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Letter Re: A Successful Search for a Survival Retreat Property
Hi Jim,
we wanted to share our story with your readers who may not have been able to
acquire their retreats yet, and worry they never will. We hope our story
will inspire them....
We sold our home in record time recently (big shock) and then went on a major
hunt to find our "perfect spot"...we have been preparing and stocking
up and looking to find the area we wanted to buy retreat in and start in earnest
to live self-sufficiently, hoping and praying when the time came it would all
come together.
We had very specific parameters: minimum of 40 acres, very private and secluded
but yet close to a small community, a year round creek or spring fed pond was
of high importance, and of course our house had to sell in this terrible market
and for a good price to reduce debts and leave enough money for a new location...not
too much to ask for eh?
well, this is what we wanted to share: We found a place that had been in a farmers
family for multiple generations, had numerous barns, fencing, a well, and a year
round creek, everything we
were looking for already there and in great working order! It was off the beaten
path by about seven miles, but visible from the country road that led
to it. Still a beautiful property and reasonably priced for the 40 acres.
We made an offer on it and since I felt very uneasy with the level of exposure
from the road (probably wouldn't bother most folks, but I am extremely private.)
I went and sat on the porch and prayed, asking God that if this was not where
we were supposed to be to please, please, let me know quick and give
me a big sign my husband will recognize, LOL,
he loved the property as it met all our parameters, (except my extreme privacy
need)
and would be upset to know
I was still shopping in my mind.
Well, the phone rang shortly thereafter and our offer was being hijacked by a
family member [of the seller] who knew we just sold a home in a desirable area,
so
the
price
that they gave
us was now a lot higher, among other demands and (this in a major "buyers
market"!).
We
were running out of options and needed to move asap so I worried we may have
to end up taking the offer if nothing else came along very quickly.
the next morning a cousin called at 6 a.m. and said that she had woke up for
no reason at 4 a.m. and had [remembered] the perfect place for us, though it
wasn't
on
the
market
and
it
was only a rundown house on three acres, but tucked away perfectly. He made
a
couple phone calls on our behalf and later that afternoon we went to view and
talk to the owners...just so happened that they had just talked of selling to
move closer to a city due to high fuel costs of commuting, we made a deal with
them on the spot and closed a few days later!....well....we knew that even with
just a few well set up acres we could do just fine when the SHTF.
The second
phone
call on our behalf was to the owner of 80+ acres adjoining our 'new' place. These
are multigenerational family properties and rarely get sold outside of family....the
timing was perfect...she also had just decided to sell off those acres....she
told us she knew it was God's will for us to buy it when the phone rang that
morning with a request to buy "a couple extra acres" to go with the
old farm house adjoining her property. That was the second sign from God. Then
we went to view her acres which has a very old falling apart barn on it and as
we walked inside there were numerous cans of storage food (from a
company
often
mentioned in SurvivalBlog, in
great
shape)
laying
around. We were told there is a "whole gully full of the stuff, cause the
old guy
thought the world was gonna come to an end every morning." How wild is that?
Sign #3 that we were definitely in the right place!
We met with owner and her attorney and although were hoping for extra five acres
but walked
out with an agreement on 80 acres and an option for more. We are grateful and
amazed. We wanted to share our good fortune so that others know it can happen
for them,
even with odds against them. You gotta have faith!
We relish the idea of putting together a wonderful place to live for the rest
of our lives and to be able to offer sanctuary for our family and select friends
in good times and bad, and and hope we have enough time to teach our grown children
and grandchildren self-sufficiency of a different sort in this unstable world.
Thank
you for all the work you do and the information you share with the rest
of us! God Bless, - KW
