Hi Harvey, I believe the "mansion" is 30X40 & lot is 120X120. We are trying to see if we can build upstairs if the frame will support a bigger roof truss. Telling the inspecter it'll be used for storage but there will be a den & xtra bdrmm there. It's small, good for 2 ppl.
OK, where did I error?

It looks like you already caught your mistake and edited it, though Phillip's quote of your post does reflect where you referred to the house as having 12,000 square feet (your post now reads 1,200 square feet). That's where the "mansion" comment came in. The upkeep for such a large rental would have been crazy!

I didn't notice that. Those comma's have a tendancy to jump around when you're not looking...big difference!

This past Tuesday, Nov 11, we closed on the old insurance building and we have the keys now!
We will start remodeling the inside very soon. It's nice that we only have to go next door to work on it. Now, I have to hurry with my basement project so I can rent that & go to Mike's house 3 days a week to help with that project. It's hard living in 2 houses!

Hey Phillip, thanks! This forum is dead today - everyone's in GA for expo!
I took a $100,000 home equity line of credit (equiline) last Sept at 4.99%. I am living off that - withdrawing when I need it till I get the remodeling done in basement. My house is paid for - thank God, so I live on little $$$. Hard to believe that in 1975 - when I bought my house, I paid 9% interest.
Houses were cheaper then but interest was high.
(BTW, I was 9 when I bought this place LOL).
I took Mike to my bank to refinance his house & he went from 7% to 3.99%. He's making same payments, but more is going on principle.
Get that home equity loan!!!! It's the way to go.
Wait awhile before you make another bid. No one is buying now so they may accept your bid soon. Mike made an offer just over a year ago & they laughed at him, & now they accepted. No one wanted it.
I'm off to bank Monday to get my interest lowered!

Well patience paid off. I made an offer on the house next door to the one I originally bid on and I was the third lowest offer. The bank accepted another person's offer which was at asking price. My realtor told them to keep my offer as a backup.

Well today, I found out that the person with the highest offer withdrew their bid. They approached the person with the second highest offer and they already found another house. So the bank came down $20,000 from asking price and made a counter offer to mine and I accepted!! If no one makes a higher offer over Thanksgiving it may very well be that I will be moving to a citrus paradise (or former paradise that has died back). The 4 acres has plenty of trees that look pretty good. If we end up getting the house, I'm sure I'll be posting a lot of pictures to try to determine what type of citrus it is. I wouldn't mind grafting new cutivars onto trees that aren't as desireable. Ahhh . . . the dreaming starts already. Thanks to David, I'll be able to start a lot of new trees on the trifoliate seeds that arrived yesterday!! My first step should probably to get some guava interplanted between the citrus to try to fend of greening disease.

Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's a picture at this link:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=ph32rw57x0gc&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=6057413&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Phillip

Good things come to those who wait. - My fingers are crossed for you. - Millet

Well, congrats Phillip!
Hope all goes well & you tie the knot. That's a nice chunk of land there. You are young and ambitious enough to make your dream come true...like, a citrus paradise. How far from your house will the move be?
Can't wait for your update.
I didn't know that guava fends off greening disease.

Congratulatons Phillip!

Be wary though, some of the lenders are very tough. They want unrealistically very low debt to income ratio and they want you to have an eight months salary in your bank to make sure you can find a job within 8 months in case your employer went belly up. They figured that it now takes 8 months for an average person to find a job. But of course, that would depend on your lender. These tough new guidelines, the new housing in our area aren't able to sell homes to many potential buyers who can afford the monthly payment but the terms are onerous.

Congratulations looks like you get a little pond as well. i'm in the process of getting a pre-approval letter. well start looking hard soon for my own place.

Congratulations Philip!
That's exciting news.
Susan

Wow, that looks like an ideal place to raise kids! You have much to be thankful for. Congratulations! Barbara

Thanks 'all,
I don't have the property yet. Everything has just been verbal and the REO broker will draft papers by next week. If another offer comes in higher than mine, it may all fall apart.

Patty, the new house is about 20 miles from where I currently live, but only 5 minutes from work. I'll have 10 extra hours per week that I won't be on the road. Also, regarding greening, there was another thread on the forum that said that there were studies (in Vietnam??) that showed guava may have some properties to fend off greening.

Joe, thanks for the lender advice. I'm fortunate to have a great credit score and lenders seem to be throwing money at me. It's hard to believe the news that there's a credit crunch.


Phillip

Ohh yea,
I almost forgot. Patty, the house also comes with a ton of squirrels on the property. I suspect many will die of lead poisoning, but I may need to borrow a trap.

Phillip