I am just 6 weeks away from closing on my 10 acre farm!!!!!
A few times per day, I suddenly remember that I’m buying a farm – and I usually exclaim this out loud to whoever is nearby. My friends, family, and students have now heard this a hundred times. My dog, Scotch Tape, is the only one who seems equally excited every time I have this revelation.
There have been some exciting recent updates, both in the actual home-buying process as well as in my general preparations:
This Week in the Process of Buying a Farm
The contract to purchase my farm has been fully executed since late February, when all inspections were completed. Since then, I’ve been in a holding pattern. The unusually long four-month closing period (typically 30-45 days) meant that we had to delay the mortgage appraisal until closer to closing to ensure it remained valid.
The mortgage appraisal took place earlier this week and was rather uneventful. The buyer is typically not present, but my agent attended on my behalf. The report came back two days later and, thankfully, the property appraised at the appropriate value! I am relieved for a couple of reasons: first, this confirms that I am not overpaying, which I was a little worried about. Additionally, my mortgage will proceed as planned; if the property had under-appraised, I would have had to increase my downpayment to cover the difference, which would drastically limit the ‘extra’ funds I have to make initial improvements (such as installing solar panels).
Now that the mortgage appraisal is complete, I also submitted updated financial records, and all of my documents are with the underwriter as they finalize my mortgage.
Final cost of mortgage appraisal: $570
Costs so far: $2,216 for inspections + $570 = $2,786
My Tasks as Closing Draws Nearer
Packing
My apartment is starting to feel rather sterile, as the art comes off the walls and the drawers begin to empty. I am storing all of my smaller belongings in the basement at the big farm – the nextdoor property owned by my longtime friends, who I consider my adopted family. Each time I drive over to the big farm, I bring anything that’s ready to go. So far, I’ve been focusing on items I won’t need in the meantime – pottery, decorations, winter clothes, etc.
Scheduling Services & Acquiring Quotes
I scheduled movers for my furniture as well as a consult for solar panels. I am also requesting quotes for certain services, like scraping the popcorn ceilings. While I would like to DIY as much as I can, I’m trying to maximize what gets done in the narrow timeframe when the house is empty of furniture.
Garden Planning
While I am still not certain of the location for my garden, I am maintaining my tomato plants in the big farm’s greenhouse with the hopes of getting them in the ground soon after moving in.
I’m very lucky to be moving to a neighborhood that is homesteading-minded. The main property line will be shared with my adopted family. On all other sides (including across the street), I will be bordered by a multigenerational family that operates a Christmas tree farm, keeps bees, has fruit trees, and maintains a large garden. My adopted mom actually ran into this neighbor at a local garden center last weekend and got to talking about my impending move. He mentioned that he recently fixed his rototiller and will put it to use for me as soon as I’m ready!
While I typically follow no-till practices in my garden, using a rototiller is an incredible cheat-code to establishing a brand new garden plot – especially here in Connecticut, where the soil is compact and rocky. I will happily take him up on his offer to jump-start my garden… followed immediately by a heaping layer of aged compost to help the microbial networks begin to recover from the tilling.
Looking for Camera Recommendations
My iPhone photos and videos are my primary garden records, making it easy to track growth and stay motivated by comparing progress over time. With this homestead being my biggest project yet, I’m looking to invest in a camera for high-quality videos. While I’ll still capture plenty with the iPhone, a dedicated second device will broaden the opportunities. The tricky part is that it needs to be a fairly hardy device; if it’s too fragile to withstand the farm life, I won’t carry it around, so it won’t get used. If you have any recommendations for cameras that would suit this purpose, please let me know!
There aren’t many substantial updates on the horizon before closing day. I will keep packing, garden planning, dreaming, and trying to brace myself for this enormous life change. It is all very surreal, to say the least.
As always, I’ll be on socials, so if you have any advice – send me a message!
Talk soon,
KC