funny story...you can't make this stuff up
Touring the unfinished basement, (that you could only access through the garage…) the owner explained to me why there was an extra washer and dryer in the basement. “Well,” he said” Those are for washing the rugs, you wouldn’t want to wash your rugs in your good washer and dryer would ya?” lol!
Come to think of it, there were rugs everywhere. In the garage (that you could eat off the floor) in every room and in front of every piece of furniture and door. The fact that they had a separate washer and dryer to wash the rugs…explains what condition the entire property was in.
Too small
We walked back through the kitchen, which had around 2 ½ feet of counter tops…one foot on the left of the sink and 1 ½ feet going around a corner on the other side.
Back through the formal living room to the front door. I said I would talk to my husband and be in touch.
When Ken called that night, I told him it was way- to- small.
He said “Well you’re the one that has to be happy with house…”
I couldn't stop thinking about that little house
I couldn’t stop thinking about that little house and beautiful property…Ken hadn’t even been in the house or barn. Two days later when he got back in town, I said…’Would you want to go look at that house and property?
Shockingly he said “Sure, but I thought you said the house was too small?” Yes, I had said the house was small, but my gut told me to give it another look.
After walking through the house, Ken commented on how clean and well maintained it was. I said, “Wait until you see inside the pole barn.”
The big stipulation
The owner walked out with us to the barn, telling us he had one big stipulation regarding selling the property. Along with the property the buyers also had to buy his equipment, out right for one price and it wasn’t negotiable. He said …” You are going to need these things to tend this property, I have taken excellent care of everything”
He had a farm tractor (that looked like it came off the showroom floor) with a six-foot finishing mower attachment and a 6-foot bush hog attachment.
Two John Deere lawn tractors, and a GMC Jimmy with a snowplow on the front.
The big decision
Back at home, we talked about the size of the house, could I make it work? “Well, I said, “ if we had the wall taken down between the formal living room and kitchen, pulled up the carpet and put a door in the family room to access the basement…”
My husband was quiet….
So, this is what I said” I am going to leave the entire decision up to you, I love our house and my new kitchen, I will be very happy here. I don’t want to be blamed if we regret making this decision. If we moved there, I would want to take the wall down before we move in and remodel the kitchen. If I have a big kitchen I can live with the rest.”
We purchased the property two weeks later…
