The Property Hunt

So, how do we get started on this new endeavor?  Well, we asked our realtor to provide us with property listings with the parameters we were looking for. We're familiar with most of the available land in western Loudoun County so it was easy to winnow the list and to know what properties we might be interested in.  We searched for months in western Loudoun looking for suitable land and preparing to take advantage of the lower prices.  There are so many factors to consider - wooded or open field, paved road or gravel, rural or in town, water features, distance to shopping, etc.   (Check out our page on Lot Selection for more thoughts.)  But you don’t want to set your heart too specifically.  When we were looking for our current property I definitely wanted a wooded lot on a paved road.  We ended up with an open lot with views of the Blue Ridge and a gravel road! Nonetheless, I’ve been exceedingly happy here.

When we did find a lot that seemed promising we walked the perimeter to get a better feel of neighboring properties, possible home settings, and views.  We also checked it out on Google Earth.  This tool is a boon to anyone buying real estate, helping you discover the dump on the neighboring property or the railroad tracks you didn’t know were there.

The Financing Fiasco

Eventually,we found a beautiful six-acre wooded lot with a pond situated closer to civilization but still secluded, and at a bargain price.   However, that turned out to be the easy part.  We contacted an old friend and colleague to help us obtain financing. Although our credit was impeccable, he and the bank proceeded to ask for a higher and higher down payment until, on Christmas Eve, he told us we needed still more cash in order to settle by the end of the year.  What a stressful Christmas Eve that was!  We told him to forget it and tapped into our nest egg instead (much to our financial planner’s dismay!)   

In actuality, we bought two adjacent properties (from the same owner), which made the deal a little more complicated.  We originally fell in love with a three-acre  lot with a pond, but as the leaves came off the trees we realized that we’d be gazing at a 1975 split foyer that was in pretty bad shape.  Long story short, we bought it, too, thinking that we’d either fix it up or raze it one day. The bank couldn’t quite get its head around financing a lot and a rental house.  It wanted down payments on each property rather than one lump sum and it had difficulty articulating that.

Unfortunately, this is the state of the banking system these days.  Just goes to show that you can’t always rely on business partners just because they were helpful in the past.  But rest assured that there are lenders out there lending to folks with good credit. The banks are just being extra cautious these days and our situation was rather unique.