#Vanlife #Landsearch
Update from previous blog post: That property where I was all like “What’s wrong with it?” turned out to have stuff wrong with it. Nothing big. (Insert sarcasm here.) We just wouldn’t be able to build on it is all.
As I type, it’s Saturday morning, June 11th. I’ll set the scene. I’m stationed in the passenger seat of our van, rain pitter pattering on the roof. Mike is sleeping in the back. It’s 10:02am and every few minutes, I’m turning on the data on my cell so I can check my email for the hundredth time, to see if we’ve gotten word yet from our realtor about an offer we put in on a property yesterday afternoon (see pics of land we made an offer on above). The sellers were given a 24-hour deadline to respond, so we should hear back sometime today about the state of affairs. We offered them a bit less than they’re asking, since we need to reserve a buffer of cash to invest into the development of the land. We’ll see what happens!
It rained all day yesterday and is slated to rain all day today. In my 20+ years in Montana, I have never so richly entertained the thought I’m having now: I really need to fetch myself an umbrella. The other day it rained so hard that water rushed in through the shot gasket of the back door and soaked Mike’s pillows while I was holding down the van fort and Mike was out of town working. Fortunately it was laundry day anyway and I’d not yet gotten to the laundromat, so I could easily toss the pillows into the dryer.
#Vanlife means getting next level lessons in flowing with the weather. #Landsearch (which is a hashtag I just made up) means getting next level lessons in present moment living.
Data on. Email check. Nothing yet. Data off.
Our boots-on-the-ground land tally is now situated at 17. 18 if we count the property Mike wound up looking at on his own last night in the dark on his way home from Helena (that dude is committed!). He rolled in around midnight and I woke up long enough for him to give me the basic gist of things. The land, while hella cheap, would be a no go for us. The dirt road in is long and rough and it would be a snowmobile travel situation to get there in the winter months (which is a common thing we run into with land for sale in our price range).
Who knows. Maybe by the end of today, we’ll have ourselves a piece of land. And, ya know, maybe not. Mike, our main land-searcher, says the properties on the market are increasing, not in price but in the quantity for sale. Now that it’s starting to warm up, more people are gearing up to sell. So if this one doesn’t work out, onward to the next. And maybe the next one or the next one after that.