On November 18, I received a text that changed my life: I was going to have the opportunity to buy a 10 acre farm.
I had reached out to the owners by handwritten letter over two years prior. I had laid the groundwork, and now it was coming to fruition.
Since then, it has been a lot of hurry up and wait. It took a couple weeks for the sellers to get an appraisal and formulate their asking price, and then a week for me to go see the property, compare with market research, and submit an offer. A few days were spent negotiating, and we came to an agreement just before the holidays – which naturally delayed the process of getting paperwork done.
I have never purchased a home before – let alone a farm! Not only is this entirely new to me, but I am also navigating the process of buying a farm on my own (with some hired help).
My hope is that by sharing a weekly update with the details of this process, I can help make life a little easier for someone in the future who finds themself navigating a similar path.
This Week in the Process of Buying a Farm:
Contracts have been finalized and submitted to the sellers! This was quite the process: there are two separate lots, leading to two separate contracts. Because the house was never on the market, there was some paperwork that the sellers had to fill out: inclusions and exclusions, property condition report, and disclosures.
The inclusions and exclusions form allows sellers to indicate exactly what is included in the house purchase: kitchen appliances, laundry machines, lighting fixtures, etc. Some things are typically included, but if the sellers have a sentimental attachment to an item, this gives them the opportunity to exclude it from the sale.
It also gives the sellers an opportunity to include additional items. I’m delighted to report that they are including some extras that will be really useful to me, including a chest freezer, firewood, and a desk.
The property condition report requires the sellers to indicate anything they know about the property’s condition, including maintenance that has occurred. They also disclose any significant issues of which they are aware. In this case, the only significant disclosure was that the foundation had been poured with bad concrete, but has since been professionally repaired.
Once the sellers sign the finalized contracts, we will have 14 days to schedule inspections. This will include a standard home inspection as well as a septic inspection and a foundation inspection.
The BEST thing I have done so far in this process was to hire a realtor to serve as my buyer’s agent. Because this is a direct transaction that never went to market, the sellers do not have an agent and I leaned towards not having one either. I figured we could just let our lawyers figure it out.
As it turns out, there is a lot to this process, and it’s not an attorney’s job to help you navigate that. Details on the inclusions sheet, division of value across the two properties, and specifics regarding the inspections never would have crossed my mind if it weren’t for my agent.
Next Steps:
This week will be all about scheduling, and hopefully carrying out, the home inspections. Before the inspections, I’m doing my best to come up with an exhaustive list of questions for the inspector.
Additionally, the home inspection will be my first time on the property without the sellers present. It will be an important time to take measurements and pictures of some spaces so that I can wade further into the planning process armed with some information that might help me make some decisions.
I’m also continuing to work on the 6 Things I’m Doing 6 Months From Buying My Dream Farm – with a special focus on researching major purchases such as solar power and a utility vehicle – and working on prioritizing the many tasks that I will need to complete in order to build this farm into a semi self sufficient homestead. I’ll have a post coming early next week that walks through my process for organizing these tasks.
If you have any advice for me, I’d love to hear it. Let me know in the comments, or find me on TikTok!
Talk soon,
KC
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