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

[travlingypsy]

FINALLY! Im getting my dream farm, well not really but kinda close. Hey, its a house with a place for ponies that's close enough for my dream!
But how in the world did you guys handle the actual buying part? Right now Im waiting to hear from the usda farm loan people to confrim on the loan, and hopefully start the buying process.Really the wait is driving me crazy. I already got the house more then half packed!

Anyways about the 'soon-to-be' house! Im going in on this 40acre property with my mom. Its got 2 log homes! A large garage/shop, which will be my hay/tack storage. A potential art studio thing well really its like another smaller 1br house/bunk house type thing. AND a shack for my horse, lol really it needs to be torn down and rebuilt but hey it works for now. But the real kicker is its only for 129,000 O.O Its a fixer upper that's why its on the cheap side. But since my mom is only going to be living in her house for 1week out of the month (shes taking care of my gma and living with her most of the time) we are going to rent it out weekly for 1k a week cause its right next to a HUGE recreational lake!

The crappy part is, we are waiting to make an offer because of the usda people. We want that part of the loan to be confirmed. We've already checked the house out and all. Im just so FREAKED that someone might come in and buy it. Im really hoping that since its a fixer-upper it wont get alot of attention :/
Is this a smart move? Waiting to put in the offer? Or would it be better to make the offer and then wait for the application to be finalized? Were calling the loan guy thursday (15th) we already know we can get a loan from them, its now just the size of the loan and stuff that's being worked out.

What did you guys do when you bought your house?
Also this is our first house so if its all done by the end of april we can get the tax rebate, cool huh!

Eep sorry for the long post but our family is VERY negative about me and my mom "moving up" on the financial food chain. Lame fam I know -.-
So were keeping this in the dark, why I am seeking advice on here
Thanks for reading and you all can come to our house warming party!!

[Indyhorse]

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 that's 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 :)

[thunderhooves]

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!

[travlingypsy]

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 that's a plus.
I've 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) that's 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=

[thunderhooves]

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! :)

[travlingypsy]

I don't 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.

[iridehorses]

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.

[Indyhorse]

Originally Posted by travlingypsy    

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 that's a plus.
I've 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

[travlingypsy]

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.

[Delfina]

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.