I believe I mentioned a while back the our family is looking to move out of the city and have been searching for property. Well, I think we may have just found the perfect place.

It's a little over 11 acres of land, with a 5 bedroom bungalow (needs updating from the 80's decor, but livable), 40' x 49' work shop/equipment shed, garage, heated livestock waterers and 2 dugouts (man-made ponds). Overall the property is in rough shape, but it meets all our criteria. Some of the fence posts and 2 barns were destroyed by a grass fire, but the foundations and water lines are still there, so it wouldn't take much to rebuild them. All the debris is still on site and needs to be cleaned up. That's why it's in our price range. I'm excited, and depending on the information our Realtor finds about this property, and after we take another look at everything, we should be writing an offer next week. So exciting! I'm going to have my little farm!

Sounds like it's just the thing, ST. A little sweat equity in it and it should be a great place...and you won't have to battle the local authorities about keeping a few chickens. I'm happy for you and your family.

Thanks, RF. The final decision will hinge on whether or not high speed Internet is available at that location so that hubby can work from home most of the time. Most of Alberta has high-speed coverage, but there are some little pockets still without service. Dial up access just won't suffice.

One of my favorite things about this property is that it isn't one of the acreage communities (which are usually highly regulated by HOA's), but is the homestead which has been subdivided off of the original quarter section. It's surrounded by fields and the nearest neighbor is a mile down the road. Also, the house is surrounded by a shelter belt of mature trees (pine, birch) and flowering shrubs, so the yard is well protected from wind. Also, the area is a lower elevation with slightly more rainfall than my current location.

11 acres and 5 bedrooms! What a great combo! I hope it all works out with the high speed internet. Fingers crossed here cause I really want to see pictures as you go along. This will be a great project.
80's decor - would that be mirrors on the wall with gold flecks, disco dance floor in the living room and a spinning ball hanging from the popcorn ceiling?

Gold shag carpeting, ugly wood paneling, turquoise tub & toilet. Yup. Ugly. No disco ball, but I think there were some gold-flecked mirrors.

Oh, good news. It falls within coverage for Internet.

Nothing that can't be fixed. It sounds great to me other than the decor.



Even if it didn't you could get satellite internet. You can be almost anywhere.

Thumbs up for you ST. Life is good when you are excited about living it in the style that you crave..

Well, we didn't get it. Another offer came in the night before we were scheduled for a second look, and the other offer was accepted. Our offer was accepted as a backup in case the other fell through, but we withdrew our offer when they would not agree to provide a Real Property Report. I'm not buying 11.4 acres and then discovering that 2 1/2 of those acres are in dispute.

*sigh* The search continues. This is getting depressing.

That's so disappointing (been there) especially when you imagine yourself living there and visually move in. But...it wasn't meant to be. There's something better. I believe that. Keep the faith.

Thanks, Grace. It's a good thing we backed out on this one. There was some fishy business going on, just as we suspected. The listing Realtor was representing not only the seller, but the buyer with the other offer. Our Realtor is hopping mad and his company is pursuing this guy with the local Real Estate board. We've been asked to provide a statement. I wouldn't be surprised if they find that another offer didn't actually exist.

Oh, and yes, it was easy to imagine us living there. I'd already decided what tile I wanted.

Good thing too! We're browsing the housing mkt. and still haven't found a trustworthy realtor to represent us (the buyer). It's so important and a lot of people aren't aware of that believe it or not and end up dealing with the seller's broker. Look fwd to update.

So, things continue here. Latest on the acreage scam - my Realtor send me a message yesterday say "Look What they paid for it!!!!!". Apparently it did indeed sell, and the listed selling price was......drum roll, please........EXACTLY THE SAME AS OUR OFFER! That son of a @#%@$%%^ altered his offer to match ours. That's okay, he's going down!

I didn't want to post anything until we were more certain of the outcome, but we did end up buying a nice place. It's not an acreage, but it's twice the house on 1/2 an acre in a tiny village of less than 700 people. We looked at this place in early April, but their asking price was too high. They recently dropped the price by over $30,000, so we decided to have another look. We went out with the home inspector yesterday and he called it a "diamond in the rough" and actually wrote that on his inspection report. Main issues with the house are a matter of cleaning (I cringe to think of what the place looked like before they cleaned it up for sale ) and lack of maintenance. At one time, this place had beautiful gardens and landscaping, and now it's all gone to weeds. There's even a small greenhouse attached to the garage.

The 1400 square foot bungalow was built in 1972 and there are NO houses in behind, nor are there likely to be any built. The back yard overlooks a field of grass - and you can't see a single window from another house when you are in the yard. It has 2 masonry fireplaces, one in the living room of the main floor (natural stone facing), and the other in the den (brick facing) of the fully finished basement. The house needs work and updating, but it was well built and solid. First priority is getting rid of the carpet because they had a cat and my son is severely allergic. Good thing I work in a paint store, because I think the sellers were color blind.

too bad about the acerage but con grats on the money pit... What'll do with the rarebits?

Thanks. It won't be too much of a money pit, most of the problems are cosmetic, and I pay 10% over cost for tile, hardwood, decor fabrics and blinds. The mechanical systems and structure are sound.

This town has very few by-laws and only 1 office employee. Rabbits are specifically allowed. The prevailing attitude is that if it isn't bothering someone else, go ahead and do what you want on your property. No dog licensing, either.