# rant... missed an opportunity to buy 63 acres...



## northernontario (Oct 29, 2008)

Just a little rant... since I'm sure some of you can relate... 

2 weekends ago, my wife and I looked at a 63 acre property about 25 minutes from town. A minute from a major highway. 

Looked to be about 4-5 acres cleared with small pine trees (perfect for a big veggy garden, area to keep beehives, split and stack firewood), and the rest was mature hardwood/softwood. Could have easily logged firewood, or even lumber, and done a sustainable forest management program. There was a small lumber mill a couple km's up the highway too.

House was a piece of crap... but the value was in the property. And ultimately, it had a house, which means you can get a mortgage and live there while improving it or building new later on. Buying a vacant lot is not cheap, and can't be mortgaged! 

Agent didn't think it would sell quickly... I caught it after it had been on the market for a few days. Saw it last Sunday. Wanted to see it again this Saturday before making an offer... by Saturday it had another offer on it. They accepted the offer on Sunday. 

Frig... there goes that opportunity. We stalled cause the house needs work... if the house had been in better shape, we wouldn't have had an issue offering what they wanted. Darn it. Just didn't move fast enough. Our agent didn't think it would sell that quickly either.

So annoyed... had an opportunity to buy a property that would allow us to be somewhat self-sufficient. I had already started researching sustainable forestry management, getting info for tax credits for repairs on the house, tax credits for farm/forest management, planning the layout of the property... arrrggg... 

So we keep looking. Most of the housing around here is overpriced in my opinion (we live in Northern Ontario... 160,000 people in the city. Nearest large city is 2+ hours away). The mining and forestry industries have tanked (again), but my job is very stable. Just have to keep looking for another deal. One is bound to come up.


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## doc66 (Apr 13, 2009)

DARN

The strongest words I can use on the Board.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Better times are ahead for property buying. As time goes on and the economy continues to deteriorate the land prices will continue to drop. We've still got at least a few more years of heavy economic loss guaranteed. The big 3 automakers have not even declared bankruptcy yet. 

There will be other properties at lower prices. Just look forward to the next opportunity and stay on the bright side of things.


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## Ramkitten (Apr 21, 2009)

Whenever I'd get upset at "losing out" on a property (not that we've been buyers too many times), my husband would always say, "Aw, the deal of the decade comes around at least once a week." I'd want to slap him!

Sorry it didn't work out, but, hopefully, the next place you find that you really love will make you glad this one fell through. THAT has happened to me as many times as we've "lost out." 

But, yeah ... DARN.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

I have the "perfect" property in mind right now. 74 acres and it has been on the market for a good while now. What I have found out is that the way a bank will loan me the money is based on what they consider the value of the land is with house at 10 acres. The rest of the 64 acres is not even considered in their equation.

Meaning, if the bank determines the value of the land and house to be $150,000 (at 10 acre) and the seller wants $300,000 for the whole property, I have to have the cash for the first $150,000 plus the "down-deposit" of 10% of the remaining $150,000 ($15,000) before the bank will loan me the rest.

One of my friends found the perfect place for himself at 40 acres - his bank told him the same thing - the value they place on it is for the first 10 acres only.


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## northernontario (Oct 29, 2008)

Ya... I know... there will always be another deal... and who knows, it could end up being a house right down the road. Just worked out that it was right by the highway, so the drive to work was comfortable and didn't put a lot of wear/tear on the car.

And I also know the market is going to keep dropping... with the drop in mining and forestry, we're just starting to see the effects. Everyone is selling their extra vehicles. The 'toys' aren't coming out of storage. 

Seems like some places are on the market for only a few days; while others have been on the market for well over a year. And some of them are just absolutely rediculously overpriced for places that are falling apart. (I looked at a house that was literally falling into itself... cracked floorjoists from poor structural support... and they just listed it at $189k). People up here who bought in the last couple years aren't willing to lower their prices to realistic levels. The prices for housing basically doubled in the last 10 years... it's nuts. When I moved up here last year for my job, we had a heck of a time finding an apartment... less than 1% vacancy rate!

Time will tell... I'd like to have our own place before winter... but I want to get someplace that I know we'll be in for the next 8-15 years (with the option to expand the house).


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

We looked for the perfect place for two years...lost many "deals" and finally ended up with this place. I figure the right place for you comes along at the right time. I can't imagine living in any of the other places now.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Soon prices will fall on the properties. You just have to wait for enough desperate people to try to sell all at the same time. A lot of those nice toys will get sold off too. I think a nice 60's muscle car would be nice. Just got to wait a little longer. Patience is the name of the game. I know you'll find a great place.


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## C.Winslow (Oct 27, 2008)

Bummer! Damn the luck, eh?

Better luck next time, champ!


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

I found a very old mobile home that had been repossed by the bank.Was told it had another "lot" with another trailer hook-up on it with a nice size extra large lot and a stream in the back.Sounded perfect because my daughter had a mobile home to put on the other lot.Went to the bank and was making the deal..Right(good for me)..but had sent the county guy out to mark "my land"...As I'm about to hand over the money and sign papesr the guy calls and say,"hope you haven't bought the land yet iit's only one(yes one) very small lot".....Someone else owns the other property.Now the reason I'm looking at this is I had bought a moble home to put on my son's 3 acre lot but on getting a permit for a septic system found out he had less than his Real Estate agent had said by a good bit and the lot was to small to add my mobile home......O.K now what??? I find anothe plot with an old garage and very very old mobile home....Start to make the deal and have the county guy come out...I said please,I want very large red flags to make my property(including a small pond)so there is NO doubt where the lines go!!!(Course the seller says we just had that done a few months ago...Lesson learned from the last time )Done deal.So the lesson here is don't take ANYONES word that it's "about" so may acres...Get it done legallyand save yourself from people that they "think" they know where their property lines are!!!!!!!!
Buy that deal next time you will be glad you did.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Around here you are going to drive 50+ miles to find anything over 10 acres and/or under $200,000. The last out of town acreage that I looked at was 7 miles out of town. It was 9 acres with no usable buildings (but it did have a well and available power from an older house that was torn down). It ended up selling at auction for almost 3x the estimated value. While property values in town are dropping, property values in the country are climbing at a frantic rate. 

Sorry to hear about you missing out.


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## Turtle (Dec 10, 2009)

Sentry18 said:


> Around here you are going to drive 50+ miles to find anything over 10 acres and/or under $200,000. The last out of town acreage that I looked at was 7 miles out of town. It was 9 acres with no usable buildings (but it did have a well and available power from an older house that was torn down). It ended up selling at auction for almost 3x the estimated value. While property values in town are dropping, property values in the country are climbing at a frantic rate.
> 
> Sorry to hear about you missing out.


If it makes you feel any better, around my neck of the woods? $200k won't buy you 1/4 of an acre with any sort of living quarters on it. 63 acres? I can't even begin to imagine, but it would certainly be in the millions.


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## LongRider (May 8, 2012)

We had earnest money down on a property 20 acres surrounded by forestry land on three sides rich soil, water, power, lush game, thirteen wild trout lakes within a few miles. One K an acre as I recall. The next week the silver mine closed, the town went belly up. No jobs for the wife, so we with drew our offer. Less than a year later we found this place, 10X better. As soon as I saw it knew it was the one. Surrounded by a million acres of National Park, spectacular view I have not gotten tired of in ten years. All the fresh & salt water fish/shell fish you can harvest, over run with game including Roosevelt Elk, year round harvests of more indigenous edible / medicinal plants than we can gather, rich soil, longer growing season, infinite water, more secure and defensible. Cost a bit more, not as isolated and did not get to build but ideal in every other way. Point being Ramkitten's husband and Herbalpagan are correct your deal of the century is right around the corner. Be patient don't settle just to get a place because the perfect place with your name on it is waiting for you.

There are 20 acre lots and larger for a grand or less an acre east of the mountains all day long. Off grid properties are even less.


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