The news in our office is that we are getting a listing that seems a pretty good deal for this economy. The property is something we might call a “Hobby Farm,” but it is more than that. The owners (who are moving to Virginia to be closer to where they grew up, and on to more acreage) have developed the property we will list into a fairly self-sufficient operation.
As a young woman I and my husband went through the self-sufficiency movement and lived on our own bit of acreage where we did it all — raising nearly everything we needed on our own land. It was a very fulfilling way to live. It was also more work than I want to be doing now. However, when I went out to view this “hobby farm” I fell in love with it. My greatest love — the fences! There is nothing like good fences when you are raising critters of one kind or another. Next, I loved the gardens. Even at this time of year, when most of the land is fallow, the ample garden spaces looked great to me. There is also a barn, chicken house, pasture, etc.
All of this is within minutes of town, not way out in the sticks somewhere. You can find out a lot more about it at their homesteading blog. If I were younger, and my husband was more willing, I’d be very interested in buying this place. You would be amazed at how much you can save if you raise your own vegetables and meat. When we were doing this sort of thing, we also had a small herd of dairy goats. Gosh, I enjoyed those goats so much. They have great personalities, and each one is a unique individual. You couldn’t raise goats on the property we are listing, however, unless you got rid of the rhododendrons. Rhodies are poisonous to goats.
Surprisingly Mason County doesn’t have as much rural property as you might think. We have acres and acres of trees that are being grown for harvest, as well as forest land. Much of our residential zones are built around lakes, and then of course we have our town centers. And we have a lot of recreational area, too. There is one section of Mason County that is more rural, and that is the Cloquallum, Dayton and Matlock area.
In the news, NAR has pledged to assist President Obama on the foreclosure fixes. They said:
“NAR’s 1.2 million members are eager to help make President Obama’s Making Home Affordable plan a reality. We are pleased that the president released the guidelines today for refinancing and mortgage loan modifications and that the guidelines will be implemented immediately to help struggling homeowners as well as millions of eligible homeowners who have stayed current in their mortgage payments.
“Housing stabilization must be the key component of any federal recovery plan. Helping families keep their homes is critical to this effort and for the health of our economy and communities across the country. President Charles McMillan
Along with most real estate agents, I really look forward to the day we clear out most of the foreclosures in our inventory, and we certainly do not want to keep creating more foreclosures. Not only do foreclosures bring down property values even more than expected, but on a purely selfish note — working with banks on the sale of these homes can be a big pain. Sometimes we can wait and wait, wondering if a bank even got our offer, they are so slow to respond to us.
Tags: foreclosures, hobby farm, nar, self-sufficient
