My history with this pc. of property.....
When I was about 12, we moved to the country- about 1/2 mile from this property. As a young boy, my buddy and I spent most of the summer fishing and exploring all the land around us (my how things have changed). We used to go back on this pc. of ground and shoot birds with our BB guns (shame on us!), sneak down through the woods and fish at a pond (not on my land), ride my ATV (just a couple of times), and use this pc. of ground as an access to other pcs. of property to explore. We were really into it. I always had full camo cloths, boots, canteen, emergency pack, Rambo knife, camo hat and face mask. We'd take bread and Pork N Beans with us and find us a place to take it easy and eat. Boy, those were the days......we'd leave EARLY in the morning and usually not return until dark.
Well, my priorities changed when I got my license; friends, job and girls. I'm guess I was about 15 the last time I was back there......around 1990 or so.
After college I got married. Every time my wife and I went to visit my grandparents, and we'd drive over the hill, I'd slow the car down and point back in to the area and tell my wife, jokingly, "We're gonna live back in there one day." I was only about 10% serious. I never dreamed it would come up for sale and even if it did, I couldn't afford it. Actually, I never knew who owned the land, I just assumed it belonged to someone else........later I found out it belonged to someone else.
I can't tell you how many times I drove slowly over the hill and peered back about a 1/4 mile and could see the old grown up fence line where the property started. I really wanted to go back in there and just see what I remembered, but as I'm older now I know you don't just go on to someone Else's land.....and times were different just 20 years ago. The way this property is located, you don't just walk in there. The 30ft driveway is pretty close to the old farm house that belonged to the property and the driveway looks like you are on the farmhouse property- everyone thinks it's just a turn around for the yellow farm house. The only other way in is to walk right through someone's front yard and back yard.......and the way it's layed out, you just don't do that. So, to me, it was basically inaccessible but it was always on my mine.
Well, last February, 2008, my wife said there was a house foreclosure on the hill that I drove real slow by that was going to a sheriff's auction. It was an old home that had some decent updates, 4 acres and a pond. It was about a 1/4 mile from the whole area I used to stomp around on......basically home. So, we had some money saved up and I went down to the court house but never saw the auction. I sat there in my car on a cold day thinking about what I had found the night before on the county auditor's website. All I knew is that there was 40 acres on the road my family lives on. However, I knew there wasn't 40 acres there......unless I knew who owned the property and the names didn't match. I could see where the fella that owned the property lived in New Mexico and that he gave $14 (inheritance???) so I KNEW he wouldn't care about the old grown up place and I googled his name and found an attorney by that name in the same town. I thought, what the heck. So I called him. Sure enough, it was the right fella. I asked him if he'd like to sell it. He said he really hadn't thought about it and that he'd get back to me. But, before he hung up, he made sure I knew that it would make a beautiful subdivision and that he was considering developing it........and that that is what he does. After I hung up, I was thinking well, big big bucks, I'm done. Well, a couple of days went by and he called me back with a price. It was no bargain but not nearly as much as I had thought. I told him I'd talk to my wife and see what she thought. Long story short, we told him we'd take it in February. The ole' fella was in no hurry and wanted to meet us first. He had trials, etc that came up and then the surveyor took forever. It took until October to close.
That first time I went back in there after getting permision from the owner brought back a lot of memories. And, what I didn't notice when I was younger, was just how beautiful the place is. When I inquired about the owner selling it, I was just thinking about the woods and being able to live back out near my family.
So, in a nutshell, that's the story. I later made the connection that the guy selling it had a nephew that lived here and he was a realtor. So I knew that it would be market price. And, for someone that loves a good deal (flea markets, swap meets, fix everything myself, etc.) it was hard to swallow. And, the realtor's wife, was a girl I work with for a couple of years. Small world, huh?
Next post will be what info. I have on the property's other owner's...what little I know...
