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Examining Land
October:
- Some land in Heath that proved interesting upon inspection was very pretty, but due to the soil, no building permit could be approved because of low drainage. This constant fight with wet ground is becoming a bit irritating because the most beautiful places DO have water, and the fact that I have no plans to be dumping precious water into a septic system, means that damp soil wouldn't even be an issue!
- A second piece of land in Heath too, seemed like it would work. One issue present was nearby powerlines. I bought a EMF reader to determine the safety of the lines. I took a reading of .6 milligaus directly under the lines which faded to .1 away from the lines about 100 yards (where the house would be). Click here to read about the safety issues about power lines - the jury IS in! But EMF radiation or not, the seller said that they wanted to cut down all the large trees on it before selling "for my convenience". When I asked that they leave it alone if I were to buy it, I never heard from them again. "Okay, you're car will be ready for you to pick up tomorrow and we'll make sure we take out all the stereo equipment - for your convenience." Man, people are strange, but I guess that's part of the reason I'm looking to get away from a lot of that and back to nature!
November 2003
- After many blunders and bouts of bad luck in MA, my wife (who works across the street from a Real Estate Agency) suggested that she give a go at a land search, well she did and we took a trip out to South-Western NH to look at a few properties (during the first snow of the season!). A few were difficult/ impossible to find and the others seemed un interesting, but one stayed in our mind after having left and gone back home. This small (9.8 acre) site was relatively flat and somewhat narrow (300 feet across) but had the VERY attractive feature of basically abutting a large state park - the largest state park in all of NH - Pisgah State Park. We'd been in a bit of a rush the first time there because the other land parcels had been so difficult to find, but we thought about the land and decided to go back for a second visit (partially because the price was so low at $30,000 - and we were getting anxious to not only buy land but build!). After all, the site did have some nice features, including some large boulders and a spring fed stream... (er) trickle (seen in the boulder photo to the left (see what I mean about it being small).
- Dawn-Marie and I discussed the land and decided that I should go back and check it out to see if it would work. We were very enticed by the price and didn't want to throw away a perfectly good fish here just because of a not so great first impression due to our haste. During the second visit, myself, my brother and a friend went and we took some rough survery measurements of the front (the only buildable area). It was a calm warm sunny day and we took some time to relax on the ground which eminated the sun's warmth. After using our crude survey technique, we determined that the space was adequate to place a home and I drove home happy to tell Dawn the news.
- I made a meeting with the Building Code Inspector - very nice guy - and we determined that the site was buildable and he even suggested that building with strawbales (if only used as insulation and not as structural) seemed permitable! So we made an offer of $26,000. The offer of $28,000 came back and we accepted. We had only to determine if the site would perc as a contingency on the agreement - as it turns out, the site had been perced a year prior and the file was on record, so we spoke to the man who'd done the perc and were finally ready to close. The closing date was set to be on or before December 31, 2003. We decided to have it hapen one day earlier, on the 30th.
December 29, 2003
- With closing costs etc, the final price to be paid was $29,162.90. we'd already put down $1,000 at the offer, so we had "only" another $28,162.90 to go. After work, I dropped by the bank to get a cashier's check for the entire amount from my savings account which had steadily been built up during the time spent searching for the land. It seemed surprisingly easy to withdraw the funds and in a few moments, I walked out of my bank branch. In my wallet was $7 in ones, a penny I'd found on the ground earlier that day, a couple Subway Sandwich Club cards and a cashier's check for $28,162.90 - strange!
December 30, 2003
- On the day of the signing, we were supposed to meet at 10:00am in the lawyer office in Nashua, NH. But, since the papers didn't show up on time, we changed our plans and Dawn-Marie and I decided to take our day off and go out to Deerfield, MA to Yankee Candle Factory and do the signing that afternoon. We took off (stopping for lunch at Subway and adding 2 more Subway stamps to the eclectic mix of papers in my wallet - yes, I walked around all day with the $28K in my pocket!) and made it back to Nashua at about 4:45pm. We signed the papers with the lawyer and then.... nothing. We owned the land (apparently - allegedly) but it didn't really feel much different. It still doesn't after a couple of days - though my bank account (nearly $30,000 poorer keeps reminding me!) But whether I feel different or not, it's time now to start planning for moving onto he land!
Go to PREPARING THE LAND.
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