How did you become a land owner?

[goodoleboy]

I had a dump load of dirt dropped on my acre yard to fill some areas and make a few elevation changes. Well I never got around to moving it after a few months my wife complained and said i had to move it.

I said lets rent a tractor , went to the yard tried to rent a big kubota and my truck could not pull the thing.

Discouraged, I said out of fun lets go look at used tractors at the dealers yard and to kill the evening. Admiring equipment since i was a kid. I saw a small 18hp deere with blade.Dealer let me drive it around the yard, man I was hooked. Wife said I had the biggest smile on my face.

As we got home she said go ahead and buy it $7000. I was in shock to say the least but I didnt buy one.

We deicded it was best put whatever money we had towards land instead of instant gratification of a tractor now. We shopped and got our first plot. We bought and sold a a few plots till we found our current plot which we plan on keeping.

That $90 load of soil cost me over $100,000..To boot that pile of dirt still sits in my backyard weeds growing and all!


Whats your story?

 

[goodoleboy]

I had a dump load of dirt dropped on my acre yard to fill some areas and make a few elevation changes. Well I never got around to moving it after a few months my wife complained and said i had to move it.

I said lets rent a tractor , went to the yard tried to rent a big kubota and my truck could not pull the thing.

Discouraged, I said out of fun lets go look at used tractors at the dealers yard and to kill the evening. Admiring equipment since i was a kid. I saw a small 18hp deere with blade.Dealer let me drive it around the yard, man I was hooked. Wife said I had the biggest smile on my face.

As we got home she said go ahead and buy it $7000. I was in shock to say the least but I didnt buy one.

We deicded it was best put whatever money we had towards land instead of instant gratification of a tractor now. We shopped and got our first plot. We bought and sold a a few plots till we found our current plot which we plan on keeping.

That $90 load of soil cost me over $100,000..To boot that pile of dirt still sits in my backyard weeds growing and all!


Whats your story?

 

[MossRoad]

Back in the late 50's, before I was born, my dad and a business partner bought some land and developed it into a one street subdivision. My dad used his share of the profits to pay for his lot and most of the materials on his house that he built himself. I heard about it all my life. My dad kept telling me, God isn't making any more land, so it was always a goal of mine to get a bit of land. Dad also said he regretted subdividing it and wished he had kept it all to himself. He would have preferred fewer neighbors. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

When my wife and I got married, we bought a very small starter house in the city. Interest rates were 12.5% AFTER we paid three points! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif We wanted children, but they weren't showing up, so we were able to pay the house off quickly. As we realized the house was going to be paid off, we started looking for land. We looked for two years. Every piece of land was priced too high for our budget because they were going in 40 and 80 acre parcels. We made a few bids, but were always outbid or just missed the deal, etc...

We would drive in the country for hours each weekend and also had a realitor looking for us. One day we noticed 7 for sale signs on parcels southwest of town with our realitor's sign on them! I went home and found a note in our door that he just came across them that day. We ran out to the properties, looked them over, and made an offer of the exact asking price on the nicest parcel. We got it. 20 acres of nice, rolling land on a state highway. Good water, ten acres of trees, a four acre field and a six acre field. That was about 1989 or 90. The next year we had the four acre field re-forested and a couple years after that we put in the foundation for a garage. THEN, a child decided to show up! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif The foundation is still there. Another child showed up five years later and things get put on hold. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Now the girls are 8 and 13, things are looking up and we are considering building a house again. It's been a 21 year journey to get a house on some land. Well worth the wait. Paid as we went. Debt free and loving it. Two great kids. Wouldn't change a thing! Wish the same for everyone. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Back in the late 50's, before I was born, my dad and a business partner bought some land and developed it into a one street subdivision. My dad used his share of the profits to pay for his lot and most of the materials on his house that he built himself. I heard about it all my life. My dad kept telling me, God isn't making any more land, so it was always a goal of mine to get a bit of land. Dad also said he regretted subdividing it and wished he had kept it all to himself. He would have preferred fewer neighbors. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

When my wife and I got married, we bought a very small starter house in the city. Interest rates were 12.5% AFTER we paid three points! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif We wanted children, but they weren't showing up, so we were able to pay the house off quickly. As we realized the house was going to be paid off, we started looking for land. We looked for two years. Every piece of land was priced too high for our budget because they were going in 40 and 80 acre parcels. We made a few bids, but were always outbid or just missed the deal, etc...

We would drive in the country for hours each weekend and also had a realitor looking for us. One day we noticed 7 for sale signs on parcels southwest of town with our realitor's sign on them! I went home and found a note in our door that he just came across them that day. We ran out to the properties, looked them over, and made an offer of the exact asking price on the nicest parcel. We got it. 20 acres of nice, rolling land on a state highway. Good water, ten acres of trees, a four acre field and a six acre field. That was about 1989 or 90. The next year we had the four acre field re-forested and a couple years after that we put in the foundation for a garage. THEN, a child decided to show up! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif The foundation is still there. Another child showed up five years later and things get put on hold. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Now the girls are 8 and 13, things are looking up and we are considering building a house again. It's been a 21 year journey to get a house on some land. Well worth the wait. Paid as we went. Debt free and loving it. Two great kids. Wouldn't change a thing! Wish the same for everyone. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[scesnick]

I own 76 acres on top of a mountain in western Md. It used to be owned by a widow and when my grandfather was young (1920's ) he would walk the 2.5 miles up the mountain every day to see if she was o.k. getting her groceries, medication..etc... He did this for years...
Well, she got sick and asked my grandfather if he liked the place and if he wanted it. He said he could never afford to buy a place like that. She said If he gave her a good funeral when she dies it would be his. Well, She died and my grangfather gave her a $3,000 funeral in 1927. ( that is a nice chunk of change in 1927 !!! )

When the will was finally read her 3 sons from Baltimore finally showed up. ( where were they for the past 7 years ??) The will was read and the farm was given to my grandfather. They were NOT happy !! all my grandfather said to them was that they should be ashamed of theirselves...
When I was a kid my grandfather and I always talked about how someday when I was all grown up I wanted to put a big house on the farm. Well, my grandfather died in 1980, my grand mother in 1988 and in 2000 I finally grew up enough and got enough money and I put a big fat log home right where we always talked about putting it. ..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[scesnick]

I own 76 acres on top of a mountain in western Md. It used to be owned by a widow and when my grandfather was young (1920's ) he would walk the 2.5 miles up the mountain every day to see if she was o.k. getting her groceries, medication..etc... He did this for years...
Well, she got sick and asked my grandfather if he liked the place and if he wanted it. He said he could never afford to buy a place like that. She said If he gave her a good funeral when she dies it would be his. Well, She died and my grangfather gave her a $3,000 funeral in 1927. ( that is a nice chunk of change in 1927 !!! )

When the will was finally read her 3 sons from Baltimore finally showed up. ( where were they for the past 7 years ??) The will was read and the farm was given to my grandfather. They were NOT happy !! all my grandfather said to them was that they should be ashamed of theirselves...
When I was a kid my grandfather and I always talked about how someday when I was all grown up I wanted to put a big house on the farm. Well, my grandfather died in 1980, my grand mother in 1988 and in 2000 I finally grew up enough and got enough money and I put a big fat log home right where we always talked about putting it. ..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[sonofczechgun]

I grew up in downtown Prague, Czech Republic. Married an american, moved to USA. We lived for a while in Maryland in a townhouse - Montgomery county - and the neighbourhood was getting bad and we felt we need space. Frankly, we were quite sick of the suburbs.
We looked for house in Loudon, VA - I work in Dulles - and around in ever bigger circles and finally settled in rural Fauquier county. Small and ugly white house with beautiful piece of almost 4 acres of land, pond, woods and pastures. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sonofczechgun]

I grew up in downtown Prague, Czech Republic. Married an american, moved to USA. We lived for a while in Maryland in a townhouse - Montgomery county - and the neighbourhood was getting bad and we felt we need space. Frankly, we were quite sick of the suburbs.
We looked for house in Loudon, VA - I work in Dulles - and around in ever bigger circles and finally settled in rural Fauquier county. Small and ugly white house with beautiful piece of almost 4 acres of land, pond, woods and pastures. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[riptides]

I started getting serious in life around 28. I found I was in the rat race, but had no money for a house and a family. I took a tour of the middle east for a few years, staying away to get that tax break.
We ended up in the suburbs. nice house on a 1/4 acre lot overlooking a park in the back. Traffic woes and the need for a bigger house pushed us to the country.

The suburbs overtook our ten acres, so we found an old dairy farm and whipped out the mastercard.

Less house, more land, more mastercard.

-Mike Z.

 

[riptides]

I started getting serious in life around 28. I found I was in the rat race, but had no money for a house and a family. I took a tour of the middle east for a few years, staying away to get that tax break.
We ended up in the suburbs. nice house on a 1/4 acre lot overlooking a park in the back. Traffic woes and the need for a bigger house pushed us to the country.

The suburbs overtook our ten acres, so we found an old dairy farm and whipped out the mastercard.

Less house, more land, more mastercard.

-Mike Z.