We Bought a Barn

There's our little announcement. We bought a barn. Josh is the proud new owner. of. a. barn.

A big, beautiful, white barn that was built in 1880 with beautiful beams that are begging for little white lights to be strewn across them, and a floor that is calling to me to host a barn dance...and possibly adorable fall farm wedding receptions for our future children who will love growing up on an acreage so much that they want to save our money and have their reception under a white tent and a white barn at our house.

Ohhhh dear. I'm getting ahead of myself.

So this lovely barn isn't the only thing we're excited about...we are buying a property that also includes a farmhouse, a corn crib, and two other old farm buildings that all sit on two beautiful acres surrounded by corn fields on all four sides. This property is East about two miles off the I-35 Huxley/Maxwell exit between Ames and Akneny, and is only about a half-mile on gravel.

Church 12 minutes away. Ankeny and Ames, 15 minutes away. 2 minutes from the Interstate, and a great central location for Boersma Lawn Care Corporate Headquarters to reside for the next...well forever.

Hmmmm sounds exactly like the location we've been praying about for the past two years.

We've spent the past two weeks negotiating, praying, getting wise financial counsel from Josh's dad (who I affectionately call 'Vern Ramsey'), crunching numbers, praying, getting advice from contractors, and talking a LOT about our future and what it might look like if we're living on this amazing acreage raising a family.

And after all of that, as of last week...we have an accepted offer, a signed Purchase Agreement, and a realtor who is probably very thankful that the Boersma's are finally done dragging her around a million different houses so she can get back to her 'real' clients. We're really thankful for Tami Hicks and her patient realtor-skills. :)

So now a little more about the 'real' stuff...

I'll be honest. The house is actually a trainwreck. Which is why we are going to clean it up, and rent it out for the next 5ish years. During this time we are going to focus on budgeting (better than we have during the last three years of our marriage), saving, paying down our debt at both houses, and fixing up the outbuildings on the acreage. Josh is also going to grow some sweet corn and I want a pumpkin patch to help decrease the cost of my outdoor fall decor budget (yes that is a real thing).

Note to all frequent visitors: This means endless snacks and ordering pizza 'on the house' will be coming to an end. No more ordering pizza with us, eating half of it, and then not leaving any cash to chip in (you know who you are: ;)...and I'll be laying the smack down when this happens because my dream home is on the line here, people. While we LOVE blessing our friends and family with our house and parties and food and laundry facilities, this new investment means we need to cut back in a few areas, and the hospitality train is one of them (and yes I'm aware that my previous post about Target is another area where we will be cutting back and I'm working on it thanks to my iPad, the Mint.com app, and a husband who is far more patient with me than I deserve).

Okay back to the house story...At the end of this five-ish year period of using the acreage as an investment property, we have plans to tear down the old house and build our dream home in the same location. This gives us the flexibility to stay in our current house until whenever, and build when we're ready...we aren't on a strict timeline, so if that means we're ready to build in three , or we need to wait longer than five years, we're okay with all of that.

Either way, you can bet my 'Build' board on Pinterest and Houzz will be blowing up over the next few months.

We also admitted that while we're excited to move to an acreage someday, we aren't totally ready to leave 422 13th St yet. We would really miss drop-in visitors, college students and our youngest siblings just five minutes away. We're happy that this new (old) house also gives us the freedom to continue with some of the little projects we're working on (the shop, the cupboards, the kitchen floor, and the Man Cave are things we just aren't ready to leave yet) and stay in the house we both love and a location we really enjoy at this point in our lives.

It's been fun dreaming about our future life in the country (and I can have fun talking about this because I know 'town' is a reasonably short distance away)...but our next goal is cleaning up the house and getting it rented in a short amount of time. With that being said, please pray that clean-up would go smoothly and that we can fill that farmhouse with people who have a clean criminal background and an excellent credit score. We close on October 18th, and aren't really able to market or advertise the property until then. Which means...friends and word-of-mouth will be our biggest help spreading the word that we have a 2,000 SF farmhouse on an acreage in a convenient location that comes with theeeee best landlords in town.

I'm being serious. Now please go tell six friends and report back to me. :)

And I'll leave you with a picture of the latest addition to our family...

Happy Homeowners,

Josh and Mollie