And So It Begins ...

We've attempted home-ownership three times in our married life. None of them seemed to end well. Inexplicably, we are trying again! Perhaps the fourth time is a charm? We hope so!

It's a little place, a true-downsizing, a share-cropper style house in the county here. We've been renting/leasing for the past three years and feel ready to settle in.

The house has a shadow of some former charm, but it needs a lot of work. Especially the inside -- oh, the scary things I could show you! But today, we were only outside, so you will see the pretty side :)
There's a yellow rose bush! Yay! It smells so lovely.

The back of the house has a porch laundry room and a deck. The house itself is 1111 square feet.

There's a carport behind the house.

Across the yard is a one-room cement block building. We'll use it initially for storage, but eventually it could be cleaned up for additional sleeping quarters for kids who are home, or even company. It has electricity there, and two windows.

A garage stands behind the house with a shop area inside and a little garden shed affair on the back.

But what's truly fabulous about this property is the land. Let me show you ~~

From the corner of the house, looking back -- there are about 3.75 acres.
That's a little horse barn in the back, and 5 or 6 large pecan trees spread their branches overhead.

The pasture around the horse barn is fenced and has two big gates.

If you turn your head to the right, you see this lovely field stretching across. The property reaches that far tree line of pines.

I could look at this all day. It's so pretty. I can hardly believe that we may own this.

There are still a few things to work out before the closing, but it does look quite promising.
The elderly man who lived here was originally from Brittany on the French coast, and his home is full of French things. This boat graces the front door:

Today we visited the house because the roof leaks, the rain pours in, and the living room ceiling is falling in. Truly. I told you it was a bit scary inside. So Adam and our friend John went to put a tarp on the roof. I mean ... how hard could that be?

They proceeded up the ladder to the front porch roof and soon realized that the pitch of the house roof was steeper than they'd thought. Hmm. No stomping around on that roof was gonna happen!

But they wrangled with that tarp and plotted and planned. They crammed it overhead until it was perched on the front edge of the roof.

At one point Adam removed his too-slippery shoes and slithered on his tummy onto the roof. He was going to conquer this thing! But soon he was back on the porch roof, defeated in that attempt.

Perseverance is a wonderful thing. Equally wonderful are gifted friends. John is one of those. He had a plan for how to work that tarp from the front of the house to the back. We tied ropes to the two back corners and pulled with all our might while John was on the ladder guiding the tarp.

This is the bad spot where the most rain has been getting in and destroying the living room ceiling. Later they slit the tarp and wrapped it around this electrical connection for better roof coverage.

Adam pulls on one back corner. They nailed the tarp down all around its edges.

In the end, the tarp lay smoothly over the roof line. Long enough to cover the house from front to back, it was not wide enough -- but it covers the entire other side, the leaking side, and that's what matters. It was a 30x50 ft. tarp.

This tarp-wrestling was the first real thing we've done at the house, part of the agreement with the sellers to curtail the damage happening so it doesn't get worse before the closing.
Adam has big plans for the property. The deceased owner had a small orchard of sorts, raspberries, cherry trees, and grape vines. The pasture housed small horses and maybe goats. We'll put the bees there, and Adam wants to grow some crops for selling in future years, along with selling bees and queens. I'd like chickens and ducks, and perhaps a couple of little milking goats.

Why such a small house in a rural place? Well, it's a huge money-saver. We need a mortgage we can afford, and one we can pay off quickly on a modest income. Home sizes have exploded in the U.S. in recent generations, but we really don't need houses of 2500 or 3000 square feet, do we? For two people? Our kids are nearly grown, and soon we won't need large rooms. We'll have space for them to come stay if they like. More than that, we'll have a very beautiful place to live, and for them to enjoy. If all goes well, we should close in a little over a month. I'll keep you posted!