"Not quite" would be the answer to that question. But we are getting closer.
I know... I've said that a couple of times. And a couple of times it seemed true. What makes "now" different is that not only are we narrowing in on our choices, our choices are narrowing in on us.
Not only is real estate selling slower - such as our house - it is not going up for sale as fast either. Sellers are just not listing homes - or farms for that matter - the way they were earlier in the year. Some of this is just the time of year. Who wants to chance having to move during the holidays? Still, I think the current market has lowered prices to the point that people are rethinking whether selling is a good idea at all.
I can't blame them. We've lowered the price on our house by over $20,000 and, as we were when we listed, we are the lowest priced house in our neighborhood, which happens to be a very desireable neighborhood. We didn't even question the need to re-up when our current listing ran out. If we find a farm we want, we want our house on the market. If other people are opting out, good, less competition.
So as I said, we have narrowed our choices down to one farm at this time. What is more the price is good, the area is acceptable, it has everything we need, and buying it will leave us with plenty of money to do all the other things we want to do to get our farm up and running. It sounds like a win-win situation . . . and yet, we are stalled.
It is taking some time to get our minds wrapped around a few of the house's limitations, such as one bathroom instead of two. Such as smaller bedrooms. Maybe even such as the fact that it is in Oregon and not Washington as we orginally wanted. But Oregon farms are really good farms. And I like the feel of this farm despite the size of the house. And there's nothing else out there in either Washington or Oregon and hasn't been for some time.
Yes, there may be more choices in spring. . . or next week. . . or tomorrow, but we've been thinking that for weeks - no months. And whenever we find something we really like it is over-priced, or the seller wants to keep farming it even though we own it, or the seller doesn't want to fix things discovered by the inspection . . . or ... or ... or. What all the or's amount to is a closed door to a purchase.
Now I think we are actually facing an easily opened door. Not the elusive, let's-shoot-for-the-moon-and-see-if-we-can-get-it-farm. In some ways I wonder if that kind of farm represents a subtle form of sabotage we've been unconsciously activating to keep from buying a farm at all. In most cases we've known our offer would not be accepted or that the farm had incredible challenges in condition that would be difficult to overcome.
Now we are faced with a farm that has none of these issues. In fact, everything is so near right with this farm - at least more right than any of the others - that it's scary. The only way we will lose this farm is if someone else buys it first. And that's making us think. Somewhere questions are broiling around inside keeping us from purchasing.
Is that good? Is that bad? What does it say about us? What does it say about the farm? How much are these questions related to the fact that we are standing - finally - on the edge and it's time to jump off into something from which we might not recover? At least not without a monetary loss.
Did you know that when a cow is chewing it's cud - during one of the several times it does - it is said to be ruminating. That's what this post is all about. I'm ruminating. Emotionally laying down in some green pasture, chewing on these farm questions, trying to make it all palatable enough to finally swallow for good. How many times I may need to do this, or we may need to do this, before we decide that a farm is ready to nourish us, I'm not sure. In the meantime, we are getting very hungry.
