Would like your thoughts. Am I crazy? How do I sell this idea to DW?
Three years ago, I bought a 170 acre farm and have been working on it 2 or 3 weeks a month to make it what we want. We are weeks away from starting construction on our home.
Six months ago I got an email from a realtor, with photos of a farm and home for sale that is the perfect thing DW and I want. It was very pricey, but it was useful looking at it online to get ideas for what we will build.
In the last few weeks, after 4 price reductions from a highly motivated seller, the price has come down so much on new farm that on a purely financial basis, it makes more sense to sell current farm and buy new farm. I went and saw it and it's not perfect but an excellent fit. New farm has a small horse barn, large equipment barn with 2 walk-in coolers for butchering, a big house that is very close to perfect for us, 4 acre pond, 3 other smaller ponds, a running creek, a captive deer herd, is high fenced all around the perimeter, has 3x our current acres. All that stuff still has to get built on current farm.
The downside is that the new place is much more remote. For social things, like DW running a girl scout troop, running an after school program, having boarders at our barn (we know it doesn't create meaningful income but it gives DW like minded horse friends), DW just doesn't think she would be happy. Part of her current stress is the sudden change of direction and she is somewhat resistant to change. But the part about making friends is a real concern. We both really like having life, kids, friends and neighbors on the farm. For that, new farm would be much harder. DW is a retired middle school teacher and swim coach, loves the kids.
Another advantage of our current farm is we have national forest on 3 sides, so it seems like we have thousands of acres all to ourselves. On the 4th side, is a small neighborhood that would be the source of kids on the farm.
Why I want to change to the new place? We wouldn't have to wait another year to finish building a house; we could move in and get our lives settled in within a month or two. New place has more house and would end up being less money. New place has a barn and stable that we would not have to build, saving us lots of money. More land for me to work with. It has all that high fence I could not afford to construct on the old place.
My highest priority is that DW and I are together and that she is happy. I'm really sick of living apart most of every month while I'm on the farm and she is back in Virginia. This is a forever decision for us as we plan on living at which ever place the rest of our lives.
WWYD? Should I just forget about new farm? Should I keep trying to convince DW of the advantages? Am I missing something?
Three years ago, I bought a 170 acre farm and have been working on it 2 or 3 weeks a month to make it what we want. We are weeks away from starting construction on our home.
Six months ago I got an email from a realtor, with photos of a farm and home for sale that is the perfect thing DW and I want. It was very pricey, but it was useful looking at it online to get ideas for what we will build.
In the last few weeks, after 4 price reductions from a highly motivated seller, the price has come down so much on new farm that on a purely financial basis, it makes more sense to sell current farm and buy new farm. I went and saw it and it's not perfect but an excellent fit. New farm has a small horse barn, large equipment barn with 2 walk-in coolers for butchering, a big house that is very close to perfect for us, 4 acre pond, 3 other smaller ponds, a running creek, a captive deer herd, is high fenced all around the perimeter, has 3x our current acres. All that stuff still has to get built on current farm.
The downside is that the new place is much more remote. For social things, like DW running a girl scout troop, running an after school program, having boarders at our barn (we know it doesn't create meaningful income but it gives DW like minded horse friends), DW just doesn't think she would be happy. Part of her current stress is the sudden change of direction and she is somewhat resistant to change. But the part about making friends is a real concern. We both really like having life, kids, friends and neighbors on the farm. For that, new farm would be much harder. DW is a retired middle school teacher and swim coach, loves the kids.
Another advantage of our current farm is we have national forest on 3 sides, so it seems like we have thousands of acres all to ourselves. On the 4th side, is a small neighborhood that would be the source of kids on the farm.
Why I want to change to the new place? We wouldn't have to wait another year to finish building a house; we could move in and get our lives settled in within a month or two. New place has more house and would end up being less money. New place has a barn and stable that we would not have to build, saving us lots of money. More land for me to work with. It has all that high fence I could not afford to construct on the old place.
My highest priority is that DW and I are together and that she is happy. I'm really sick of living apart most of every month while I'm on the farm and she is back in Virginia. This is a forever decision for us as we plan on living at which ever place the rest of our lives.
WWYD? Should I just forget about new farm? Should I keep trying to convince DW of the advantages? Am I missing something?
