What do y'all think?

[John_C]

HG,

If the realtor disses you over it tell her to tell it to the forum.

We'll straighten her out.      The inmates participants here will have her thinking you're the only sane person left on earth

[Jens]

Stink,  I told our realtor that the other house didn't love me and that it was telling everyone else that it only is using me for the money, and that it said my jeans make me look fat.  She thinks that I'm certifiably insane now.   The look on her face was pretty priceless. 

You said it, not me!  You do have 3 kids though, that counts for something in the insanity department.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, the place is gorgeous.  Were set to make offer this evening and had our realtor over for supper, but since have decided that the listing agent on this property is a moron (she doesn't know west from north, nor can she read a map.)  So, we spent a little while this afternoon tresspassing around somebody else's pond and pasture (oops) and will have to go back tomorrow and walk the perimeter of the right property (which lies to mostly to the south, east, and north of the house, NOT the west) and see if there really is a pond that was listed on all their listings for the place.  Seeing as how there is no gas supply to the house (though they listed it as gas heat) and seeing as how they don't know north from west and aren't even sure which direction the property faces, and seeing as how the listing agent has never walked the perimeter, and doesn't know WHOSE horse that was that we spooked over by the pond that was NOT on the property after all, we figure we had best go back one more time and gallavant around through the woods to look for the ever elusive pond that keeps showing up on the listing for the house that is ten years newer and at least 500 sq. ft. larger than all their listings say it is.  Anyway, the problem in this case is not the owners (they seem like reasonable people and are so anxious to get this house sold because they've been deployed for over a year now) and it is not the land or anything with the property.  It is their realtor.  Hopefully after one more trip, we can make an offer on it and get things moving!  Hopefully the neighbors (whose property we trespassed on this afternoon) are easy to get along with.  I suspect they might be, as there is a gate from the barnyard into their pasture, too.  Will elaborate more after sleeping on it and going back out there to see if we still want to make the same offer we were going to make before we knew the listing agent was a buffoon.

[peternap]

That's really funny HT....and your not alone. When we bought our first farm the listing agent didn't include much in the listing. We went out with our agent, who was in the same office. The listing agent had gone with her to the property but wouldn't get out of the car because the owners told her that there were bear on the property. She just pointed it out to our agent.

The result was we put an offer in on a farm that belonged to someone else. Our farm had river frontage on two sides and we had found a creek we weren't very impressed with...but liked the rest enough to make the offer.

They accepted the offer and then we realized it was the wrong place after getting a map.

We went out to look at the right one after having a few choice words with the listing agent and she was sweating bullets because she might have to explain to the sellers why the contract was no good.

We looked at the right property and liked it better than the other one but still couldn't find the damn river.
I gave my son the GPS and it showed the river so I sent my son with it to have a look. He radioed me to come over and I saw him standing there with a big smile and just pastt him this.



The listing agent was relieved that we would complete the sale.

Yes...some agents are idiots, and lucky

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Well, practically speaking, it looks like the land that goes with the place is a bit better than what we were looking at... there are no visible washes on the satellite view (there were huge gulleys and washes on the place we walked around yesterday, all visible from satellite.)  However, I'm not convinced it will be as interesting as the other property that we trespassed on yesterday.  On the 'wrong' property, there was a deep creek with huge boulders laid across like a natural bridge... bet it would be absolutely gorgeous in flood stage, and there was a table rock that would have been a great place to picnic.  However, DH was a little worried about the girls because the canyon was deep and very steep... he was already lecturing me about making sure that the girls didn't go over there without us until they were old enough to know what was a good idea and what was not.  Also, on another practical and good note, I think that all of the "right" property is goat fenced... there are 2-3 strands of barbed wire on top of that, but we haven't walked the whole permeter yet, so we'll see if it goes all the way around.  Well, at least the back 1/2 of the land appears to have the goat fencing...there is also a really nice hay meadow at the front (north) of the property, and it is fenced with 4-strand barbed wire.  I think it'll all work out in the end.  However, their realtor is still a buffoon.  She didn't have the heat on and there are busted pipes everywhere; gonna cost them a pretty penny to get them all fixed.  It also looks like the shallower part of the creek may make up the southern boundary of the property, which would be nice.  I don't know.  We're headed out there in a little while to see... not going to church today because middle daughter was running a fever last night and I don't want her to give anyone else anything (though she seems fine today anyway.) 

Peter, it's great that you got the good end of the deal and got the nicer property out of the deal... our realtor has no tolerance for realtors who won't do their jobs, so she left here last night just furious with the listing agent and told her we wouldn't make an offer until we'd looked at the right place.  She also felt really bad because she knew we were excited about the place and although it doesn't change the acreage, it does change the layout and means that the huge pond is NOT a part of the property, which kind of stinks.  I was already daydreaming about running out and fishing for a little while each day when chores and homeschool were done for the day!  The listing mentions the pond over and over again, so I guess we'll see if there really is one, though not much else about the listing has been correct.

[John_C]

If you get that far it might be prudent to make an offer contingent on a new survey confirming the property description.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Oh, the survey is already a requirement!  There is no pond.  There WAS a pond when the folks moved away, though, but apparently summer before last (and that's when it had to be judging from the plant growth) when we had so much rain, it washed the dam away and the pond pretty much drained out.  I think it would be a fairly simple affair to dig it back out and rebuild the dam.  It looks like it was a nice big pond, too.  There are black willows and sandbar willows on the north side of it, but a wild plum thicket has grown down from the bank and into where the pond was and pretty much taken over. Also, the blackberries are so thick it was really hard to get out of after we got down in there (picture us having to stop every few minutes and untangle the girls from either greenbriar or blackberry canes.)  There was no water left in the pond, only a small damp spot full of racoon, rabbit, deer, turtle tracks and so forth.  You can tell that at one time, the back portion of the property was at least partially cleared.  However, after a year and a half of nothing browsing it but the deer, it is almost impenetrable in places.  It took us two hours just to walk the perimeter of the back half of the property.  It is fenced seperately from the front half, with 2/3 of the fencing being goat fencing and the rest being four-strand smooth or five -strand barbed wire.  The kids were worn out by the time we got back up near the house and barn, so we cut across and let them take a break, and then we drove through the north pasture, which looked like it was in good shape.  All the fences are stout and well-built.  Down along the creek and the neck of the neighbor's other pond, which backs up to the property, there are hickory and pecan trees everywhere, as well as dogwoods.  It'll be pretty down there in the  spring.  There were still a lot of tree limbs down along the southern fence from last year's ice storm, so we'd need to get down there and clean it out some and fix fence before we could let anything loose in there.   We also discovered a small orchard planted (my best guess) about four years ago.  In bad need of pruning, but otherwise looks healthy.  Mostly apple trees.  In the little clearings throughout the wooded part of the  property, there are mostly good prairie grasses (indian grass, little bluestem, big bluestem, switchgrass, and love grass... no weedy species, other than the blackberry, which has tried to conquer all.)  In most of the wooded places, the blackjacks, post oaks and sumac are so thick with so many low-hanging branches that it is hard to walk through (well, at least when I'm carrying a baby.)   

DH is coming up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about the folks who lived there before...mainly because in the garage there is a large, industrial size and quality biochemical vent hood and bottles of electrode cleaner and electrical probes (for doing some kind of testing on live animals).  We know the guy is military, but the house isn't just run-of-the-mill housing that someone who wasn't pretty high ranking would live in.  Also, there is a security system with cameras and a monitor of the gate, and sensors on each door in the house to note when they are opened and in what series.  There is also another security system/burglar alarm, paid two years in advance for police/fire/emergency.  Kind of creepy.  Gotta wonder what he was up to that he was so paranoid.  There is also some kind of special internet wiring (I don't know the details or what that really means other than my husband was fascinated by it.)  Basically, DH said that it wasn't normal home-type wiring, but some kind of highly secure system usually used for government agencies?     So, he was freaking our realtor out with his theories on what kind of bombs the guy was building in the garage, or what kind of espionage he was likely involved in.  It was hilarious, as our realtor is gullible and easily freaked out (I wished I'd had a video camera when she and I looked at a house owned by a taxidermist!).  Anyway, we made an offer last night on it, so we'll see what happens... oh, and there was a contingency that the biochemical vent hood be removed from the property before closing.  We checked online, and it was a several-thousand dollar machine.  DH toyed with the idea of keeping it and selling it on ebay, but we really don't want it there.  In a way, I am disappointed that the creek is not on the property.  But, on the other hand, the land is more practical than the other property we walked around on the day before.  The only erosion we saw was just where the pond dam had washed away, and that was only about a 15-ft. deep wash.  Otherwise, it would only take a few goats and some time to make all the property accessible by small tractor or foot. 

[muldoon]

sounds like a nice place, back in "fingers crossed" mode for you guys. 

Oh, the survey is already a requirement!  There is no pond.  There WAS a pond when the folks moved away, though, but apparently summer before last (and that's when it had to be judging from the plant growth) when we had so much rain, it washed the dam away and the pond pretty much drained out.  I think it would be a fairly simple affair to dig it back out and rebuild the dam.  It looks like it was a nice big pond, too.  There are black willows and sandbar willows on the north side of it, but a wild plum thicket has grown down from the bank and into where the pond was and pretty much taken over.

If the dam washed away then it was not built correctly or maintained in the first place.  If you have clay on the property then building it back will be easy, (well cheap, not necessarily easy) anyway more than likely not enough clay was used in the first place which is what the problem was.  The good news is that rebuilding it gives you some good opportunity to improve on it.  First, add a spillway, maybe two of them.  This gives you a way to control flooding and overflow conditions in a controlled manner.  Second, I would consider adding a drain while you have no dam - this gives you the ability to drain the pond if needed without tearing the dam apart later.  Lasty - you said it was grown up with willows - thats not a good sign on a dam.  willows drink tons of water which naturally drains your pond down.  Aside from that the roots will grow into the dam and then when the willow dies (or snaps) those root channels fill with water which reduces the strength of the dam and it can be simply washed away.  Keep these things in mind when you go to repair it.  pondboss.com is a great site for ponds, their forum is much like ours only focused on ponds.  drains, spillways, clay liners, rebuilding dams, willows, water quality, fish are all covered in detail over there if you ever want to search for them. 

Also, the blackberries are so thick it was really hard to get out of after we got down in there (picture us having to stop every few minutes and untangle the girls from either greenbriar or blackberry canes.)  There was no water left in the pond, only a small damp spot full of racoon, rabbit, deer, turtle tracks and so forth.  You can tell that at one time, the back portion of the property was at least partially cleared.  However, after a year and a half of nothing browsing it but the deer, it is almost impenetrable in places.  It took us two hours just to walk the perimeter of the back half of the property.  It is fenced seperately from the front half, with 2/3 of the fencing being goat fencing and the rest being four-strand smooth or five -strand barbed wire.  The kids were worn out by the time we got back up near the house and barn, so we cut across and let them take a break, and then we drove through the north pasture, which looked like it was in good shape.  All the fences are stout and well-built.  Down along the creek and the neck of the neighbor's other pond, which backs up to the property, there are hickory and pecan trees everywhere, as well as dogwoods.  It'll be pretty down there in the  spring.  There were still a lot of tree limbs down along the southern fence from last year's ice storm, so we'd need to get down there and clean it out some and fix fence before we could let anything loose in there.   We also discovered a small orchard planted (my best guess) about four years ago.  In bad need of pruning, but otherwise looks healthy.  Mostly apple trees.  In the little clearings throughout the wooded part of the  property, there are mostly good prairie grasses (indian grass, little bluestem, big bluestem, switchgrass, and love grass... no weedy species, other than the blackberry, which has tried to conquer all.)  In most of the wooded places, the blackjacks, post oaks and sumac are so thick with so many low-hanging branches that it is hard to walk through (well, at least when I'm carrying a baby.)   

whats not to like?  apple orchard, good fencing, blackberries, creek, pecan trees, hay meadow, and worn out kids  

DH is coming up with all kinds of conspiracy theories about the folks who lived there before...mainly because in the garage there is a large, industrial size and quality biochemical vent hood and bottles of electrode cleaner and electrical probes (for doing some kind of testing on live animals).  We know the guy is military, but the house isn't just run-of-the-mill housing that someone who wasn't pretty high ranking would live in.  Also, there is a security system with cameras and a monitor of the gate, and sensors on each door in the house to note when they are opened and in what series.  There is also another security system/burglar alarm, paid two years in advance for police/fire/emergency.  Kind of creepy.  Gotta wonder what he was up to that he was so paranoid. 

I would agree its odd, but really those are great assets to have in a place.  Not the type of thing you (or I) would pay to do but having them in place sounds good to me. 

There is also some kind of special internet wiring (I don't know the details or what that really means other than my husband was fascinated by it.)  Basically, DH said that it wasn't normal home-type wiring, but some kind of highly secure system usually used for government agencies?   

Thats essentially how I make my living - I would be interested in some photos of this the next time you go out there.  At the very least I should be able to tell you what you have and how to best use it. 

Huh?  So, he was freaking our realtor out with his theories on what kind of bombs the guy was building in the garage, or what kind of espionage he was likely involved in.  It was hilarious, as our realtor is gullible and easily freaked out (I wished I'd had a video camera when she and I looked at a house owned by a taxidermist!).  Anyway, we made an offer last night on it, so we'll see what happens... oh, and there was a contingency that the biochemical vent hood be removed from the property before closing.  We checked online, and it was a several-thousand dollar machine.  DH toyed with the idea of keeping it and selling it on ebay, but we really don't want it there.  In a way, I am disappointed that the creek is not on the property.  But, on the other hand, the land is more practical than the other property we walked around on the day before.  The only erosion we saw was just where the pond dam had washed away, and that was only about a 15-ft. deep wash.  Otherwise, it would only take a few goats and some time to make all the property accessible by small tractor or foot.

sounds nice, good luck. 

[Sassy]

Yes, sure does sound like a neat place, HG!  I'd go for it...  of course,  DH would have wanted to keep that chemical contraption - I'm sure he'd find a use for it 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

   He probably would've Sassy.  I just got an email from the seller's agent forwarding the response from the seller about the "contraption".  Her hubby used it to take plant cuttings in a sterile environment, as the wife said, "One of his weird yankee things..."  DH will be relieved that it wasn't used in strange chemical testing or animal testing of some sort. 

From the forwarded email, they sound like really nice folks. Too bad their realtor wasn't doing right by them or that place would've been sold a long time ago, but on the other hand, it's good for us.  Now to sit back and wait until we hear back on our offer.  It takes a little time as they are in Europe and the info has to get to them and back...might be kind of long drawn-out process, but I hope not.


By the way, with the corrected square footage, we will be getting this house in the range of $40/sq ft, whereas the other house we made an offer on (nowhere near as nice) was around $105/sq. ft.  Whew!  The other place was in a little prettier place, but the road was awful and the wiring was scary, and the people weren't flexible and would not come off the asking price.  This place is pretty, but could be gorgeous.  I love the long porch and covered patio all the way down the south side of the house, and the place has really great potential.

[southernsis]

Hey Homegrown, it sounds like you might have found your place. It sounds very nice. The other people did you a favor by being so unflexible on their price.
I was going to show a place out in the country in Missouri. The owner lived in Florida and the house had been vacant for over a year. Anyway I took a client to see this property and the minute we got out of the car you could smell this horrible smell. It smelled like cat pee. I opened the front door and her and I took about 2 step inside and low and behold there was a meth lab. We flew to the car and left as fast as I could drive. Got back to the office and called the police.
You never know what you will stumble across here in Arkansas and Missouri. Very scary.

Very happy for you finding a place.

[StinkerBell]

Southersis,

That reminds me when we were considering looking at property in Northern Idaho. The real estate agent asked if we had a rifle for the area we were looking in. I was thinking bears in the area...I was wrong.

[southernsis]

There are alot of meth labs here. I have driven down some roads that I get a very bad feeling about. Idaho is bad also. There was a place that my husband and I looked at to buy near Ketchum and I swear there was a meth lab and pot farm on the neighbors property.

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Hey Homegrown, it sounds like you might have found your place. It sounds very nice. The other people did you a favor by being so unflexible on their price.
I was going to show a place out in the country in Missouri. The owner lived in Florida and the house had been vacant for over a year. Anyway I took a client to see this property and the minute we got out of the car you could smell this horrible smell. It smelled like cat pee. I opened the front door and her and I took about 2 step inside and low and behold there was a meth lab. We flew to the car and left as fast as I could drive. Got back to the office and called the police.
You never know what you will stumble across here in Arkansas and Missouri. Very scary.

Very happy for you finding a place.

Yikes!  That's scary.  We've gone into a few that we took two steps inside and turned around and left.  None that had anything I could identify as being a meth lab, necessarily, but some that were in such squalor that they needed to be bulldozed.  A few of the worst ones we actually walked through because the homeowners were there and would have gotten their feelings hurt if we hadn't.  A few that were just creepy (as in you didn't want to open the freezer because you had this sickening feeling that there might be a body in it.)   I like this place a lot, though, and I think it'll work out.