# Buying my first farm! BAH! The stress is killing me. Advice???



## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

Wow! That IS a killer deal, especially in your part of the country (I lived in WA for 10 years). I paid more than that for my fixer upper farmhouse thats only on just over 6 acres! And property values are much higher out there than in the midwest.

As far as the loans, I can't really help you. I bought my property cash outright from an inheritance. But I have been through the process before and I know how nerve racking the waiting can be!

Only advise I'd offer, on a fixer upper, is get a REALLY, REALLY good home inspector. Even if the circumstances mean the inspection report can't alter the price (on a lot of short sales and foreclosures, homes are as is) you are best off spending the 2-300 bucks to really know what you are in for. I personally think it's really worth it, for the first year or two in a home, to invest in a home warranty, oftentimes sellers will provide them if you ask, and even if they wont, you can get them for a pretty reasonable price, and when you need them, if you go with a good company, they can really come through. Since moving in to my house here, I've had the furnace replaced, the water heater replaced, most the plumbing redone, a cistern filled in, and some electric rewired, all on the home warranties dime


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I don't have advice, but I just want to say congrats! It's really nervracking, i know. We bought ours in September.
one thing- offer NOW! Its sooooooo cheap for all that! Once fixed up, if you want to sell it in a better economy, its already worth what, 3 time that mcuh? 4 times that much?
and 40 acres!
If you really like it, offer now. Good luck and give us pics!


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

Indy- Yeah WA houses with acres are insane in prices. But this place is sorta in the middle of the state so property is more on the cheap side in eastern WA. 
They wont go any lower on the price, which is understandable. The fixer upper part is a nice way of saying cleaning their crap out of the house! When we went to see it, we looked at the bigger house first and right in the mud room there is a HUGE mountain of crap. Im 5'2 and it was like my shoulder hight. By the looks of things it needs cosmetic things and tlc to get it purdy. There was also a broken window...They are fairly newer homes so thats a plus. 
Ive never heard of a house warranty, like what kind of companies have them? 

Thunderhooves- Really? Offer now? Im so nervous about if I offer then what if the usda loan part falls through, even though they didnt turn us down when we applied. And right now were just waiting to get the exact size amount all figured out n stuff. Im such a worry wart! Im pritty sure this is going to be my moms retirement house so no re-sale.Mine im hoping to stay until I get married then I can rent out in the summers for an amazing steal after its all purdy! Id have one heck of an income to start a family and spoil my horse needs. 

Here is the listing for the house. The pics suck really bad and most of the junk had been removed or made into a mountain. My mom and I plan on having a HUGE bon fire burning all that junk....Lol you guys see the lil shacks up by the smaller house (mine) thats where they had horses and there are smaller stalls for goats i think. OH! even a better plus there are about 100+ acres up around the back and the guy lives in OR mwahahah 
Windermere Real Estate=


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I'm not too sure about all this loan-y stuff that you're going through, so just follow your gut. As for the place..........eh....... It's sure a fixer-upper! If you love it and think you can make it work, then go for it! Seems like a great trail riding place! 
Plus, at that price, you have a lot of room to fix-up. lol
Good Luck!


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

I dont mind the work for a good price, the houses have good bones and layouts. 

Maybe I will put in the offer at least then no one can come up and grab it if they do accept the offer.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

You may run into several problems. First is that USDA is just about out of money and secondly is that, depending on the condition of the house, it may be considered deferred maintenance and fail an appraisal. USDA is much more lenient then Fanny Mae (conventional) who will never accept the appraisal if the property is as much as fixer upper as you point out - although there are programs for that as well, just much more stringent. 

I hope it works out for you.


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## Indyhorse (Dec 3, 2009)

travlingypsy said:


> Indy- Yeah WA houses with acres are insane in prices. But this place is sorta in the middle of the state so property is more on the cheap side in eastern WA.
> They wont go any lower on the price, which is understandable. The fixer upper part is a nice way of saying cleaning their crap out of the house! When we went to see it, we looked at the bigger house first and right in the mud room there is a HUGE mountain of crap. Im 5'2 and it was like my shoulder hight. By the looks of things it needs cosmetic things and tlc to get it purdy. There was also a broken window...They are fairly newer homes so thats a plus.
> Ive never heard of a house warranty, like what kind of companies have them?


Ahh, is it down around Vantage and the Columbia River Basin? I LOVE that part of the country. I lived in the Kitsap Penninsula, but I went to school at WSU so used to make the drive across the state to Pullman pretty frequently.

I know what you mean about cleaning up other people's crap, that was part of the problem at this out when I got it too. I took 4 15 ft long dumpsters of crap just out of the barn! Trash bags full of old papers, moldy stuffed animals, waterlogged books ETC about waist deep throughout. I don't know how people can live like that. Luckily the house wasn't AS bad, but it was still several weeks until I was able to move in.

Like I said, still get the home inspection done. It will give you a good idea on the things you CAN'T see but might need immediate attention, and in that area make sure to get a pest inspection to check for termites/termite damage as well. From the pictures it looks like the smaller cabin would probably need a new roof right away, and you have the porches on the bigger house that have unfinished plywood up, with no weather protection, so you will want to take that down and replace it and get siding on it before winter for sure. 

Over all, even if you have to dump a lot of money into the property once you get a hold of it, I agree with you, real estate investments like this are always a pretty good return - once the market comes back up, if you did ever decide to sell you'd likely get more than your money back. Especially if you do a lot of fixing up and updating.

This is the company I have my home warranty with - again, they are really worth getting in this kind of situation! Home Warranty - Take the Global Approach to Protecting Your Home


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

Iridehorses- Oh, hmmm. Well now im just going to be burning my bitches until thursday to find out for sure about it all. And its only saturday! 

Indy- The town is about 1hr and 20 mins from spokane. Its all deserty out there well mixed with hay crops.  Yeah a home inspection would be nice, thanks for the link to! Did you mean this lil cabin? I have no idea what that is, i didnt even see it on the property(that I can remember). But it does look like a tear down.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Are you using a Real Estate Agent?

You can put an offer on a house contingent upon your loan approval. So if you are not approved, the deal is off and your earnest funds would be returned. 

I'd never used a Real Estate Agent until our current home purchase and I'd never, ever, ever try to buy Real Estate again without one. There are bazillions of options/contingencies and so forth that most people don't know about that can really work in your favor.


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

No we dont have a real estate agent. But my other grandma is an agent so we got great connections! 
Im going to get a hold of my mom today and talk to her about putting an offer on monday. At least that would give a couple days till thursday and who knows what can happen. uhg, im just being REALLY hopefull about this.


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

Mini update: So we found out the owners are leasing the property to a guy. So they dont have to pay mortgage on 2 properties. Not sure what house he is using right now. But I guess its livable... Im thinking hes cleaning up the place to. At least i hope so. Um my mom wants to keep his lease (if we buy it) that way we still wont have to pay money out of our pocket, the rent will already be paid! And with that extra money saved we can get it fixed up quicker before next summer and have the vacation rentals. But she doeant want to put in an offer until thursday, which I guess is good. I'm trying VERY hard to keep my mind off it so the week will go by fast. :C


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## Icrazyaboutu (Jul 17, 2009)

travlingypsy said:


> Iridehorses- Oh, hmmm. Well now im just going to be *burning my bitches* until thursday to find out for sure about it all. And its only saturday!
> 
> Indy- The town is about 1hr and 20 mins from spokane. Its all deserty out there well mixed with hay crops.  Yeah a home inspection would be nice, thanks for the link to! Did you mean this lil cabin? I have no idea what that is, i didnt even see it on the property(that I can remember). But it does look like a tear down.


You mean britches right? that would make a lot more sense. ahaa


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

OMG! That is a REALLY bad typo! Ya I ment britches


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

You have alot to consider. You say you are buying a property, you know the amount, you are waiting for loan approval, but you haven't seen it yet? I can see why it is stressful you have to many unknowns. Ist of all you can get a pre approval to get an idea of how much money you are able to borrow but that doesn't mean you can get a loan for that house. Sometimes you cannot make an offer with out a pre approval so maybe that is what you are waiting for. Just because you have a pre approval you can still get turned down on a loan. The next step would be to make an offer conditional on financing and an inspection. If you are doing government financing the house has to be in good condition or they will not loan money on it. If it needs alot of work your weekly rentals will also be limited. I personally would want something nice to rent if I was taking a week vacation on a lake. 129k for 40 acres and 2 houses sounds very inexpensive so it may need more work than you are prepared to take on. Keep us posted and hope it works out.


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

I have seen the property. My mom and I took a whole day trip just to see it. Since its 6hrs from where we live now. 
We are waiting until we get pre-approved for the amount to place the offer. Which will be thursday when we find out the exact amount we can afford. And I really think we can qualify for that size of loan. I mean we have 3 incomes on the application. 2 being me and my moms and my grandma co-singed so we have that extra whatever to make it look good on paper. 

I dont think we would at all be able to do the weekly vacation rentals this summer. It would be next summer after we did the remodels or whatever it needs to make it nice. I think the houses have potential to being nice places. My grandparents actually build houses, and my grandpa is an architech well was. Hes actually got really great credntials so I guess "flipping" and remodels are in the blood and we can always get him to help. 

Im not afraid of the work, and I would look forward to it. So the house isnt my main concern its just the paper work and waiting to find out if/when we can get it. ITS ONLY SUNDAY! AHG.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

travlingypsy said:


> Mini update: So we found out the owners are leasing the property to a guy. So they dont have to pay mortgage on 2 properties. Not sure what house he is using right now. But I guess its livable... Im thinking hes cleaning up the place to.:C


 
When you said "I guess it's livible" made me think you hadn't seen it or you would have known if it was livible or not. Of course every one has there own idea what is livible or not.


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## travlingypsy (Apr 5, 2008)

I ment by the left over junk the people had piled up in the house. Because I woulnt want to live in their junk and wouldnt really expect a person to pay rent to live in junk. So I guess it was cleared out before he moved in or he had to get it out himself. At least I hope hes getting the stuff out and not letting it stay there.


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