[maria4040]

My hubby, I and 3 kids are thinking of buying a house on 125 acres, to get some space and let the kids grow up in the country. The property we have found is only 15 mins from school, so we can keep the kids at the same school, and there is 2 roads for access so we can subdivide and sell off some land sometime to make some money for the future.

It is a good price, and right now real estate is expensive and land hard to come by so this property will be sold quickly if we don't look into it. It is close to town so thats a bonus.

It's peaceful and beautiful, but the thing that I am stressed about is that the home needs some work, cosmetic things like repainting, some minor repairs, fencing, and it is small, only 4 small bedrooms, one bathroom and one combined lounge/dining room, small kitchen. But it is a classic australian queenslander with polished timber floors, high ceilings and huge wraparound verandahs, that we would live on!

I am feeling torn because we are going from a big 2 storey home with room to a smaller house, that needs some work, so I really don't know whether to go for it. Its the fear of the unknown, of getting the work done, against the lifestyle that we would have. I am trying to look at it as a project to get into, we are just wanting to make it a homestead for our children but wondering if we can move there and live with the things that need doing now.

Have any of you done something similar to this and succeeded. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I am trying to look positively at it, but its not my beautiful dream home, yet, but it could be. We could also build onto it as well.

Thank you

[MissyChrissy]

I would definitely go for it. I've been living in my "project" house since 1996. We started out with 2 kids, and now have 4. That's why the projects continue...just when we think we're done, we have another child & want to add 2 bedrooms

Of course, we have Home Depot and Lowes here, which are home improvement stores. They sell EVERYTHING you can think of for repairing or building on to your home...and they'll teach you how to do things.

And my dh is very handy. He does our plumbing. My BIL does our electric. So it's easy for us to do a lot of stuff on our own-thus saving a ton of money.

Good luck-it really sounds like a dream come true to me!

[erinella]

We live on out in the country and have only 4 acres, but it is a wonderful atmosphere for children to grow up in. Hours of out door playing in the fields and trees! Its the making of a dream childhood! I grew up on the edge of town with woods and fields and streams to play in all summer, my best memories were made playing with my friends out in the country!
So just thinking of all that i would say GO FOR IT!

As far as the repairs the house needs, its always do-able, especially if you have help. Like Chrissy, we had lots of help from my dad and brother and my husband fixing up this old farm house. We have 2 kids and one on the way, we also have 4 bedrooms and it is just enough room for everyone.
Good Luck!
Julie

[1angelinheaven]

I agree with the other ladies...GO FOR IT!! Oh what I would give to have all of that land...

[QueenAngie]

Repainting is actually inexpensive and easy for almost anyone to do.

Is it possible for the minor repairs & painting to be done prior to your moving in?

What about adding on an additional room or two? Is that possible?
Or expanding to an enclosed, attached garage?

As long as you have the $$$$ to afford this and the ability with family/friends
to fix the minor repairs, I'd go for it.

Let us know what you decide.

[maria4040]

Thank you ladies, well we have some plusses on our side, my husband is an electrician, and a very capable builder as well, he built a room here downstairs and our carport, and put a spiral staircase in our home, so he is very handy.
We would want to extend onto the new house, but i suppose its just time that we will have to get used to, that is not being able to get everything done at once. I feel excited but scared at the same time, and my hubby agrees if we didn't have kids we would grab this chance, but are just being cautious because we have kids.

Thank you

[sfharper]

I agree about doing the repainting before you move in--you don't have to move the furniture and everything goes more quickly. We use decks for the same thing as you with your verandah's--ours has a cover built with greenhouse material and we spend March through November on it and sometimes more whereas the neighbors without covers are rarely seen because of rain. We had a real mess to move into, too--with us the worst part was a huge amount of trash left in the yard. We kept costs down in the kitchen by just painting the older, not nice wood cabinets a pale cream color and upgrading the appliances, adding a deep sink and a butcher block counter that cost less than some of the marbles and corian's. One thing about painting a dark oily wood like we had required us to use KillZ--a primer that covers oily stuff and allows your new latex paint to stick.

[LeanyBean]

If I were in your shoes I would snatch up the opportunity. I grew up on 4 acres in a house my parents built themselves. We were 15 minutes from the school. We lived 3 miles from a paved road no matter which direction you traveled. the closest civilization to us consisted of a tiny town with jsut over 100 people. Even though it was small it had a school-one of the 3 elementaries in my school district-, a volunteer fire company, a general store, a restaurant, a bar and a post office. If I could still live there today I would. My parents and youngest sister still do. They live in Central Pennsylvania and I live in Northern Iowa. I wish we could afford to buy a few acres around here so my kids can have the freedom of growing up like I did and like their father did.
So what if the house needs some TLC. If you want it bad enough you can do it and you'll be even happier in the end.

[maria4040]

Thanks for your replies. We have initially said we are not in a position to take up the opportunity just yet, as we want to finish the renos on our home here ready to sell. But the owners will wait for a couple of months to give us some time to reassess.

We are seriously, now thinking that we should go for it. I keep just thinking that we are getting out of our comfort zone, only because it would be a big change and that is the part that is scaring me. We would look on the renovations as a project to get into to make our property into a homestead for our kids to always come back to - that is our dream. So if others can do it, why not us? We would initially build onto the house and then basically move into that part and renovate the rest, just the way we want it to be.

I suppose I just don't like change because we feel safe and comfortable here, although running out of room for the kids. Thanks again for your thoughts.

[MamaWrites]

Hi--I am late to this thread, but I want to know,, what happened?