Here We Go
Hokay, we're ready. It's time to make the big jump. We're paying a pretty handsome sum for our rent and board for the horses. We have a nice down payment set aside. Even with my somewhat shoddy credit, interest rates are fairly low. Buying a house is probably one of the best moves we could make.
We're looking at a 1993 modular (prefabricated) home from a well-known manufacturer (Clayton). It's three bedrooms, two bathrooms, well kept, on 8.3 acres. The roof apparently leaked at one point, so a new one was put on in 2006. The septic system was inspected and drained in 2005. The heat pump and AC is by Traine, installed in '05 or '06, and was inspected by a representative from Traine and found to be in good working order. Everything is electric, but that's fairly normal for Kentucky. Natural gas is a PITA to get out here. I really don't like the idea of dealing with a propane tank anyway!
The land is a bit more steep than is ideal for horses, but there's absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work. There's plenty of flat areas and cover available, and the fencing needs some work, but it's mostly horse-wire. The boards and posts need treated, but that's not hard to do. There's a good patch of trees for cover, and an automatic waterer for them as well. Me, I'd want a secondary tub right up against the backyard so I can make sure they have water all winter, without having to hike to where the waterer is.
The one set of neighbors owns all the land surrounding it, in a horseshoe shape. They also own horses, and are extremely nice. They let the owner's horses run with theirs, drink their water, and eat their hay. They also said that they own 70 acres, and someone up the road owns 100. "All the gates are open, go ahead and ride wherever you want!"
The husband is terminally ill with cancer, unfortunately, and so they're trying to sell. The place was bought by them to be a retirement home, and a retreat for the grandkids. Because it's a second home (or that's the impression I get), they've got the option to buy EVERYTHING that's in the home too, as far as furniture and appliances and equipment (they have a nice riding mower with a trailer hitch). It's nice furniture, too. The only thing I don't like is that it's leather, and we have three cats with claws. Now, it's not that they scratch, but that I've seen what even front-declawed cats can do to a leather chair from launching and running and such.
There's a nice little shed, wired for electricity, that appears to be insulated. It's set up as a storage and work area, very nicely maintained. The aforementioned riding mower lives there, as do the ramps to get it in and out. Because the ground is uneven, the ramps are marked "LEFT" and "RIGHT". XD it made me laugh a bit. I'm going to guess it's about 10x12, maybe 14x12.
There's no garage, carport, or barn. The driveway will probably need to be graded, and graveled (is that a word?). The driveway is almost a suggestion, mostly overgrown with grass, with patches of gravel and rocks. There's a parking area that's also in the same shape.
Garage or carport isn't really needed, but would be nice. But then again, that's something that we could put up for a couple thousand. A steel carport to keep the snow and ice off the cars only runs about $1200, before installation. It could be screened in to make a psudo-garage (think the green plastic privacy lattice that's around the space under the porch, Feesh).
No barn means no place to store hay, or put a horse up for a couple days if they need rest. Now, the neighbor has two barns. One is leased to another individual, but the closer one is mostly unused. I'm fairly sure that we could buy hay from the neighbor, and use his barn (prolly free or cheap as free) if we had to. I'd like to build our own barn, but that costs, of course. We're waiting on a copy of the city codes from the realtor, so that we can determine if that's even an option in the future.
As far as location, it's fairly ideal. It's three and change miles away from the downtown area, which we haven't explored yet, mostly due to time constraints. That'll be on the list of Things to Do on a Day Off. All the roads are state roads, and fairly major ones for the area. I don't foresee winter being a huge problem. It's twenty-five minutes or so to my work, with multiple routes. At Morgan's current job, it's about forty-five minutes, but there's a store that's closer, probably twenty or twenty-five minutes from the place.
We're looking up what the average utility bill was over the last year, checking city codes to see how many horses we can have, what buildings we can put up, and such. We have someone (my Papa) who is willing to do an inspection of the home and property. I would love ANY suggestions on what else we can do and what other groundwork needs to be covered before we even consider making an offer.
We're looking at a 1993 modular (prefabricated) home from a well-known manufacturer (Clayton). It's three bedrooms, two bathrooms, well kept, on 8.3 acres. The roof apparently leaked at one point, so a new one was put on in 2006. The septic system was inspected and drained in 2005. The heat pump and AC is by Traine, installed in '05 or '06, and was inspected by a representative from Traine and found to be in good working order. Everything is electric, but that's fairly normal for Kentucky. Natural gas is a PITA to get out here. I really don't like the idea of dealing with a propane tank anyway!
The land is a bit more steep than is ideal for horses, but there's absolutely no reason why it wouldn't work. There's plenty of flat areas and cover available, and the fencing needs some work, but it's mostly horse-wire. The boards and posts need treated, but that's not hard to do. There's a good patch of trees for cover, and an automatic waterer for them as well. Me, I'd want a secondary tub right up against the backyard so I can make sure they have water all winter, without having to hike to where the waterer is.
The one set of neighbors owns all the land surrounding it, in a horseshoe shape. They also own horses, and are extremely nice. They let the owner's horses run with theirs, drink their water, and eat their hay. They also said that they own 70 acres, and someone up the road owns 100. "All the gates are open, go ahead and ride wherever you want!"
The husband is terminally ill with cancer, unfortunately, and so they're trying to sell. The place was bought by them to be a retirement home, and a retreat for the grandkids. Because it's a second home (or that's the impression I get), they've got the option to buy EVERYTHING that's in the home too, as far as furniture and appliances and equipment (they have a nice riding mower with a trailer hitch). It's nice furniture, too. The only thing I don't like is that it's leather, and we have three cats with claws. Now, it's not that they scratch, but that I've seen what even front-declawed cats can do to a leather chair from launching and running and such.
There's a nice little shed, wired for electricity, that appears to be insulated. It's set up as a storage and work area, very nicely maintained. The aforementioned riding mower lives there, as do the ramps to get it in and out. Because the ground is uneven, the ramps are marked "LEFT" and "RIGHT". XD it made me laugh a bit. I'm going to guess it's about 10x12, maybe 14x12.
There's no garage, carport, or barn. The driveway will probably need to be graded, and graveled (is that a word?). The driveway is almost a suggestion, mostly overgrown with grass, with patches of gravel and rocks. There's a parking area that's also in the same shape.
Garage or carport isn't really needed, but would be nice. But then again, that's something that we could put up for a couple thousand. A steel carport to keep the snow and ice off the cars only runs about $1200, before installation. It could be screened in to make a psudo-garage (think the green plastic privacy lattice that's around the space under the porch, Feesh).
No barn means no place to store hay, or put a horse up for a couple days if they need rest. Now, the neighbor has two barns. One is leased to another individual, but the closer one is mostly unused. I'm fairly sure that we could buy hay from the neighbor, and use his barn (prolly free or cheap as free) if we had to. I'd like to build our own barn, but that costs, of course. We're waiting on a copy of the city codes from the realtor, so that we can determine if that's even an option in the future.
As far as location, it's fairly ideal. It's three and change miles away from the downtown area, which we haven't explored yet, mostly due to time constraints. That'll be on the list of Things to Do on a Day Off. All the roads are state roads, and fairly major ones for the area. I don't foresee winter being a huge problem. It's twenty-five minutes or so to my work, with multiple routes. At Morgan's current job, it's about forty-five minutes, but there's a store that's closer, probably twenty or twenty-five minutes from the place.
We're looking up what the average utility bill was over the last year, checking city codes to see how many horses we can have, what buildings we can put up, and such. We have someone (my Papa) who is willing to do an inspection of the home and property. I would love ANY suggestions on what else we can do and what other groundwork needs to be covered before we even consider making an offer.