feeling emotional

[Ladyluck]

short background: we hae our home on the market so that we can get a bigger place and move my elderly and ill mom up here with us. Since we have to move anyway, we'd like a place with acreage so we can have animals. Problem is that we live on a peninsula, there simply exists only so much land here.

Current story: We looked at a property about 3 months ago, but it didn't really thrill us, at that point we really wanted a different property (which has since sold and is out of our reach). We had mentioned to the seller that we couldn't buy anything until our house sold. We had dropped that house off of our list, it was a nice home but not big enough, we'd have to build an addition immediately. Last week his realtor called our realtor and asked if we would take a second look and if he bought ours (much cheaper) then we could buy his. Friday we went out to look, decided that although it wasn't a first choice, it was workable, especially to do a "swap" of sorts.
I was not happy about how fast he was trying to push us, but figured that he was hemorrhaging money with this place and he did tell us that he HAD to do something with it before it bankrupted him.
He came to see ours, decided he'd buy it and turn it into a rental. So things were "settled".
I said I had to do some research as far as zoning etc, to make sure that it would work for our purposes, ie, could we build an addition and could we have farm animals.
Talked to zoning and they were ok with the animals and the addition, talked to planning and found out some red flags as far as protected wetlands. Their regulations supersede that of zoning, and the guy in the wetlands department strongly encouraged us to hire a wetlands consultant to have it micro-surveyed, since although according to the big map the whole parcel is wetlands, a specialized report could tell us what portion of the 10 acres are actually protected.
So then I got off the phone with him and called the health department to find out what the soil specs are for adding additional bedrooms and bathrooms.
HUGE screeching halt! the house that sits there right now is illegal. they have permits for two bedrooms ONLY, that land will not support septic for larger than that and they never will approve any land right there for more. She was highly surprised to see that there is a 4 bedroom home in place. She did say that they aren't the bedroom police and will not go do anything about the house now, but, a) we will not be allowed to add more bedrooms, ever, and b) when the current system does break down (which it will if it's overloaded) they will not permit a larger system to be installed and at that time, when it is officially brought to notice that the house is too big, there may be problems.

So..... obviously the deal is off. Jeff called the owner to tell him and the guy was MAD. Jeff told him that the FIRST thing we asked him from the FIRST time we saw the place was that it wasn't big enough and could we add on, what was the perc results? Then this time when we were negotiating I emphasized again and again, this is all subject to me finding out info from the city.

We have the results, this idea will not work. we will not buy this home and obviously he will not buy ours, so we are back to square one.

I hate living in limbo. I hate what this is doing to the kids. We told them a few weeks ago that we were not going to go look at anymore houses until we could actually buy one, it is just too hard to find a good house and know that we can't buy it. I thought that we were almost done with this and that I would be able to tell my mom soon that we were ready for her.

Trust me, I am SO SO SO glad that I am anal enough to do all this research and I do feel like we just dodged a huge bullet. But on the other hand, a nice house, 10 acres of land, only a 25 minute commute? how wonderful! So I feel disappointed and relieved at the same time.
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Jody, Wife to Jeff, Mom to Dean, Joey, Jessi, and Joy, ^j^, and Baby Jonny Jumbo

http://hyenacart.com/purplecowcustoms/

[kbrown99]

I'm sure something much better will work out in the end, but I know the in between is the pits.
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Kristina, wife to Ben, homeschooling, SAHM to 5 beautiful kids.

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[JNW]

I am so glad you found out before everything was finalized, but UGH. What a disappointment!
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[Kristina93]

I totally understand. When we were considering adding on to our home, I went to the city. Turned out all the work done in the late 70's early 80's was never signed off. We had to do a few things to make it to code, but now it's all signed off. It's amazing what a little research will do.

I'm glad you found out all of that BEFORE any sales went through.

I wish you luck in finding the right place, ASAP!
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Kristina: Married to DH Mark, DS1 Austin 6/18/08, DD Audrey 12/05/09, and DS2 Cody 6/2/11

[hiding57]

Good thing you found that out. hopefully you'll find something better. What a crappy situation though.
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[Blessedbyfive]

That really sucks! My parents went through something similar before they found the perfect house for them! They were so bummed at first cause they really loved the house they were originally looking at. Then the house they are in now they happened to come across! I hope you find that perfect home soon!
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Shayla, Very Blessed Mommy of Cory (11), Erin (10), Caden (7), Matthew (5), Joash (3), and Ian Cooper born 12-22-10!

[Just Nikki]

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[Moonstone]

We had 2 deals fall through (one a week before we were supposed to move in) before we landed this house so I understand the frustration. I can say though that everything does happen for a reason and you'll end up in a place that is better than you could ever imagine.
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Genevieve (no, not the talented one), married to Shane, mama to Miss Mouse and Little G!

[Ladyluck]

aww, thanks ladies. It means a lot to be able to vent and be made to feel validated.

I am sorry that our house hunt is not over, but feel so very lucky to have found all this out. Our family prayed on Saturday evening that God would guide us and if it was not to be that something very bad (as in unmistakable) would show up. This is certainly an answer to that prayer!

However, it has also been a learning experience. I now know that all the well and septic records are public access, just call and ask and they will gladly look it up. I also heard back from the US Army Corps of Engineers this morning concerning the Protected Wetlands issue and while we don't need them for that house, I did get to talk to someone and get a much better understanding and found out that they will come out and do a wetlands delineation for free. Around here that is VITAL. I mean I love all the little birds and turtle, but if I buy 10 acres, it is so I can raise animals, not so I can watch the turtles crawl by. :-)

So, good results all around, we dodged a bullet and found out a lot of useful info for the next time.
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Jody, Wife to Jeff, Mom to Dean, Joey, Jessi, and Joy, ^j^, and Baby Jonny Jumbo

http://hyenacart.com/purplecowcustoms/

[asteiner18]