George sent me to an online trading academy several years ago to learn all of the ins and outs of online stock market investing. While I've got a personal account with a few successful stocks, he's taken our joint account much further than I could have done. Clearly his $40 books prove to be more useful than the $5k tuition we paid for my week long class. Since he's got a handle on the stocks, and my interest lie in real estate and business, I've turned my attention to those avenues.
I've searched every website, book, real estate listing and county tax assessors office for distressed and affordable property. Something we could purchase with a reasonable cash reserve and either flip for a profit, or retain for rental purposes. We're sort of gun shy on rentals that are not in our immediate area, as the house rental property in GA still sits empty after 7 years (and in need of major repairs now). We are also in no rush to get any mortgages (and the GA property has rendered this a non item anyway) as it makes moving a property a bit of a bear.
We decided whatever property we'd get, would have to be a maximum of a 12 hour drive from where we currently live. A recent trip to Mississippi changed our minds and we began looking for vacant land to hold a small-medium farm (20 - 180 acres to start). George's mother has the hook up on goats (only in the country does one even stumble upon such a hook up) so we would start with a few goats and grow from there. I'm not a huge fan of farm animals, but I would like to be more involved in my food selection, thus we have chickens for eggs now, and eventually hope to get 100% of our food from our own land.
I found 40 acres in a remote part of Utah that included mineral rights, but they wanted all of the cash up front, and although it was a great deal, it would have left us with little to no cash reserve to develop the land. I turned to TX instead. It's still considered the wild wild west, and it's on our way to MS, so we could stop in during our annual family road trip. I found a great deal on some property in Cornudas, TX.
If you were to Google the town, the only thing you'd be able to find is May's Cafe. It's a great little eatery where the owner, May (who is also the town's Mayor, as she should be considering she owns the one owner township) can be found whipping up their famous Cornudas Burger in the kitchen. The three of us have increased the towns population of Black folks by 3, but we're up for the adventure. Everyone there is extremely nice, including our "neighbor" Todd (he lives approximately 60 acres east of our property), and the locals have seemed to stumble across the fountain of youth. Our tour guide revealed there was more than a decade that separated her and her husbands age, and she looked like she was barely out of her 30's. It's rumored that Mayor May is around 85 years old, and she looks and moves like she's in her 50's. I'm ready to run there just for the aging benefits alone, but I suppose the slow pace of country living wears on you less than the daily grind of the city.
After walking our property, I realized I underestimated the vastness of 20 acres. We're standing there enjoying the view of the great open fields and mountainous terrain in the distance, when I hear my husband ask (in his thick southern drawl), "any more land available?" So our guide takes some notes, and promise to return with an answer. Two days later we get a call from our agent, and I pump the brakes where George is ready to throw caution to the wind. Needless to say, we settled for the 20, with an option to buy 40 more. As we're leaving our property, George stops to admire the cattle grazing on the land, he moos at one cow to get its attention and it flips around so quickly I thought we'd end up like one of those State Farm commercials with a cow ramming our vehicle. Only problem is we're not insured with State Farm, and I'm not sure if the gecko makes house calls. We find our way back to the main highway and head west into the sunset, back to our California homestead...at least for now.
I've searched every website, book, real estate listing and county tax assessors office for distressed and affordable property. Something we could purchase with a reasonable cash reserve and either flip for a profit, or retain for rental purposes. We're sort of gun shy on rentals that are not in our immediate area, as the house rental property in GA still sits empty after 7 years (and in need of major repairs now). We are also in no rush to get any mortgages (and the GA property has rendered this a non item anyway) as it makes moving a property a bit of a bear.
We decided whatever property we'd get, would have to be a maximum of a 12 hour drive from where we currently live. A recent trip to Mississippi changed our minds and we began looking for vacant land to hold a small-medium farm (20 - 180 acres to start). George's mother has the hook up on goats (only in the country does one even stumble upon such a hook up) so we would start with a few goats and grow from there. I'm not a huge fan of farm animals, but I would like to be more involved in my food selection, thus we have chickens for eggs now, and eventually hope to get 100% of our food from our own land.
I found 40 acres in a remote part of Utah that included mineral rights, but they wanted all of the cash up front, and although it was a great deal, it would have left us with little to no cash reserve to develop the land. I turned to TX instead. It's still considered the wild wild west, and it's on our way to MS, so we could stop in during our annual family road trip. I found a great deal on some property in Cornudas, TX.
After walking our property, I realized I underestimated the vastness of 20 acres. We're standing there enjoying the view of the great open fields and mountainous terrain in the distance, when I hear my husband ask (in his thick southern drawl), "any more land available?" So our guide takes some notes, and promise to return with an answer. Two days later we get a call from our agent, and I pump the brakes where George is ready to throw caution to the wind. Needless to say, we settled for the 20, with an option to buy 40 more. As we're leaving our property, George stops to admire the cattle grazing on the land, he moos at one cow to get its attention and it flips around so quickly I thought we'd end up like one of those State Farm commercials with a cow ramming our vehicle. Only problem is we're not insured with State Farm, and I'm not sure if the gecko makes house calls. We find our way back to the main highway and head west into the sunset, back to our California homestead...at least for now.
