Land Hunts 15, 16, and 17

(Click on photos to open larger versions.)

Boy.

We never thought it would take this long to find a piece of property. Since my last post on this subject Pam and I made 2 trips together, and I made one solo trip to check out properties.

I’m going to take these in chronological order, hitting the high points of each trip. Listing all the properties we visited would simply take too long!

Since we had expanded our search to include small houses, our trip on February 11 took us to this property on Houma:

House at 19 Houma Way

This place is off-grid (solar with a generator backup) and was a just-in-the-neighborhood kind of stop, as the description was not that great. We found the place attractive, and with a view of Indian Mountain, satisfied most of our basic requirements. Alas, it sold within a week of our viewing, so we never had a chance to look inside!

Moving ahead to March 10, we found a couple of different properties, including this cabin on Bear Lane:

Cabin on Bear Lane

Digging deeper, we found this place had no running water, no electricity in the house, and had never received a “Certificate of Occupancy.” This last is needed to get insurance coverage. So, while there were some good views from the back of the lot, we had to pass on this one.

We also looked at some lots, including this one on Osprey Road:

View from Osprey Road lot

This lot is one of the “pleasant” lots; some level land, some views, some trees. It may be a possibility if a more dramatic lot can’t be found.

The find of the day was a For Sale By Owner lot, 381 Antler Ridge. Terrific views, good access, and a well and septic in place.  (Also a small garage that should be demolished due to water damage and deterioration, which would leave a usable cement pad.)

View from 381 Antler Ridge

This photo looks great blown up full-size! At the top of the lot is an old foundation, well, electrical service, and views:

381 Antler Ridge foundation

The lady who owns this lot called me back, and her pricing for the lot (2.74 acres) is way out of line, even considering the well and septic. We feel, based on looking at many other lots in the area, this property is worth somewhere in the $60k range. The owner is asking $100k, so it is  not likely we can come to an agreement. Too bad, as this is a great lot and we could be very happy with it.

Which brings us to my solo trip on March 17, when I went over on my motorcycle. While I looked at 7 lots and revisited Antler Ridge, this trip didn’t turn up much. I did look at a property on Murphy Road — house and a shed plus 45 acres of land. Listed as a forclosure, there was not a tree or shrub in sight.

631 Murphy

I checked out 2 side-by-side For Sale lots on Sanderling, but both are very steep. Good views from the top, though.

Sanderling lot

While I was getting ready to walk this lot, I spoke to a guy on the neighboring lot. He said he would sell me his acres, as he had to take care of his aging parents and needed the money. I told him I was interested and gave him my business card. We will see if anything comes of it.

For now we have come to a stopping point. We have looked at and walked dozens of lots in the area we like the best, and will have to wait for more properties to come up for sale. We have contacted a realtor in the area to give us a hand, and he supplied us with several maps that show all the plots, lot numbers, and information we would need to do more research. That’s a help.

We had thought we would have a place to go to this summer when we started this process. If all we wanted was a piece of land, there are several that would suffice. Problem is we want it all — views, space (without having to look into or over a neighbor’s house), decent price. The search will continue, but probably not with the same frequency of trips as in the past.  Having found the subdivision and the view, it’s a waiting game!

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 That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!