Homestead Search Results

[Four Angels Dad]

Well we are back home now. We drove over nine hours to look st some properties in Western NY and PA as I said before. We met with two real estate agents to whome we had been specific about our wants and the homes that we were shown were very dissapointing. The first house was beautiful and in perfect move in condition, however we need at least four bedrooms this one only had two. Then we went to the next one nice house right on the road and though it had fifteen acres the lot was very very deep and about 75 feet wide where the house was situated. I would be able to hear the neighbor breathe we were so close. On to the third house. I can't say enough nice things about the owner who was there and very honest. Again this house was right on the road, it needed a lot of updaiting, and the smell from the sick cats and cigarettes were enough to drive you to the outdoors pronto. Now to the fourth house, did I mention that we wanted to be in or next to an Amish community, well this house sits atop a hill that overlooks a valley and I think that when you look out at the valley the furthest point that can be focused on is where the Amish area is. The driveway, even with a four wheel drive and no snow, was almost impossible to climb and again there were two bedrooms plus a den that could be a third bedroom so we were told. I do not know if the owners ever ate on the property as the kitchen is probably 5 feet by 5 feet. These were the best homes the others were so bad I don't even want to mention them.
Absolutely a very dissapointing weekend. We traveled about 400 miles from house to house looking at these places and could find nothing that matched what we were looking for. The total trip for us was over 1100 miles.
I think that we are going to look for another real estate agent and see if we can't do any better.
As always if anyone has anything that they know of that would fit our criteria please pm me or post it here.

We are looking for :

1. Four bedrooms (we can get by with 3 if need be)
2. At least 10 acres
3. A barn and out buildings in decent shape
4. Private setting, set off the road
5. In or near an Amish community

Thanks to all

Ray

[sisterpine]

geeze, you would not think that would be too hard to find? maybe send out post cards to the amish communities and see if they know of any? Or even word of mouth from feed stores near amish communities? sorry you are having such trouble finding a place!

[Baskar]

Man, that's bad...Had you posted this 4 weeks ago, I would have mentioned next door. Used to be a pig farm. Now the amish own it.

I live in outside of a town named Jeromesville, Ohio. In the past 10 years, the Amish have been really moving into this area. There used to be only 1 Amish school house, now there's 4 in the surrounding areas.

Now, if I understand correctly from my father (he tends to look at Real Estate), the surrounding areas are good pickings.

Strasburg
Loudonville
Redhaw
Funk
Rowsburg
New Philadelphia (where I used to live..Good small community, but still considered a city - I consider small city to be around 15k)
Dover
......

Heck, Ashland and Wayne Counties of Ohio. Lots of people have been moving around. Mainly into Wooster, which is REALLY growing fast.

If you're interested, I can provide you with links to real estate here in Ohio.

[JanO]

Oh I can relate Ray. We spent an entire week looking at properties in WA, the first part of April. We must have seen 50 homes, and we wrote offers on 3 of them. We didn't get any of them for one reason or another. I have an excellent Realtor though and he kept looking after we had to come back. I also spent a lot of time on line looking for a place and I'd call him to find out more about it. We have a really good repor' and niether one of us was willing to give up. It took 4 more offers, on properties that we could only see pictures of but we finally found a 4 bedroom on 5.9 acres that we are buying. We wanted to buy the adjoining 5 acres as well, but we had trouble with the bank so we gave it up. Decided that we will try to buy it direct from the seller after we get up there since we are buying the one with the house on it from him anyway. Hang in there, find yourself a good Realtor, spend a LOT of time on line, and don't give up. Your place is out there and it'll turn up.

[MaryNY]

So sorry the trip didn't work out! I've been meaning to PM you about the trip, but have been soooooo busy! I hoped that you would just happen to drive by something and things would click - or some of the internet leads would work out - I wondered about those "realtors"! PM me if your trip gave you any more ideas about the areas you want to check out (did you go to PY?) - or your specific requirements!! hehehehe I may not actually be in that area, but at least I can count to four and know how to get online!!! lol

[Terri]

Your realtor probably showed you the closest he had to offer. So, yes, it is time to find a new realtor.

[perennial]

We had difficulties with our first long distance realtor - it was a waste of my
husbands long drive to that state too.

Here's what we did that worked:

1. We zoned in on an area/county

2. We then found a realtor with experience who worked in that county and i also asked him if he lived in that county/town.

3. We told him exactly what we wanted so he could find things as close as
possible to that

4. We had him send us pics through e-mail of properties he thought we would
like.

5. We made sure we had seen pics of what he had to offer - either pics or listing sheets and started making a "list" of things we wanted to see. We made sure he had plats of everything we wanted to see. We also stressed that the sole reason for us being their was to look at property and that we were ready to put $$ down and buy (it helps them to know for all their searching you aren't just kicking tires). We also made sure he knew how much $$ we wanted to spend.

6. We then made arrangements to go their - all the while knowing what we were going to to see and that if he had anything else come up, we would look at that as well.

It worked and we found our land! The most important thing is to figure were you want to live and find a realtor from that place and one with experience.

Good luck.

[teresab]

I live in Northwestern Pa and have a suggestion. Go to www.realtor.com and type in Springboro, Pa. This is a nice Amish area


The following is a link to a really nice looking place with plenty of bedrooms,land and a barn. I don't know what your price range is but this is a start. I would be happy to reccomend a realtor for you. I have lived in the Erie County area for 30 years. Springboro is in Crawford County (South of Erie county) and is a very nice area... In fact would like to move to that area some day...my gg grandparents lived in the area.

Anyway...if I can be of any help to you please let me know. Teresa
http://www.realtor.com/FindHome/Home...4&lnksrc=00002

[sancraft]

The first house that was in move in condition, is it prices as to where you could double up in the bedrooms until you add on two more. It shouldn't be too hard to add two rooms and it can be done rather quickly. If it's in an Amish community, you could hire them to do the work. Just a thought.

[MarkNH]

Originally Posted by sancraft

The first house that was in move in condition, is it prices as to where you could double up in the bedrooms until you add on two more. It shouldn't be too hard to add two rooms and it can be done rather quickly. If it's in an Amish community, you could hire them to do the work. Just a thought.

One thing that I would suggest as a possible solution for the hassle of long distance realtors. Move to a rental that is less than ideal in the near region you want to live in. This gives you a chance to find more options including the for sale by owners who have a little sign by the sign of the road and nothing else. It also gives you the chance to form more local connections and hear that someone might be interested in selling to the right people....


Just a thought, I don't really know your situation though.

-mark

[snoozy]

Your first mistake is thinking you're going to find a place the first weekend of looking! :haha: I drove and drove and drove and wandered around 4 counties before I found what I liked -- and then I camped on it and found there was too much noise from the neighbours, even though they were on the next 5 acre patch, and from low flying small aircraft. I backed out of that deal, and drove and dorve and took a break from it.

There was a piece of land that looked likely, but it was such dense forest I couldn't even see how to get into it! I thought, I'll give it one more try -- and just as I was coming up the hill, I saw a black bear cross the road from the property to the ravine on the other side! WHOA!! I said to myself. Right where the bear had come out of the property was a cabled off, overgrown, access drive. I got out and picked up a BIG STICK, and explored the property, and camped on it, and used my real estate agent to negotiate a high-end-of-market price of the land . (It was still 18,000 less than the optimistic owners were asking.)

But if you are looking for an actual house, then indeed, it is an even longer search, because it is hard to find a house AND land AND location to suit.

Good luck -- but be patient!

[PLPP]

Have you checked the New Wilmington PA area or the Stoneboro, PA area? Nice area to live in. Might be worth your while.

Carol

[Tracy]

I might have the property for you but the only thing is it is 4 acres. The man behind the property has adjoining acres to the sides of the 4 acres and has had some health problems lately so in the future might consider selling. This is in NW PA, Amish country and very close to PA state game lands, over 4,000 acres.

House built in 1980 3-4 bedrooms, Amish built 2 story wood barn in 2000.

House appraised last year at $130,000. We have tenants from HELL in there now and they had till today to answer our eviction suit and did not respond. Tomorrow my attorney files with the judge to have these liars thrown out. Email me if you want more info. I am hoping I have possession of my property with in 30 days.

We are done being landlords and any reasonable offer will be considered.

More info on property, ranch home, wood burning fireplace in living room. Wood stove in kitchen [will heat the entire home]. Very open spacious kitchen with lots of cupboards. Small fenced in chicken area. 3 acres of eclectic fencing [elect] for pasture. 2 car garage that is attached to the barn that was built. Garage is 20x 30 and the barn is 30x 40. 4 stalls plus tack room and also a small separate work shop area with intercom to the house. Running water and electric in barn. Some fruit trees as well as an established asparagus bed and fertile soil for gardening.