Beginning to look for land in OK

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds great, Homegrown.  I assume OK due to the topic heading?

How soon do we start? hmm

[glenn kangiser]

...and I feel , God helps those who help themselves.  I bet there has been a lot of work involved for both of you.

Now you see Sassy's problem. hmm  

Yeah -- you are right -- it's me.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yes, OK...  didn't make sense to post it under Kansas.  We're already underway.  The realtor is coming by tomorrow to appraise our house, and next week hopefully the movers will be stopping by to give us their "not to exceed" estimates.  I'm hoping by next week's end we'll have everything at least set up for the move.

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds great, Homegrown.

I was afraid you'd never get out of there.  I was freezing for you just thinking about how terrible that weather is.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Woohoo! Oklahoma here I come, right back where I started from!  My grandma called me this morning to gripe that it was snowing there, but I reminded her that at least it will melt there within a day or two!  It's snowing to beat the band here, but I got the house appraised this afternoon, scheduled the movers to come next week and give us an estimate, and have contacted a few rental people in OK.  Life is really good, in spite of the snow...can't wait to get moving!

The girls and I are celebrating with a piece of strawberry cheesecake.

[glenn kangiser]

Good deal.

[Sassy]

Wonderful!   

[fishing_guy]

Woohoo! Oklahoma here I come, right back where I started from!  My grandma called me this morning to gripe that it was snowing there, but I reminded her that at least it will melt there within a day or two!  It's snowing to beat the band here, but I got the house appraised this afternoon, scheduled the movers to come next week and give us an estimate, and have contacted a few rental people in OK.  Life is really good, in spite of the snow...can't wait to get moving!

The girls and I are celebrating with a piece of strawberry cheesecake.

Congrats!

The problem here in Mn is that once it shows, it doesn't melt until spring .  Enjoy OK and keep us informed!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Fishing guy, I know the feeling.  Here in Wisconsin, it is pretty much snowy all winter, too... I get to craving the color green something fierce in the middle of winter... there are definitely things I'll miss about WI, but winter isn't one of them!  I called my mom this morning and asked her what she was doing and she answered, "Lightin' a far."  It was sunny and already about 50 degrees there, and she was out burning off brush and tree limbs that are still down from the Christmas ice storm.  Today is the day to get the cool season crops out in OK... usually I always had mine in by Groundhog Day.  Here, of course, we're still sitting under piles of snow.  Looks like we'll be moving before the end of February.

[Erin]

Looks like we'll be moving before the end of February.

Ooooh, how fun!   
We've moved 9 times since getting married, and I must admit, much as I hate packing up and saying goodbye, there's something exciting about heading off down the road.  The newness of it all, I guess...  And fresh starts. 
Everything is still full of promise.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

We moved twice when I was little, and then I grew up in the same little town all through grade school and high school (though we did move across town once in that time.)  I admit, I like to move... it is the best way to declutter.  At some point, when you're packing stuff, you start thinking, 'Hmm, I really don't need all this stuff.'  However, I am really ready to settle down someplace for a while.

[Erin]

Yeah, me too.  That's why we're looking for land to build our Someday House. 
We like this area, we have friends here, and I figure if we hurry up and put down roots, when my husband is sick of his job he'll just have to find something around here instead. (Ranch managers aren't like mechanics.  Every town doesn't need one so a move is a big one)

And yeah, I agree completely about the excuse to declutter.  In fact, DH and i were just discussing this.  Since it's been four years since the last time we moved, we've had time to accumulate plenty of junk!  It'll be a lot of fun when it is time to move.   

[Sassy]

I don't particularly like to move - as a kid - my dad being in the Air Force, I went to kindergarten in Ohio, California & Massachusetts!  Went to 2nd grade in Mass & CA - stayed in CA until I was out of highschool - then my dad bought the almond farm - many moves since then.  I'm still looking at moving everything from our house in the valley to our cabin in the mountains - been going through stuff slowly - we don't have the main part of the house done at all so don't have any room at this time to move.  I just have too much stuff.   

Homegrown,  at least you've been planning the move for several months - you're part of the way packed up already, aren't you?  That helps.  I'm really happy for you that things have turned out so well with the job for your DH & the location - everything you wanted 

[MountainDon]

We both do not like moving. Every so often we do take on a room, storage shed, corner of the garage or attic and go through the accumulated items. Sometimes we're surprised..."Oh, that's where that has been..."

I recently recovered a torque wrench I had "misfiled".    Now I can sell it, I have a better one.

Also a timing light I haven't used in years. Craigslist, maybe?

[ScottA]

It never fails Don. Within a week after I buy a new, whatever it was I can't find, I find the missing item and now have two of them.

[Sassy]

Or, if you get rid of something you don't need, you need it!   

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Yes, luckily a lot of our stuff is still packed from before when we thought we were moving.  We really don't have that much stuff anymore... except kids stuff... I swear things go in their closet and multiply like rabbits... it all comes from having so many grandmas. 

About finding "lost" stuff and duplicates of stuff... this evening I went through the bathroom and pared it down to only what we need for the next few weeks.  Last summer, I bought a bottle of aloe gel, knowing full well that I had one somewhere already.  Sure enough, I found both of them tonight, both nearly full!  I think I'm going to give them to a friend here who seems to sunburn at the mention of the sun... she probably needs it far worse than we do anyway. (I bought it when my husband sunburned at the beach last year.)

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   It's too funny. Ever since my family found out we were moving back home, everyone keeps sending us property listings and rentals near them.  Last night, my uncle sent me two, mom called me three times with three different "interesting" prospects from the Sunday paper, and Grandma hinted that the house across the street from her is for sale.  My aunt and cousin are trying to get us to stay in a rent house that belongs to my cousin's wife's step-sister and is in a really scary neighborhood, but is cheap. 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Too funny...now they're all giving our phone and email to all their favorite realtors.... I've had (to date) about 6 realtors contact me, and all of them know some of my friends or family back home and all want to "help" me find a "perfect home".  I talked to one who makes more sense than most, and she is in the area we'd like to buy and build, and she seems way more familiar with rural land than most of the others, so we'll probably go with her.  She also understands us wanting to buy and build debt free; that's something so few of them get.  (But with your husband's job, I'm sure you'd qualify for the loan!!!)     Just because I COULD be in debt for the rest of my life doesn't mean I want to!!!!

[glenn kangiser]

It's good to find a realtor that might listen-- most only look at their net income off of their commission and try to sell you what they would like to see the commission from.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Ain't that the truth?  When we moved up here, the realtor would only send me listings from a quarter of a million and up, and I called her and said, "Look I don't know what they told you [Lyon's boss, who'd set us up with this realtor] but my husband doesn't own the company!!!"  She didn't want to show me any of the houses that I wanted to look at because they were "too ghetto" etc.  In fact, she didn't want to show us this house... I found it on realtor.com and insisted on seeing it.  She was a bit miffed, and seemed even more so when they finally accepted an offer that was considerably lower than the asking price.  Too bad for her.  She won't be our listing agent in the sale of this house, that's for sure!

We're running like chickens with our heads cut off this past week to get stuff done.  I'm tired.  Wish we could load and leave today!  It's frigid outside, and I'm sick of being cold and wearing long sleeves.  It is 64 degrees or so back home today... and sunny to boot.  Lyon was haivng a conniption earlier because people are quick to offer "moral" support for the move, so long as they don't actually have to DO anything.  I reminded him that the ladies from Bible study are coming over tomorrow to paint our basement for us.  It's only HIS friends that seem scarce when there's work to be done!

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Called a realtor who is a friend of a friend here yesterday.  I also talked to her once when we were still up north.  We're supposed to get together and look at some properties at the beginning of next week sometime.  She is in the area I'd like to be in, and she deals with a lot of land properties, so sounds like a pretty good fit.  I am really ready to look at some permanent place.  Already sick of renting... (gee, that didn't take very long, did it?)  My 3YO is driving me nuts wanting chickens this spring, but I have to keep trying to explain why we can't have them here.  She suggested that they could roost under her bed and the landlord would never know; somehow, I don't think it'd work!  The older daughter really wants a cat, but we're doing well to keep the darn dogs in this holey fence.  And we're already one over the limit on pets with the bird, who the property manager knows about but will most likely feign ignorance if the owner ever finds out we have it. 

Still have 39 saved properties on realtor.com that I want to look at if still available.  I figure it is best to start looking in earnest now because after the baby comes I'll be pretty tied up for a while.  Besides, our rent here is paid for six months, at least... if the house in WI sells before then, we'll have to start paying the rent here after that six months... I would just as soon go ahead and buy land and start paying on it and working on it (maybe moving a camper out there?) before the six months is up so that we can get out of this lease ASAP.

[wingam00]

Homegrown Tomatoes, have you looking into using a Buyers Agent? A Buyers Agent works for the buyer only where many time the Realtor works for the seller. A Realtor looks after the best interest of the seller, where a buyers Agents is looking out for you the buyer. I sued one to get our property and it was great. You my want to do some research online about buyers agents and look to see if there are any in your area.

Mark

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Mark, you sued one??  I think that HAS to be a typo.  Yes, she would be a buyer's agent, not an agent for the sellers.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Looking online this morning, I noticed that a piece of land with a 4B/1B house on it has been updated to include all mineral rights... it's got 20 acres with it, all perimeter fenced, and well, septic, electric, and propane tank.  The house is in pretty bad shape.  It's an old house, and the two pictures inside are hard to make out because of the extreme clutter.  It's listed at $75K.  Looks like there is a working oil well on the place, too.  I am just wondering if they're going to clean out the crap before they sell it??  Also, wondering if there is any way to find out if someone's been cooking meth there or something because it looks pretty trashed.  Originally when I saved the listing, it was because I thought the house would be liveable until we could build maybe... and it might be... hard to say.  The location is right, though... and the amount of land is good.