Last weekend, I was riding horses with a friend at my family’s farm. From the saddle, I looked out over the farm with my future home and farm in the background. I couldn’t help but think about how surreal it is that this long-held dream is actually coming to fruition.
I felt my phone vibrate. Later, after untacking and putting the horses away, I checked my notifications to find the following:
“You are having way more fun than we are, I can tell you that! Would you be able to stop by? We have some questions for you.”
I went right over, still in my riding breeches and covered in horse hair. Even though our closing date isn’t until late June, the house is filled with boxes. A few years ago I packed up my parents’ house after 20 years of the accumulation that naturally comes with a life well lived, so I can empathize with the need to start early.
They had asked me over to see if I was interested in keeping some of the things that they were not going to take with them to their new home. Lucky for them, I have some hoarding tendencies – although I prefer to call it a ‘farmer’s mindset’, since you never know when something will come in handy!
They are leaving me some great money-savers: shelving and cabinets in the basement (will use to store my canned harvest), a chest freezer, a dresser upstairs in the extra bedroom (nicer than anything I have), a corner desk in the office (again, nicer than anything I have), a Craftsman tool chest, and a couple of ladders that will allow me to reach all levels of the antique cow barn.
Most importantly, I hadn’t seen the inside of the house since I submitted my offer. In the weeks since that day, with all of the anxiety of this monumental commitment, the finer details had blurred in my mind. It’s an extremely cute house – a little bigger than I remembered, with beautiful wood detailing and an incredible fireplace. Thinking about decorating is overwhelming right now, but I can’t wait to make a home of it.
These updates seek to document the process of buying a farm – but they also seek to help someone who may have to navigate a similar process in the future. If you have any questions (ever), please feel free to let me know!
This Week in the Process of Buying a Farm
🎉🎉We are officially under contract!!!! 🎉🎉
This certainly took long enough. Because it’s technically two separate lots (one lot with the house and outbuildings on it, plus a second vacant lot that has most of the acreage), there was a bit of back and forth to ensure the language was correct.
Being under contract means we can finally schedule the inspections. For this property, I have scheduled the following:
- Septic Inspection ($549 for the inspection; the seller pays for the pumping)
- Home Inspection (approximately $1,250; includes home inspection, wood-destroying insects, foundation inspection, radon testing, and well water testing for basic potability plus heavy metals, etc.)
These costs are significant, but also very necessary. I did elect for a few add-ons that are specific to the property that I’m buying:
In my area of Connecticut, a foundation inspection is very important. Homes built within a certain time period could have used concrete that had been tainted with a mineral called pyrrhotite. This mineral causes the concrete to crack and crumble, which requires replacement.
The home I’m buying was affected by this issue and had the foundation replaced – however, there is a chance that the replacement concrete was also contaminated. The sellers did everything in their power to make sure this wasn’t the case, so it is highly unlikely that I will ever be affected by this issue again. By having a foundation inspection completed for $300 prior to the sale, I ensure that I will be eligible for state aid if there ever is an issue.
A new foundation is hundreds of thousands of dollars, so wasting this $300 for peace of mind is well worth it. If you are buying a farm, unless you are in the northeast region of Connecticut, you are unlikely to ever have to deal with this issue.
I also chose to do the full water test (including heavy metals) rather than just testing for basic potability because the area had been used for agriculture several decades ago – it was a turnip farm, and before that, a cow farm. Although unlikely, polluted soil could still have an effect on the well water, so for an extra $150 it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Next Steps:
The biggest next step is to complete the inspections. I was able to schedule all of the inspections for the same day next week, so it will all be out of the way very quickly!
The inspection reports may give me an opportunity to further negotiate with the sellers. If there is a significant issue, I can request that it either be fixed, or I can request a credit towards closing costs. I doubt there will be anything, but it’s nice to know that every inch of this house will have a professional’s eyes on it before I make the largest purchase of my life.
I also noticed that a local furniture store is having a warehouse sale, so I’m going to stop by – I will need to buy a couch and a kitchen table in Phase 1, two significant investments that will be central to my life for the forseeable future. I want to get a feel for my options so that I can budget appropriately as well as refine my furniture tastes.
I’ve also been revisiting some of the books that have kept me motivated over the years. The all-time most influential has been The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing. When I first read it, my homestead dream felt eons away, so it’s wild to read it again knowing that I’m SO CLOSE!!
The Nearings homesteaded in Vermont in the mid-1900s, which had a similarly rocky terrain and required similar gardening strategies to my area of Connecticut. As I read, I’m making notes. I really need to start looking at possible gardening layouts and deciding if I can build the beds myself or if I’ll need help. (The Nearings would be embarrassed that I’m considering asking for help.)
If you have any advice for me, I’d love to hear it. Let me know in the comments, or find me on TikTok (if it even still exists after this weekend)!
Talk soon,
KC
@farmninetysix
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