What would you do?

Ok. So today we went and looked at a rent to own farm. It is 10 acres. selling price is 99,000, which around here is cheap cheap cheap. and its only and hour from the cities. We can easily afford the monthly payments on the rent to own, and so forth.

Now heres the trouble..

The place NEEDS WORK...alot of it. ALOT of TLC...which is not something i am scare of doing, not at all. I like working,and in fact appreciate a place better when I have made it better so to speak.

The house is the worst off, its an older mobile home, had some work done but not much. The flooring and all is not bad, it has a washer, and a dryer that will stay. Needs a new tub, and a new sink. and something is up with the roof. no water leaking in the house, but there is a leak somewhere enough to make some of the ceiling tiles blecky. we can pull them and replace them but will need to find that leak!

there is a wonderfull privacy fence for the dogs, and although most of the land is treed i can make something temporary for the horses..until we could get it cleared. So..my questoion is...

would you do it? do you think its worth it?After two years the CD gets signed over to us, we talked about after that time taking the old house out and putting a new one on the foundation. I see potential. but Steve does not. Of course, I am a horse person who is DYING to have her horses on her property..and that barn....although not my dream barn once i get some stalls in it..sure the heck will be!..so any advice?

Go for it! As someone who has just bought a rundown farm in France only to discover the front wall has to be completely rebuilt, I say there is never a perfect place to start, only dreams that can and will come true. I am longing for the moment when I can move the cats, buy two ponies (used to have them but not for years) and live my dream at last. If you feel this is the place for you and you can make it work, then don't pass it up.

Thanks! I do feel I could do it! I really do. I am just having trouble getting Steve to see it the way I do. Hes looking at it from the Man the provider, lol the I used to do this stuff point of view.

I just..see so much potential!

definentally do it, if its your dream, go for it :-D

hehe yup it sure is my dream. and hes willing to let me do it..he just isnt as.....how can we say....visioned as I am?

I WOULD say Go For it, BUT you DO need to figure out what it will do to your and Steve's relationship.

Would it be worth it to fight all the time over it and/ or to lose him? If neither of these would happen then BUY the place! You are making me sad and jealous just reading abou it!

Well i have brought that up to him. because its not worth it for us to fight all the time, or for me to loose him. That is for sure.

But he said, if i see something he doesnt, than he does trust me. and he will do as hes told to help turn it around.

It does need alot of work, I am not saying it doesnt, LOL it does. But heck at least it has a BARN we dont have to build one, lol. and you dont find rent to own farms around here very often at all..let alone at a reasonable price..

I'm afraid I'm going to be the fly in the ointment here. My thoughts. Working on a Fixer-upper is a LOT of work. A LOT. Are you going to be able to contract work out? Have some of the barn-building farmed out, so to speak? It takes time to get a pasture established, and you're not really going to be able to use it much for a couple of years until the grasses get their root systems established so that they can take the wear and tear of horse's hooves. You'll need a tractor to care for the pasture. That's another expense. You'll have to have a dozer or a loader come in to clear and the stumps either burned or carried off. Ditto. Pole barns or shelters can be thrown up fairly cheaply, but they're nothing to write home about. While your horses are are in dry lots waiting on the pasture to be established you will have to be there EVERY SINGLE DAY twice a day since there is no pasture and no luxury of just pasturing them in the summer. I cannot count the number of get-togethers I had to leave and say "Sorry, I've got to go home and feed the horses."

If the house you are talking about fixing up is a mobile home... well, a mobile home will ALWAYS be a mobile home. It will not appreciate in value like a stick-built house, but will rather depreciate, no matter what you do to it . Been there done that, I would give ANYthing to have not bought one of the stupid things when Sunny and I were first starting out. When we left we had no equity as we might have otherwise had. I feel like we wasted 12 years .

On the plus side, you're young. You've got the energy and enthusiasm for such a project (and I'm just a tired old f*rt ) and would be more likely to make a go of it.

I am fully aware of the pasture work. I have made two pastures sucessfully for others from nothing more than dirt, or all trees. And I will be there every single day..I work from home, and dont have to go to work. and well honestly i dont have much more of a life LOL other than my horses. The barn is nice, really they had portable stalls, they took out. I am going to build my own, I have done that too...its work but fun.

lOl thanks for the "fly in the ointment" point of view though. Its good to have. The tree and stump removal we will contract out. As well as the pasture planting.

And yup a mobile home is always going to be a mobile home. the new ones are lovely thuogh, my dad has a double wide. was built just like a regular house.

this one is on a basement like foundation. gonna talk some more with steve though.

If you can get a contractor to look at it, try to get a bid on what it would cost to repair it. A steal for $99,000 could turn into a much higher priced house that isn't worth it. Look at the long term cost rather than the purchase price.

I bought an old house on 10 acres. We are both very handy but even so, it gets overwhelming sometimes. If you don't know how or are not willing to fix it, another house will come along that fits you better.

It sounds cool, though!

I live in a fixer-upper. We bought it about 8 years ago, with lots of plans. Like you, it had a barn with no stalls, and no pasture. The horses were living in Indiana with dh's parents when we moved in. Well, before he had time to build stalls, his horse died, and they shipped the other horse and pony to us. He built 2 stalls real quick, but for the first week or so, I had to walk the horses outside on a line daily! Then they had a tiny barn lot, while he started the real pasture. Now the pastures are nice, still kinda weedy, but ok. But 2 horses are still untrained, and the pony is old and lame and can't be ridden!

Of course, we both work full-time, and had some family issues to distract us. Also, we don't have lots of extra money to purchase supplies to redo the house. (Although the 3/4 inch solid plywood stalls are nice!) The idea of a mobile home you could just replace in a few years sounds nice! But how do you get rid of the old one, is that expensive?

I say go for it too!

It's not something I would do(as much as I would love to!) but if its one of your dreams then strive.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

If you can get a contractor to look at it, try to get a bid on what it would cost to repair it. A steal for $99,000 could turn into a much higher priced house that isn't worth it. Look at the long term cost rather than the purchase price.

I bought an old house on 10 acres. We are both very handy but even so, it gets overwhelming sometimes. If you don't know how or are not willing to fix it, another house will come along that fits you better.

It sounds cool, though!

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Thanks. I am actually going to be having my Friend take a peek at it for me on thursday hes a contractor. he doesnt work in that area, but said he has some names, and would be willing to look at it for us.. for homes he only does multi million dollars ones i tell ya..put him in better homes and gardens and he thinks..LOL anyways

We are checking in to everything my biggest worry is the pasture space. but if we get the trees out of there it wont be a problem.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

I live in a fixer-upper. We bought it about 8 years ago, with lots of plans. Like you, it had a barn with no stalls, and no pasture. The horses were living in Indiana with dh's parents when we moved in. Well, before he had time to build stalls, his horse died, and they shipped the other horse and pony to us. He built 2 stalls real quick, but for the first week or so, I had to walk the horses outside on a line daily! Then they had a tiny barn lot, while he started the real pasture. Now the pastures are nice, still kinda weedy, but ok. But 2 horses are still untrained, and the pony is old and lame and can't be ridden!

Of course, we both work full-time, and had some family issues to distract us. Also, we don't have lots of extra money to purchase supplies to redo the house. (Although the 3/4 inch solid plywood stalls are nice!) The idea of a mobile home you could just replace in a few years sounds nice! But how do you get rid of the old one, is that expensive?

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Thanks for letting me know your expereince. I like the idea od getting rid of this one myself, LOL..its actually not overly expensive, my dad has a mobile home currently. And we have gone around and searched and gotten all the costs on about 20 diffrent opitions of moving one. Most companys (here anyways) if you buy from them will take the old one away and a much lower price


I am actually pretty excited, Steve said he wants to do it. he said he can appreciate a home hes put work into more than one he hasnt.

If you can't find the roof leak, since it's a mobile home, you can tar mop it.
That how I fixed the invisible leak on my old mobile.

Thats what they have been doing, and it hasnt been working. I talked to my dad, he has an idea of what it is, since he has a mobile and said if when we move in he will come take a look at it and probably get it fixed right away for us.

We also live in a fixer upper. We have done a ton of work and more to do.
We also have an older mobile home. I would love to have a new one but not yet in the budget. If you are as motivated as I think you are you will do fine.
It is a ton of work though, it never seems to stop.
If the land is nice it is worth it. That was what we love about our property!
Nothing beats having you horses in your back yard as well!
Sometimes I sit out when the sun is just setting and watch the horses graze.
( By the way, no baby YET!!!!!!!!!! )

Well, I still say go for it!
Land is a commodity, they aren't making any more of it
10 acres of decent land is well worth it, even if the mobile isn't, at least the water, sewer and electricity are already there, that's a huge expense you don't have to worry about

Well, I assume that since you don't have your horses on your own property now, you're paying stable rent for them, right? If that's the case, then you would be saving money on that.So, if that's the case, there is a plus in favour of getting this property. You can always build a real house on the foundation, when you have the time and the money. It seems to me, that you could turn this into a nice little ranch if you're willing to work at it.