Officially an 1866 Homeowner...and Demo Day!
What a day!
I started out meeting with the seller's at 8:00 A.M. to sign papers. The process was easy, smooth, and quick. I talked quite a bit with the sellers, asking various questions about the home and how long they had lived there (the owner was born there over 60 years ago!). We talked about the neighbors, the guy who will likely bale hay out of my front yard, and the age of the buildings. The machine shed was built in the 1960's after a tornado went through on the southeast corner of the property and took out the barn.
The owner said the story went like this: they were all eating dinner when a pretty ferocious storm rolled up. He said it really did sound like a freight train, and his mom was saying this feels like a pretty bad one. They kept eating. Well, finally Mom won, and someone went outside to take a look. That's when they learned that a few of their buildings were missing (the barn, two corn cribs, and something else). But the house stood firm! ha! So insurance paid for a new barn!
He thinks the other old barn is about 100 years old. I asked if they had any old pictures of the property, and he said he has one from 1947. The owners also said they have one with sheep in the background. And he said that a Mr. Bisch (think funeral home) used to live there. And then he said that a Mr. Burgess Taintor used to live there. ha! He knew!
All in all, a pleasant experience.
But I am now an old country farmhouse owner! I hadn't been to the property in a month. And I want to take advantage of every day that I have, so I decided to load up a truckload of stuff and head out there. I swung by my sister's to pick up a trailer and do double-duty on my trips. I had planned on getting four or five loads done today.
I did one.
Ok, ok, so once I arrived at the property, I did an assessment. First and foremost, the owners CLEARED out! I mean, the place shows virtually none of their stuff! Which is great! I thought I was going to have to clean up a mess. But they took nearly everything! At the closing this morning, she said she left a really old hutch upstairs that they couldn't get down the stairs and a cat. The cat stays with the property. Fine by me! Get those mice!
Oh, and one more important thing. "The propane tanks are down to 3-5%. Both of them."
This was expected by both Dad and me. Why leave "money" in the tank, right? So I had to immediately schedule a fill-up today, as the weather is supposed to get cold again. So I lined up 200 gallons of propane at $1.59/gallon. Ouch! A totally-expected unexpected expense.
I invited my brother out to see the property, and we walked the grounds outside. I was bummed to see that the pasture I wanted for the pigs is in no way ready for pigs. The fence is all there, but it's all elevated above the ground. It was used for cows, and I don't know why it's not set on the ground (easy mowing perhaps), but the fence sits about a foot off the ground all the way around. A pig will run right underneath that.
So unfortunately the pig enterprise is going to be put on hold until that is all fixed. Which is a bummer.
We noticed a pipe in the pasture that appears to be an overflow from the septic tank. That seems odd. And we found other pipes we couldn't identify. I noticed a gutter needs replaced (it's rusted out).
But the biggest issue today is that none of my buildings lock outside! I had planned on bringing soooooo much over today, but I'm not going to do that if I can't lock them! So I had a huge change of plans. I'll need to install an exterior door (replace the homemade wood one) on the machine shed and use that for most of my stuff until I get settled in.
Today was different. As I walked the property, I quickly realized JUST HOW BIG nine acres really is. I mean, this is a LOT of property. Every time I looked around, I saw something that needed done. And this was all outside. Fences need fixed, pasture needs cleaned up, fences need re-shaped, concrete pads need removed, bricks need picked up, and on and on and on.
My brother and I headed in the house, and I showed him around. The propane guy had me test out the furnace, and it brought the house up three degrees pretty quick. Oh, that's another thing. The owner said this morning that his parents had the bottom floor insulated several years ago. A company came out, drilled holes in the outside siding, blew in insulation, and then plugged the holes. How about that! Of course, the upstairs is still uninsulated, but maybe there is hope?
But my curiosity got the best of me. Now that I owned the home, I wanted to see what was below that wood paneling. With my brother watching, I grabbed a piece and ripped it off the wall.
And...
(I'm going to save that for another blog. I had a LONG, hard day at the house today. And I need to sleep. But as a tease, behind the wood paneling was a nice-looking wall...)
Time to put this sore body to bed.
I started out meeting with the seller's at 8:00 A.M. to sign papers. The process was easy, smooth, and quick. I talked quite a bit with the sellers, asking various questions about the home and how long they had lived there (the owner was born there over 60 years ago!). We talked about the neighbors, the guy who will likely bale hay out of my front yard, and the age of the buildings. The machine shed was built in the 1960's after a tornado went through on the southeast corner of the property and took out the barn.
The owner said the story went like this: they were all eating dinner when a pretty ferocious storm rolled up. He said it really did sound like a freight train, and his mom was saying this feels like a pretty bad one. They kept eating. Well, finally Mom won, and someone went outside to take a look. That's when they learned that a few of their buildings were missing (the barn, two corn cribs, and something else). But the house stood firm! ha! So insurance paid for a new barn!
He thinks the other old barn is about 100 years old. I asked if they had any old pictures of the property, and he said he has one from 1947. The owners also said they have one with sheep in the background. And he said that a Mr. Bisch (think funeral home) used to live there. And then he said that a Mr. Burgess Taintor used to live there. ha! He knew!
All in all, a pleasant experience.
But I am now an old country farmhouse owner! I hadn't been to the property in a month. And I want to take advantage of every day that I have, so I decided to load up a truckload of stuff and head out there. I swung by my sister's to pick up a trailer and do double-duty on my trips. I had planned on getting four or five loads done today.
I did one.
Ok, ok, so once I arrived at the property, I did an assessment. First and foremost, the owners CLEARED out! I mean, the place shows virtually none of their stuff! Which is great! I thought I was going to have to clean up a mess. But they took nearly everything! At the closing this morning, she said she left a really old hutch upstairs that they couldn't get down the stairs and a cat. The cat stays with the property. Fine by me! Get those mice!
Oh, and one more important thing. "The propane tanks are down to 3-5%. Both of them."
This was expected by both Dad and me. Why leave "money" in the tank, right? So I had to immediately schedule a fill-up today, as the weather is supposed to get cold again. So I lined up 200 gallons of propane at $1.59/gallon. Ouch! A totally-expected unexpected expense.
I invited my brother out to see the property, and we walked the grounds outside. I was bummed to see that the pasture I wanted for the pigs is in no way ready for pigs. The fence is all there, but it's all elevated above the ground. It was used for cows, and I don't know why it's not set on the ground (easy mowing perhaps), but the fence sits about a foot off the ground all the way around. A pig will run right underneath that.
So unfortunately the pig enterprise is going to be put on hold until that is all fixed. Which is a bummer.
We noticed a pipe in the pasture that appears to be an overflow from the septic tank. That seems odd. And we found other pipes we couldn't identify. I noticed a gutter needs replaced (it's rusted out).
But the biggest issue today is that none of my buildings lock outside! I had planned on bringing soooooo much over today, but I'm not going to do that if I can't lock them! So I had a huge change of plans. I'll need to install an exterior door (replace the homemade wood one) on the machine shed and use that for most of my stuff until I get settled in.
Today was different. As I walked the property, I quickly realized JUST HOW BIG nine acres really is. I mean, this is a LOT of property. Every time I looked around, I saw something that needed done. And this was all outside. Fences need fixed, pasture needs cleaned up, fences need re-shaped, concrete pads need removed, bricks need picked up, and on and on and on.
My brother and I headed in the house, and I showed him around. The propane guy had me test out the furnace, and it brought the house up three degrees pretty quick. Oh, that's another thing. The owner said this morning that his parents had the bottom floor insulated several years ago. A company came out, drilled holes in the outside siding, blew in insulation, and then plugged the holes. How about that! Of course, the upstairs is still uninsulated, but maybe there is hope?
But my curiosity got the best of me. Now that I owned the home, I wanted to see what was below that wood paneling. With my brother watching, I grabbed a piece and ripped it off the wall.
And...
(I'm going to save that for another blog. I had a LONG, hard day at the house today. And I need to sleep. But as a tease, behind the wood paneling was a nice-looking wall...)
Time to put this sore body to bed.
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