Stories of how you came about your property

[buckeyefarmer]

So far, all the property I’ve looked at, they want to steal from me.

One sold for $17k last year, they asking $75k.

 

[etpm]

Back in the mid nineties my wife and I decided to look for some land. We settled on 10 acres for size because that's what we could afford. Living in Redmond Washington we looked for land on our side of the Cascades. After looking at places far away from us, where the prices were low enough, we were not having much luck. My wife then suggested looking on Whidbey Island. I had not even considered looking on any of the islands. And Whidbey was only 20 miles away, plus the ferry, so it was the closest place we had looked.
Because of the ferry property on Whidbey was much less than property on the mainland in the same proximity to Redmond. The ferry was really not much of a hindrance for us at that time. But it was a psychological hindrance for lots of folks so land was cheaper by about half.
We looked at all sorts of parcels up and down the 50 mile long island. All the 10 acre parcels we could afford were rejected by us for various rreasons Then we were shown a place on a short dead end road that was not advertised yet but was for sale. We offered 80 grand for it with the proviso that it would perc for a standard septic system. It did. We bought it.
The price was excellent at the time but this was because the previous buyer had turned about 1/2 acre of it into a junk pile. My wife was really dubious, she was having a hard time seeing past all the tons of junk. Plus there was a small house that was condemned by the ccounty. But my 17 year old son and I could see the potential.
We had to work hard to dispose of the junk. I hauled off 7 or 8 tons of scrap steel and 5 tons of aluminum scrap. The money from the scrap more than paid for the disposal cost of 95 tires. There were 6 or 7 cars too but the seller had agreed to haul them off and he did. We got the fire department to burn the house for us as a training exercise. We invited a bunch of friends to watch and had a great party.
Since I didn't want to commute I decided to become self employed. I gave my boss a 1 year notice and built a shop on the property. During the 1 year time period we cleaned up the property, drilled a well, got power and phone onto the property, put in a septic system, sold our house, and rented a cabin on the beach.
I started working in my new shop and we started designing our house to be built on our now cleaned up property. Things were going well, I was making good money, house plans were coming along but we kept changing our minds about it but finally had finished plans in hand. Then I was riding my Norton home on our short road, went around a blind turn 700 feet from our driveway, and was struck head on by a pickup on my side of the road. I was two feet from the side of the road, on the inside of the curve. The truck was completely in my lane. Even though I was only going about 15 mph he was going faster. The immediate result of the collision was both wrists crushed, bones sticking out of both arms, pelvis broken in front and back, and a helicopter ride to Harborview Hospital.
After two years of reconstructive bone surgeries, 4 bone grafts, tendon re-attachments, and lots of physical therapy I was working pretty steadily again. We never did get the house built and had to sue the guy who hit me. His insurance company, Farmers, offered only 60 grand. My first night in the hospital cost more than that. 10 hours in the operating room is expensive.
Finally, after settling the lawsuit in our favor we got our house built. That was about 12 years ago. We changed the location for the house and so could not use the original septic system. The original septic still serves the shop though. When the house was complete we still had no septic and all the reputable septic installers were busy for 6 or more months out. So I bought a backhoe, even though I knew nothing about them and put in my own septic system, even though at the time I knew nothing about them either.
Right after we bought the property I decided I wanted to roast a pig and start a tradition. This last August I roasted my 25th pig. I have only missed two years, the year I got hit because I was in a wheel chair and had pins coming out of both arms connected to external framework holding my bones in place, and 2020 because of the virus.
We now have a beautiful place. Trails through the woods. Great water. Two, count 'em, two septic systems. A Yanmar YM2310 tractor. A Case 580 CK backhoe. About 1 acre out of the 10 total developed. And it looks great. We still sometimes can't believe how lucky we are that we get to live in such a beautiful place in such a wonderful community.
Eric

 

[kenmbz]

etpm, great story and glad you made it through the tough times.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

ETPM - I miss riding a motorcycle but it is stories like this that keep me from getting back on one. Glad you are OK. Sounds like a great place. LOVE that part of the world!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Eric, thanks for sharing.

 

[BigBlue1]

ETPM - I miss riding a motorcycle but it is stories like this that keep me from getting back on one. Glad you are OK. Sounds like a great place. LOVE that part of the world!

For every bad situation like above there are 10's of thousands of nice rides and awesome experiences. It's like any type of recreation... skiing, bicycling, hunting, snowboarding, etc... bad things might happen but you manage and accept your risk. It's all a matter of how important it is to you. If I go out in a cycle accident I probably had a huge smile on my face right up until the end.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

For every bad situation like above there are 10's of thousands of nice rides and awesome experiences. It's like any type of recreation... skiing, bicycling, hunting, snowboarding, etc... bad things might happen but you manage and accept your risk. It's all a matter of how important it is to you. If I go out in a cycle accident I probably had a huge smile on my face right up until the end.

There is a lot of truth to that. But in most of those sports you do not have teenagers texting and 18 wheelers to deal with. Motorcyclists are second class citizens here in the US. It is scary and getting scarier.

I lived in India for a year and Colombia for 2 years and rode a motorcycle exclusively for transportation there. But the difference is there are more 2 wheeled vehicles than 4 wheeled vehicles on the road. Drivers are watching and expecting you to be there at all times, not so in the US. I have had 3 wrecks on a motorcycle in 25 years of riding, thankfully all of them minor. It is not about IF you are going to drop your bike at some point it is about WHEN. You just hope it is not serious.

All that being said it is by far the BEST way to travel through a landscape, you are one with your surrounding. I will ride a bike again, stories like this are just a bit sobering. But I digress, no more thread hijacking from me.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

[...]
The price was excellent at the time but this was because the previous buyer had turned about 1/2 acre of it into a junk pile. My wife was really dubious, she was having a hard time seeing past all the tons of junk. Plus there was a small house that was condemned by the ccounty. But my 17 year old son and I could see the potential.
We had to work hard to dispose of the junk. I hauled off 7 or 8 tons of scrap steel and 5 tons of aluminum scrap. The money from the scrap more than paid for the disposal cost of 95 tires. There were 6 or 7 cars too but the seller had agreed to haul them off and he did. We got the fire department to burn the house for us as a training exercise. We invited a bunch of friends to watch and had a great party.
[...]
We now have a beautiful place. Trails through the woods. Great water. Two, count 'em, two septic systems. A Yanmar YM2310 tractor. A Case 580 CK backhoe. About 1 acre out of the 10 total developed. And it looks great. We still sometimes can't believe how lucky we are that we get to live in such a beautiful place in such a wonderful community.
Eric

I think way too many people are looking for a turnkey place in the country. That is the city experience. Buy a house, live in it, sell the same house, and move on.

In contrast, when you buy land you buy potential. My place had a bunch of owies, including a leaking roof, no insulation, rusted out steel septic tank, and no outbuildings. Over the subsequent 27 years I fixed all that, and am still fixing. I built a shop, doubled the size of the barn, landscaped, repaired all the failing systems, remodeled the kitchen and changed the floor plan while I was at it, installed a front projection home theater system, and made the master bath wheelchair accessible (for ageing in place).

If you pay for someone else's work, you pay them for the work and pay them for their idea of what the work should be. If you build it yourself, it's your idea and get what you want.

 

[BigBlue1]

There is a lot of truth to that. But in most of those sports you do not have teenagers texting and 18 wheelers to deal with. Motorcyclists are second class citizens here in the US. It is scary and getting scarier.

I lived in India for a year and Colombia for 2 years and rode a motorcycle exclusively for transportation there. But the difference is there are more 2 wheeled vehicles than 4 wheeled vehicles on the road. Drivers are watching and expecting you to be there at all times, not so in the US. I have had 3 wrecks on a motorcycle in 25 years of riding, thankfully all of them minor. It is not about IF you are going to drop your bike at some point it is about WHEN. You just hope it is not serious.

All that being said it is by far the BEST way to travel through a landscape, you are one with your surrounding. I will ride a bike again, stories like this are just a bit sobering. But I digress, no more thread hijacking from me.

Yep, agree with that stuff. It's why I try to only ride out in the country on lighter traveled roads. But it sure is enjoyable.

 

[etpm]

etpm, great story and glad you made it through the tough times.

After reading your comment I realized I left out something important. I mentioned at the end of my post that we live in a great community. And we truly do. This community is great because of how the folks here help other folks even though they don't know them. When I was hurt my wife had to take care of all my needs. Cooking, giving me shots twice a day, cleaning around all the pins sticking out of my arms twice a day, feeding me, and personal hygiene. I don't wanna get graphic but it involves toilet paper. You get the idea. But at the same time the community provided, at no charge, an electric hospital bed, a shower chair, a custom built wheel chair ramp, mounted a satellite dish, etc. We needed this help and had only lived on the island about a year when I was hurt. Still all this help arrived.
A great example of our community is a thing we have thing here that was started by a couple that lives here called Hearts and Hammers.
Oops, well, something happened. I was gonna post this and then decided not to because it was getting off topic. But since it posted I had better finish it.
Hearts and Hammers fixes homes at no cost to the homeowner. Every year The non profit organization known as Hearts and Hammers solicits the names of homeowners who need work done that they cannot afford to do or are unable to do because they are too feeble or maybe handicapped etc. They then decide which homes they can work on. I don't know how they make the decisions. But to do the work they need volunteers to do the labor part as well as money to buy supplies. They get donations from private folks and from businesses. Then on a Saturday in the beginning of May a bunch of work parties assemble and then go to their assigned house. The goal is to do all the work on just that one Saturday, but sometimes a little more work needs to be done on Sunday. But really, all the work is done on the one Saturday. The work done can be just a simple yard and grounds clean up to replacing 50 feet of eaves and an exterior kitchen wall. Typical volunteer count on the Saturday is about 400 people. And this is just for South Whidbey Island. I have hauled trash, replaced roofing, repaired hydrants, fixed wiring that was extremely unsafe, painted, etc. Getting 400 volunteers in an area so small that also has the typical low population density of semi rural areas is tough. Yet Hearts and Hammers does this consistently. And the volunteers consist of regular folks as well as general contractors, electricians, plumbers, and so on. This community spirit is just one of the great things about living on the south end of Whidbey Island.
Eric

Yep, agree with that stuff. It's why I try to only ride out in the country on lighter traveled roads. But it sure is enjoyable.

I live on a dead end road. Maybe 1800 feet long. In the country. Hardly any traffic. Nevertheless I get hit head on by a truck completely on my side of the road. I had nowhere to go. Sometimes ya never know.
Eric