Buying a farm...reality check please

You have two different posters problems fused together.

You're right. I just re-read that that poster took possession in August 08, not August 09.

Max is right. You're going to need that junk one day.

I say this with a big grin on my face, lots of empathy, a whole lot of freindship & understanding thrown in - but;

Too late, you already are.

To your question; if the sale terms state everything will be cleaned up, you should be able to get it cleaned up or the bills paid for you to hire it done. That can be a hassle tho. Will come down to you & the realitor agruing about it. My sis kinda went through this, and it took a year or more to get it settled. As anything like this, probably won't get 100%, but you should get close to what you expected, according to what is written.

I do not understand why people haul all that metal off to a dump, Recycle it, you should get at least $20 a ton for the metal, pays your gas & some of your time. Load & haul to the dump, or load & haul to the recycler, both take the same energy, one pays you back a little. Seems like an easy thing to me!


Pretty easy to hire 2 highschool kids, spend a day & you can get a building cleaned out. I'm sure there is a lot there that would be worth more than $20 a ton, but it goes fast that way if you just pile out the metal & scrap it.

Every community has a scrapper or 2, they will come out with a truck & bobcat & load it up 7 haul the iron away. The often will pay you a little tny bit, tho right now scrap metal is low priced, fuel & such is kinda high so you probably won't get much but be rid of the metal. Perhaps you can just get it all cleared out by the scrapper, he'll haul the non-metal junk to the dumps for you, he'll work for free. Get it in writing tho, and would depend on how much metal vs debris we are talking about.

In my sister's case, it was 14 dump trucks full of burried junk. If you come from a city presepective, perhaps you are seeing one pickup load and just freaking out over a small thing.

It is hard to get perspective over the internet.

Anyhow, if you are buying a place with cleaned out buildings, you should get that. It's not uncommon for a bit of stuff to stay behind. Working that out can take some effort, sometimes more effort than just dealing with it yourself.

--->Paul

Contact an attorney and tell them you forsee a potential problem with a property you are buying and you want to be prepared in case the junk is not removed. On the day of, or right before closing you will do a final walk through. At this point if all the junk is taken care of, go to closing and sign the papers. If the junk is not removed, call the attorney and go through with your "just in case" plan. This could include not closing until the junk is removed or contracting with a junk remover to get a estimate on the removal and then escrowing 1 1/2 that amount for 1 month. If they do not remove the junk, have the junk remover remove it and use the escrowed money to pay them. I have a friend who purchased a farm as is and when cleaning out the barn found DDT and other illegal chemical herbicides, pesticides, etc. Because of this I would strongly suggest making sure it is all taken care of before you close. Make sure your real estate agent is conveying this message to the seller's agent.

[QUOTE=rambler;3906239]I say this with a big grin on my face, lots of empathy, a whole lot of freindship & understanding thrown in - but;

Too late, you already are.

LOL! I knew it! gosh...I'm trying not to be I'm usually pretty easy going...but when something gets under my skin I am certainly good at making a mountain out of a mole hill. And all the work of moving sure feels like a big mountain. I have my own junk to deal with!

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

When DH and I bought this old farm over 4 years ago....it came with junk, lots of useless junk.
We bought the place from the State and they would not budge about the clean up.
But we liked the place a lot and it was in our price range so we bought it any way.

I know the stress of moving... we moved the past farm to here,, horses and all and my DH was working in a different state at the time. Goosh what a cluster. But this too shall pass. VBG

We gather things we find as we can and when we have enough we have the trash people bring a big dump trailer in and we fill it up.
Though there is no safe way to get the 1950's mint green car up the hill. Right now it is hidden in the trees and blackberries and will most likely stay that way.
Sure we will be cleaning up until we are in our 70's.

So if you really like the place, I wouldn't let the junk keep you from buying it.

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Shari

Buying a farm isnt the same as buying a house in town. I have sold lotsa farms over the last dozen years, and have yet to sell one "all cleaned up". A large amount of what most folks call "junk" is valuable farmer resources. Or at least it was when stored in the corner of the barn 80 years ago. Its had another 80 years or so accumilation of valuable resources piled on top of it, but that was still a good water pump when they pulled it off aunt Bettys well when the county water came through. Once you been farmin a while, you will learn to appreciate "junk".

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Around here, people will come haul off scrap iron for free.

My place had 3 outbuildings full of "junk" when I bought it. Much of that junk proved useful. The rest, I haul off as time permits.

If I liked the place, I wouldn't get in a snit over something this small. I would clean it up. It will be good exercise and much more satisfying than a legal battle.

Good news! They are getting it out. My message was clear. If it's not cleared out by closing there will be $3000 put in escrow and a specific deadline date.
If this was the only big job that needed to be done we would do it... we will be getting more than enough exercise with other projects

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are

That's good, glad to hear it is working out for you. Your buyer's contract was done well to cover such things.

I'll bet it won't be _swept out_ clean, but at least managably clean.

I hear you on the 'my own junk to work with' part!

--->Paul

Be sure you check the land around the house for junk too. I read recently that the EPA could require you to clean up those ditches of trash on your property and meet federal standards. If he had that much junk close to the house, what is in the ditches further out?

Well, as others have said, what's in your contract? And it ain't July 31st.

Anyhow, I got my place in part because I told the fella not to worry about the junk. Sure, it took me a few days to haul it off. Got the place for a bit less money to boot.

If it's worth loosing the farm over some trash, by all means, raise the cain you want to raise. But if you really want the place, maybe hiring the crew and the dumpster yourself aint a bad idea.

i would be wary, if people leave lots of junk inside..they probaby also left lots of stuff outside..and if they owned the property for years..tons of it might be buried under brush and tall grass..brambles..etc..and might not be seen until someone hits it with a $40,000 piece of farm equipment..or is killed when a horse they are riding runs into it..

sure the scrap metal might be valuable..but probably better to have them remove everything..or not buy the property.

every farm needs old stuff in the barn. I would love to find some old buildings on my properth with old farm gear in it. A little research for the right person and it can be sold off. If all else fails have a farm auction and sell off the junk.

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Gary in Central Ohio

Walk the farm on the the closing day of the sale. Yes, walk every last bit because you want to me sure they dumped a ton of stuff in the back corner somewhere "out of site".

You also want to inspect the property to verify that everything you thought you were buying are still there (like appliances, doors etc.)

Once you sign the papers and they get the check you have very little change of getting things back

Deb
in WI

I'm going to second this!!!!! About six months after I bought my property I found a "hole" filled up with junk and tons hidden in the tall grass. I wasn't too concerned, since I have been known to haul in scrap. Everything was fine until I started to reach the bottom and it was full of tires. Then the next load was some rusted through pipe that turned out to be "hot" and the scrap yards kicked me off the property. Now I have to find a place to "hide" it. It has become a huge PIA.

You might need to define what you think personal property actually is...they might be thinking furniture and you are thinking 'junk' in the barn. Do a definition check with them!!!

Minelson,
This is SUPER news! But stand firm; DO keep "reminding" the seller's realtor (and yours) that you WILL NOT CLOSE if you find all the junk piled up in a heap or some other short-cut. It's amazing how much POWER a buyer has right now (I just bought a place, remember, and DID NOT CLOSE for 8 days past the original date....boy, were they sweating!).

I *just* found a "pile of dirt" in my horse pasture that is covering a GLASS dump site! After 3 inches of rain, the broken glass has started to emerge in shards! Same type of safety issue you are trying to avoid, I'd say...

It is FINE to be a "picky" buyer! When was the last time you spent $100,000.00-$400,00.00 on something that wasn't AS YOU WISHED???????

Keep us updated on the progress!

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...'o shame on the mothers of mortals, who have not stopped to teach; of the sorrow that lies in dear, dumb eyes; the sorrow that has no speech... from -'Voice of the Voicless', Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Thanks Jill,
I have the same glass thing where we are now. Right where I put up my corral! It just started coming up from the ground...metal pieces and nails too I can't tell you how many hours I have spent picking up glass...It's an ongoing job but it's not nearly as bad now as it was and neither of my horses ever got injured thank goodness....

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Teach only Love...for that is what You are