Stories of how you came about your property

[Frankenkubota]

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

yea but

what about the Norton!

 

[etpm]

yea but

what about the Norton!

It is a P11, one of about 1500 made. Matchless forks stock. It got really crunched. Sad.
Eric

 

[oosik]

Our 80 acres was about as "raw" as you can get. One mile from the nearest county road. No road access to the property. No electricity, no phone, an unimproved spring for water, no buildings still remaining on the property.

However - my father had purchase a road easement - 30' x one mile. From the SE corner of the property to the county road. We had the driveway constructed and went from there.

Driveway construction began in May, 1982 - house finished mid-November, 1982. The wife, my son and I did all the construction on the house. The well, septic and foundation were done by contractors.

God, were we ever glad to get the house plumbed. First showers were by candle light - I hadn't finished all the electrical yet. The big radial arm saw sat, smack dab, in the middle of the living room. It was run off a portable generator.

The very last sweeping/vacuuming of the house - November 19, 1982.

The house is a Pan Abode, cedar house - out of Renton, WA.

 

[PILOON]

The house is a Pan Abode, cedar house - out of Renton, WA.

As a renovation guy I've worked on a few Pan Abodes.
Unique construction, like larger rough window openings due to the expansion characteristics of cedar, etc.

Some models sported cathedral ceilings and were simply not suited to colder climates due to minimal insulation and ventilation. A second roof at higher pitch was usually the answer.

 

[Oaktree]

Our 80 acres was about as "raw" as you can get. One mile from the nearest county road. No road access to the property. No electricity, no phone, an unimproved spring for water, no buildings still remaining on the property.

How much of a hassle was it to get electricity & phone run? Must have cost a fortune!

 

[JasperFrank]

"and found out it included the mineral rights to any coal or gas." Timber rights?
You found this out? You didn't know that already? Wow, you took a very scary step, and it worked and good for you. I would have never jumped on anything, i didn't know what the complete rights were.

 

[two_bit_score]

"and found out it included the mineral rights to any coal or gas." Timber rights?
You found this out? You didn't know that already? Wow, you took a very scary step, and it worked and good for you. I would have never jumped on anything, i didn't know what the complete rights were.

Neither would I. But a lot of people do.

And they are surprised when the production company sends out a survey team to stake out the well pad.

 

[deezler]

Neither would I. But a lot of people do.

And they are surprised when the production company sends out a survey team to stake out the well pad.

This brings up a good point. When I bought my 19 acres a decade ago, I had no idea how to find this out. No realtor or other person knew where to point me. I figured given my general near-urban area, with no regional wells, I was safe. So far so good.

 

[two_bit_score]

This brings up a good point. When I bought my 19 acres a decade ago, I had no idea how to find this out. No realtor or other person knew where to point me. I figured given my general near-urban area, with no regional wells, I was safe. So far so good.

Most sellers know if they own the minerals or not on rural property. There is normally a reference in the deed but it can be difficult to find sometimes. On property that hasn't changed owners in a couple generations they more than likely own at least a partial mineral estate. Developers usually always reserve the minerals and water rights when selling off partial tracts or lots. You could always have the title company include a mineral rights search when they do the title work. It might cost a little but likely worthwhile.

As far as being in a near-urban area, that is no guarantee whatsoever that the minerals are not owned by someone who may lease them to a producer at some point and you or your neighbors wind up with a well in the backyard. But, usually when that happens they just buy the house and lot, or several. It was a big issue in a Fort Worth neighborhood several years ago when the Barnett Shale was in it's heyday. It still has a few people concerned lately.

https://revealnews.org/article/life-in-the-drill-zone/

Gas wells near FW parks - City Issues

Gas wells near FW parks - posted in City Issues: I realize that, for the moment, interest in environmental issues has declined, more so nationally than locally. That's unfortunate for many reasons, which I will not address now. But here in our own backyard of FW we tend to be more concerned...

www.fortwortharchitecture.com

 

[Milo]

"and found out it included the mineral rights to any coal or gas." Timber rights?
You found this out? You didn't know that already? Wow, you took a very scary step, and it worked and good for you. I would have never jumped on anything, i didn't know what the complete rights were.

No I did not know what if any minerals, gas, or oil rights were included and I really wasn't interested in them at that time. Keep in mind this was before shale wells, also the majority of land in WV does not have mineral rights. The land itself was worth it to me for the asking price. The timber of course went with the property. I did know that any coal seam in the area would be very thin so of no value for anyone to try to mine, and there wasn't traditional gas in the area so there was no drilling. As I mentioned it was before fracking got started. Looking back the worst scenario would have been the gas rights were sold and later when fracking started the owner of those rights put in a shale well which would have made a mess. Thank goodness that wasn't the case.

One of my neighbors (who owned 100 nice laying, mostly wooded acres) and I became pretty good friends. He and his wife had bought the property 30 years ago for the occasional weekend getaway and hunting camp, they actually lived a couple hours away. For us it was the best of both, we got to walk and ATV on his trails w/o having to own it (naturally I kept an eye on it for them, picked up the trails, etc.). In talking one day I mentioned "I hope you never sell, but if you ever do I'd love to have the opportunity to just buy a part of your property, that what is adjacent to mine." He thought for a minute then simply said OK.

Some years later he said a timber outfit contacted him and wanted to make him an offer to timber part of it taking trees 16" and over. I cringed at the thought but at least that section wasn't beside our property. A week later he came over saying they'd offered $45,000 for the timber and just wanted to know what I thought? I said "that's some of the nicest woods on your property so personally I wouldn't, but this is your property and your decision so do what's in your best interest".
A month or so later he said he'd decided not to timber. Then 6 months or so after that he approached me about selling all of his property to us and the price he had in mind was very fair. I was concerned what might happen if I didn't buy it, so the following weekend I walked over and told him we'll buy it. He said "I thought you would and that's why I didn't sell of that patch of timber." Was that a great neighbor or what?