We are selling our farm

[Flyin6]

Yes, you heard it right

Kat and I have had a months-long discussion about the farm. We talked about the cost/benefit and we talked about how much I can realistically achieve there with my remaining years. I turned 69 a couple days ago. Every day I spend down there building something is a day we are not spending together. Every dime I spend on something down there is a dime unavailable to use for travel.

I enjoyed a huge psychological boost having owned it for the past 10 years+, but we have decided to focus elsewhere.

I have owned it lock, stock, and barrel from the first day. I stroked a check for it and everything down there. I turned it from a ratty overgrown mess into a really pretty place with fields so nice now, that I can mow them with my zero-turn. I have a new barn and a 16X32 story and a half "Shed"

I also have a Canadian replica out house sited well, and a 12X12 site-built shed that houses a side-by-side. It has electricity and pressurized water and roads and stocked ponds and just about everything you'd need except for fenced fields. I don't have them.

All of you here have watched that place grow and develop and know what it is. I will not be asking for an arm and a leg or your firstborn, but if any RealMan associate is interested there is a short window before I offer it to the general market.

All the equipment is going as well.

[KensAuto]

That's a life changing direction if I ever saw one. Should be able to get a nice chunk for that place.

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[dave945]

The offer still stands if you need a place to park the equipment. I’ll even keep it exercised and warmed up for ya. ;)


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[stlaser]

Good for you Don, glad you’re not 80 like I was thinking too Boss…..

[Flyin6]

There is already interest and I haven't advertised anything.
Looks like the equipment might start leaving tomorrow...

[JR]

Big step but if it works for you 2 great!

[Atkinsmatt]

Life changing step.  Good deal.

[Flyin6]

And if I may be a bit transparent, this is a little scary.

I always pictured the farm being a part of our lives. Working there and eventually living there. I even planned to be buried there or have my ashes scattered about there.

But it is nearly an all-consuming work. It has cost me a decade of time, effort, and money. My own house has not seen the tender love and care it needs because of the energy poured into those hills south of me.

But my wife will not move there. It is an hour plus away from everything we do and everyone we do it with.

It came down to a choice, really. All of you will have similar thoughts when you reach more advanced ages. Average American males live 77 years. My family seems to pass in their 80's. I just clocked in 69 years, so my time is limited. And of that time, how much is useful? You know, before you are sick with something, or just plain worn out.

I was an athlete for a lot of my life. Always faster stronger and more endurance than anyone I knew. Special operations make you like that out of necessity. So, I know what it is to be in great shape. But now, I am slower and more labored. Albeit mostly due to the bac back last year, and I am improving greatly, how long is it before something like that happens again? Then what, it takes out 10%-20% of my remaining time?

If I am going to spend time with Kat and the family, travel, and build memories on grand hikes in the Rockies, well, none of that is congruent with owning a farm. So it's a simple choice. I keep the farm I love and the place where I am building out my dreams. Or do I recognize that I cannot fulfill the dreams of others or be a part of their lives as much? The latter suggests I remove the impediment.

So, I made the call. For better or worse, I am embarking on the next season of my/our life. I will focus not so much on what I think, but instead of what the family may want or benefit from.

Chris, our last remaining child at home is leaving. He departs for basic training in July. For almost all of our marriage, Kat and I have raised and nurtured three girls and two boys. We hardly know each other it seems sometimes. I feel it is time to close that gap and get to know each other all over again. We are settled, secure, have a great family, a good income, are successful, and fulfilled. I think for the most part we have done our job of making good citizens and now it is time to take the role of counselor and also take a lot of time to just be together.

So, I guess, that is what we/I am going to do. I pray that when a similar situation arises in your lives, you can face and meet it head-on and find a soft landing to maybe, a better place.

[Flyin6]

It will be coming out on the MLS in a couple of hours

$535,950

[JR]

That should keep the missis happy and pay off a jeep or two, maybe even a hemi?

[Flyin6]

That should keep the missis happy and pay off a jeep or two, maybe even a hemi?

It will do quite a bit more than that...
Selling the Farm and in a little while, selling the castle puts us in a place to build a new house on less land and be mortgage and debt free.

[JR]

 

[oklawall]

Good luck on the sale

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[Dustoff35]

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/890-Walnut-Ridge-Ln-Mount-Olivet-KY-41064/2057675568_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

[Farmer Jon]

That is an awesome place. Should sell in no time.

[Flyin6]

That is an awesome place. Should sell in no time.

The people who live behind me have expressed interest
as
has
every construction industry person who has shown up to purchase equipment.

[Nate]

Interest dosent pay the bills

[Flyin6]

Interest dosent pay the bills

Nate, remember this song:

Every party needs a pooper---that's why we invited you---Party poo-per, Party Poo-per    ;-)

Remember that song??

Yea of course that's right.

So here's the thing, as I finesse this sales model I am making adjustments.

There is a possibility the farm will not sell. I have a floor that I will not go beneath, and it is quite a tidy sum. I have taken several things off the market to support that number and the possibility I end up not selling. My Fuel tank and fuel, the dump trailer, the flat trailer, the Kubota SVL-97, the Kubota MX-6000, and the Blue Diamond Severe duty cutter. With those, I can maintain that farm just about forever.
I will continue selling the Diamond disc mulcher and other things I rarely use.
I have the income to support retirement, I think, and the Farm would mean giving up some travel plans and some independence, and a lot of good old cash. But at the end of the day, it is one beautiful property that I would be proud to own or will certainly appeal to someone, somewhere, someday.

[Nate]

I'm not trying to poop on any party, I was commenting in regards to lookers/tire kickers

[Flyin6]

I have two people looking at the property at the moment. Both are cash buyers.

No tellin' what will happen next

But I'll keep you all posted.

[JR]

What gets me is the 3-5% fee, robbery!!

Good luck.

[Bob Smith]

So what Don isn’t saying anything about is the weather. We are currently just north and west of him and it is hot 85-90 degrees. And high humidity. In the winter I am told 0 or colder. I guess if you live here it isn’t too bad but to buy and move here , not so much. Darn nice looking country right now however, green rolling hills with lots of crop fields growing higher each day.

[stlaser]

Bob, zero or colder? Not so much down there and they don’t get much snow. From Kokomo Indiana south it’s more ice than snow. Temps are also more moderate in winter. Yes, summers are hot and humid though.


I don’t regret moving from the Midwest, been back several times with the wife. Consensus between us is we will never move back. If we have our way we will be where we’re at forever.

[Flyin6]

The farm did not go for the asking price which, it seems is a good thing.

I did pray over all of this and since nothing has happened, it caused me to pause and relook at everything., Also in the short span of time between when she first said she did not want to build on the farm and now, the world scene has drastically changed.

I now feel we are closer to a multi-front war than we have been since WW2. And with like-size militaries of China aided by Korea and possibly with help from India and who knows who, we are also looking down a Russian nuclear gun barrel.

Will there be a coming Nuclear conflagration? I doubt it, and frankly planning to deal with that is ridiculous anyway since almost every on the planet would perish under such a condition.

A far more likely scenario is for China/N-Korea and Russia to nuke some of our cities and military installations. That would plunge us into a decades-long martial law and meltdown of society as we know it today. I think starvation and anarchy is far more likely with a federal government that is far from controlling its own people because of fending off enemies all over the planet.

I think that is far more likely. So much so, that I have removed our farm from the "For Sale" list and put into place plans to get some real living space up and going down there ASAP.

I have stopped the sale of the remaining equipment and am making plans to build a rudimentary house down there along with two more for some of our kids and their families.

It is what it is, and for now, that is all I have to report on this thread. Look for the next installment of the Hide Site thread to see what pans out there.

Very quickly I can have chickens and beef cows sufficient for our needs and homegrown vegetables as well. We have water, and shelter, and are very remote. Someone would have to take one hack of a hike to find us and the net from all that effort is having very likely been shot somewhere else in surrounding territories.

Sounds crazy, but it is time to dig in and get this happening.

[JR]

Was wondering about this, I see the logic in it.

Also with the world as it is, I see china moving on Tiawan realing pushing the world into chaos.

[stlaser]

Glad to see you’ve come to your senses. The world hasn’t changed it’s just speeding up pace……

[Flyin6]

Coming to my senses, perhaps.

But as I age, I have new realities to face down.

With this current diagnosis of RA, I can see limitations to life starting to fence me in, well, possibly.

That has caused me to take a hard look at our present reality, and more importantly what does the picture for my family look like without me. I am the high wage earner and buttress a lot of what we do. I do not think Kat is in a good position should I check out of the net leaving her to tend to this mansion we currently live in.

Everything is really pointing to withdrawing to what we do own and control and making a life there. She once said she no longer wanted to live on the farm. That was life-changing for me and set me on the course to sell everything and become "Travelling Don." Well, that would and has been stacking up the memories, but leaves her and everyone is a precarious position when I leave.

So, the right thing to do is to just build a place on the place we already own and control. Further, I am offering each one of the kids a 2-acre plot that they would choose to build their home on. I would then set the entire farm up as a trust where all of them and I are the board members and I, then Kat are permanent presidents until our death. Thereafter they would always own their 2-acres and be surrounded by 90 acres that all of them own collectively.

It's funny because now, I need some equipment... yeah, kind of like what I just sold...

I am again thinking of a sawmill but at a cost of around $8K I might just buy all the lumber. I would use the mill to cut all the post and beam, beams, exterior decking, and 2-by's. I would use it to cut tons of interior paneling boards to save costs, but I would have to get to $8K worth of boards before that paid for itself.

I would also need another grapple, actually, two. One for the tractor, and one for the Skid Steer.

Last night I was sort of thinking/dreaming about all this and a thought hit me. As my parting massive project, I would actually be building my wife her final home. I would build it myself and she would live out her days in it. I kind of like that. It feels good to think I would give that to her, and later on that home would serve the kids.

My plan will likely be to take one of two possible tracks.

First and most likely, I could add on to the shed and finish that out as a temporary cabin to move into. With that done we could sell our current home. I do believe we are just beginning to enter another economic crisis that is a $1.4T deep hole banks have dug us into once again. This will cause belt-tightening all over the financial world and possibly make selling my current home difficult. That means I need to build the cabin a bit nicer just in case it becomes our forever home.

But going on with the likely door #1 plan, after we sold the mansion, we would use the cash to build her the home she wanted just up the hill from the cabin.

The alternative plan would just build a right-sized barndominium now and just finish out a few rooms that I could do with cash, awaiting the sale of the big house to complete at some distant point. Actually, I favor this the least, as I would really rather build on a basement, and doing so pushes the cost into territory I cannot "stroke the check" to complete.

So that's it. I am talking to the kids about the plans and starting to see what I need to do to build something better for Kat and I.

[JR]

Sounds like sound thoughts.

I think your house would sell easily, maybe not at a boomer price, but a fair profit for sure.

Curious, have you thought about trailers, like 10 or 12 wide? Setup over the weekend, ready to go, move if you need to even onto the 2 acre plots.

[Flyin6]

Sounds like sound thoughts.

I think your house would sell easily, maybe not at a boomer price, but a fair profit for sure.

Curious, have you thought about trailers, like 10 or 12 wide? Setup over the weekend, ready to go, move if you need to even onto the 2 acre plots.

I have thought about them.

Short plan is to employ the camper I built for some nights so I can get 2-3 days at a time.

But I simply plan to the the property up and running again, then build out the existing "super shed" into something we could easily live in if it came down th that.

I really feel the huge economic downturn that is coming is going to kill off most chances of selling my current home for the next 3 years, and there may be some surprises coming in the form of a world war or a partial collapse of America, so having something soon will just be smart.

I was pricing grapples today and scored two for $5K. I may swap out tractors for something more workable than the MX-6000 Kubota which, with that "treadle" is awful to run. Following that, I plan to buy another sawmill and mill up almost all of the lumber I will need for the cabin reno/build.

Look for me to start the Hide site next iteration any day now...

[TexasRedNeck]

Don, I think we all wrestle with estate planning in some form or fashion.

My goal is to reduce my taxable footprint as much as possible to preserve wealth.

You might consider placing the plots along one portion of the property or on each corner so that if they decide to sell the common acreage it doesn’t hack up the footprint too badly.

Timing the sale of the main home is a bit of a guess.  The election is next year and depending on the outcome the outlook may be different.

I’m fortunate enough that my location makes my primary residence almost recession proof. (1% drop during the last recession versus 15% percent for other areas of the MSA). of course that didnt have a big increase in interest rates so it may have a bigger impact this time.

I thought I had it figured out with our place in the country fully serviceable and paid for with an ag exemption but now the wife is concerned about proximity to medical care, which can be a bit of a problem

Moral of the story, the best laid plans may change so don’t over think it. Do the best you can and be prepared for changes.


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[Atkinsmatt]

Sound wisdom. No plan survives contact intact.  That's what frag orders are for.

[stlaser]

Forget the mill, if you need bring a portable guy in and pay him to cut the timber on sight. You don’t have the time and milling logs is time consuming and labor intensive. You already have a barn to stack and dry it in. If you want a mill down the road to continue with kids homes etc do it then when more time and help is present.

Sell the big house, get it on the market sooner than later. Sell or put into storage what you don’t need. By doing this it forces your hand and time tables. If you’re set on doing this pull the trigger. God will work the rest out for you two, yup there’s only two of you so that makes this easier.

My 2 cents from a guy who pulled the trigger little over a year ago and is taking final load north this coming week.

[Flyin6]

^^^^^^^^^^^ Sound advice from wise men^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Our formula will, of course, vary.

Kat was concerned about my now being 1+ hrs. from a medical facility. I feel that is fear taking root and will give it a little foothold in my life. I'll die when God has deemed it time for me to return home.

We are surrounded by grandkids, whom we are very active in their lives. Frankly, we need to be. Whereas most of the kids have taken more of a blue-collar path, we can offer a different example for the children. Successful and professional, military, university educated, and a host of great and successful friends. We will not take that away from them during their formative years, so that begs proximity. I can solve that by continuing of the farm trajectory, and even selling the mansion by just taking a local apartment. Expensive, but doable.

As for stuff. We decided to can most of it except for a few pieces and heirlooms. We will live from a smaller footprint going forward. A decent 3BR farm home, perhaps a cape cod along with the cabin with a good-sized gathering space is in the cards.

As for the mill, I do believe I want to get one again. The thing is, I have this dream of building that cabin almost exclusively myself and with materials I sourced from the property. Just a thing I want to do, I guess. Since the cabin will turn into a quaint guest house in the future, I want this to be almost 100% me. I want the wood you sit on, that is on the walls, that you are walking on, and just about everywhere to have passed from standing tree to processed lumber through my hands. Jesus loved carpentry, guess he passed that on to me.

I do also believe we will be somewhat controlled by coming conditions. The best case is not good, the worst case is nearly unthinkable. But in any case, much larger than my ability to control it, so to some extent it will control me. My job will be to do the best I can to keep pointed in the generally "right" direction and continue to push.

Today is likely when I start to spend money. Looking at the tractor and CTL grapples. Those are necessary. I may look at another tractor in the 35-50HP range that is easier to use. I think I'll buy a land planner (Like a box scraper) to recondition the roads periodically. And I will likely pull the trigger on a mill PDQ.

First up after the equipment is ordered will be to start a general cleanup. That will involve getting rid of a ton of scrap stuff. I need to fill in a drainage ditch so that's where the scrap will end up, then I'll bury that when I put in a lower road. After that, I'll have to catch up on cutting the fields back since the front end was not harvested into hay. Then I'll start getting everything out of the shed to create my clean slate and I still haven't hung the barn doors.

So there is stuff to do and starting in about 15 minutes, I'll get after it....Feels good to be back!

[JR]

Just food for thought, I think the best case scenario is conditions will stay as they are. Not great, but could get far worse I agree.

Build your stuff, you sold the other sawmill? I see them on FB all the time now. No rush and I feel the "slowdown" too but most days are pretty good.

I didn't like my scraper, get a blade for the front of the skid, I'm looking that way now.

[Flyin6]

Just food for thought, I think the best case scenario is conditions will stay as they are. Not great, but could get far worse I agree.

Build your stuff, you sold the other sawmill? I see them on FB all the time now. No rush and I feel the "slowdown" too but most days are pretty good.

I didn't like my scraper, get a blade for the front of the skid, I'm looking that way now.

I would like a blade for the front of the CTL...

[Atkinsmatt]

Did you sell the world eating head for the ctl

[Flyin6]

Did you sell the world eating head for the ctl

I sold the tree destroyer, but kept the planet destroyer.

Everything I saw on your 6-acres across the road would be easy work for the one I kept!