It’s hunting season in western Montana right now. I was kinda hoping that by the time hunting season rolled around this year I would have a piece of property that I could throw a tent on for a weekend and do little hunting. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that this is going to be in the cards for this hunting season. I am, however, very much planning on being on my own little hunting area next season.

How’s the property hunting coming? Well, I had a sudden and unexpected financial obligation come up and until I get that resolved I am not comfortable pulling the trigger on a piece of property. I hope to have the issue resolved in a few weeks, but by then hunting season will be in the rearview mirror.

And while Im on the subject of getting this land thing finished, I need to drop some coin and buy an ATV of some flavor and, probably, a snowmobile of some kind as well. Since virtually all of the properties I have been looking at are in places where road maintenance is a quaint theory I need to have the ability to get in and out of the area. And, on this matter, everyone…and I mean everyone….has an opinion. Get a four-wheeler and snowmobile. Get a side-by-side and a track/tread conversion for winter. Get a four-wheeler and a set of chains. Get a side-by-side and a snowmobile. Etc, etc. I mean there’s all sorts of combinations of these and every possible combination has its supporters and detractors. Clearly I need to do a good bit of independent research and make my own informed opinion.

And, naturally, it doesnt stop there. There’s a tremendous amount of things that need to be purchased in anticipation. Most notably tools, implements, and a whole library of how-to, instruction, and technical books. Fortunately, in the circles I travel in I have associates and friends in fields of expertise that can give me some information and ideas. But theres always something that I’m ignorant of and that I don’t know anyone who is well-informed. And although I try to avoid putting the cart before the horse, I can’t see much reason not to have certain materials, equipment, and supplies tucked away. And, of course, theres the other things I need to have lined up that you can’t just order of Amazon….things like sourcing a real estate trust lawyer, finding someone to do  a survey and maps, that sort of thing.

But, when its all done, I really really hope it’ll be the quiet little hidden private oasis that I daydream about. I guess we’ll see. Gotta get the finances straightened out first.

SO I made an offer on the property that I’ve been posting about. I offered 25% less than what they were asking. They said theyd go 10% below ask. So I bumped my offer to 18% below ask. No dice. Said theyd wait till spring and see how it goes.

You may notice I’m  not giving actual cash numbers or details here and thats simply because I might wait until spring and see if it’s still available and if, at that point, they are more amenable to my original offer. But, in the meantime, the search continues.

Can’t say I’m not disappointed, but it isnt a huge level of disappointment. Every week that goes by is another grand to put towards a potential purchase. And its more time for me to get resources lined up and information brain-banked. By the end of the year, I’ll have almost ten grand more to raise the bar on what I can afford. Obviously the cheaper the piece of property the more money that leaves me for the necessities that a property purchase will entail…materials, tools, equipment, four-wheeler, infrastructure, etc.

I have noticed that some propeties I’ve been looking at, and discounted for various reasons, have started to show drops in asking price. Not sure if thats related to winter coming on and the buying season slowing down, or if its more related to the economy and market in general. Don’t really care, honestly….I just want maximum dirt for my dollar.

Im starting to thnk I may just have to sit down with a tab opened to the Montana cadastral and start looking at properties that seem to fit the bill for what Im looking for and contacting the owners to see if they want to sell. Long shot but it would guarantee that the criteria Im looking for are met.

Regardless, its back to trolling the listings and banking away money until the right opportunity presents itself.

I had mentioned that I was going to look at a property last weekend. Unfortunately, a couple days before my anticipated expedition, the owners decided they were just gonna pull it off the market and leave it to their kids. So…that one is outta the running.

As a side note, I went and visited, for the third time, my not-quite-everything-I-want candidate on Saturday. It has potential, but, merciful Crom, its a bit of a brutal drive to get there once you leave the pavement. It’s approx. 16 miles off the paved interstate and the quality of the road is such that 20 mph is about the best you can do. And in the winter, well, you’re gonna need a seriously dedicated machine to get in there. But, thats not necessarily a bad thing…it’ll keep the crowds out. I’m fine with that. My plans involve buying a 4-wheeler and a snowmobile anyway.

I’m really torn between making an offer on it and committing, and waiting to see what else turns up. I have an irrational fear of dropping the hammer on this thing and then three weeks later something ‘more perfect’ becomes available. But, this problem exists with everything…houses, wives, cars, property, dinner specials.

At the moment, I’m wargaming ways to utilize/develop the creek that runs through the property. Im thinking the way to go is to pump water to a storage tank at the top of the hill, and then let gravity do the work to provide pressure down at the potential building site. I need to do some math and and other calculations, as well as plot logistics for size of tank and how to transport the bloody thing. But, even if I dont get this particular piece of dirt it’s still a good experiment to run in my head since, eventually, its gonna have to happen somewhere.

How is the property hunting coming along, you ask? Nothing terribly remarkable. Im going to look at a property this weekend that is in a region known for local cops and fire retiring to. On the one hand, most of the cops I knew here in Missoula are mostly of like-mind, or at least not opposite of it. And having those kinds of people nearby could be a handy thing if you hit the point where collaboration and cooperating with neighbors becomes critical.

The piece I am going to look at has a spring on it, I am given to understand. I have also been warned that it might be a bit swampy in that area. I am wondering if perhaps developing the spring and giving that water a place to go might remediate that. Dunno. Won’t know until I actually go an walk it, which will be this weekend, I think.

Still haven’t ruled out the other property yet. But I’d like to have a few more options to choose from.  In the meantime, my bookmarks folder is slowly filling with links to well pumps, septic layouts, concrete form construction, PV systems, maps, etc, etc.

What are the biggest challenges? Finding a piece of property with some type of water, isn’t bisected (or worse) with public-accessible roads, has some flat building spots, isnt butted up against another piece of property that had someone build their house right on the edge of the property line, isn’t several hours away, is at least 20 acres, and isn’t more than about $225k. Tough find.

From the realtor:

Hello, I see what you are talking about. He does not have an easement. I just spoke to him on the phone, and he is a nice guy who has been getting his water from that source for many years. His name is [REDACTED] and his number is [REDACTED]. I would prefer to spoke to him directly and maybe come to an agreement. I have his permission to share his name and number with you.

He said that the water station is on the property to the East but its very hard to know for sure without a survey. On X is close but no completely reliable.

Sooooooo….thats a no on the easement. Which means, IF the borders shown were correct, the piping and watering station are on the listed property. But thats too big an ‘if’ to take into a conversation with this guy. I need to be 100% sure of (literally) where I stand in regard to property lines.

So whats at the end of that polypipe I mentioned a few posts back? This:

I walked a bit of the property using onX GPS/maps. OnX, as well as the Mt Cadastral, it appears, assuming the borders were accurate, that this little watering station is about 30-40 feet on the inside of the border  of the property. This leads to a whole pile of questions…

If, and this is a key ‘if’, the borders shown on the Onx/GPS are correct then there needs to be an easement for this thing. If there’s not an easement, that opens up the possibility of a ‘mutual agreement’ that lets him not have to move the thing and gives me some access to that water. Or, if there’s no easement, it could just go from 0 to 60 and become an adverse possession issue or some such. So…I need to absolutely confirm the location of the property border to see if this thing is on their side or ‘my’ side, and I need to find out if theres an easement. Even if there is an easement, does that easement include putting a watering station on the property vs. just having a pipe running across it?

It appears gravity fed. I GPS’d the elevation at the watering station, and then I GPS’d the elevation of where I’d likely build. A difference of about 40 feet with the watering station being lower. In theory, as I figure it, this means that there could be gravity feed to a nearby holding tank or cistern and then the water pumped the last 40′ to the site. Need to think that one through.

So, one mystery solved and several more made.

TL;DR = I like it enough to make an offer, I dont like it enough to make it a very good offer.

There were indeed water sources on the property. Two swampy/muddy creeks. One was just black stagnant water and mud in this August weather, the other had a tiny rivulet of flowing water. But thats in the middle of August…I’d imagine that in the spring its more substantial. Interestingly, there was a block poly pipe running along the ground along the length of the creek. It ran from the state land side of the fence and through the subject property. Not sure what that was about but it seems to suggest that theres an upstream water distribution point of some kind. Wonder if I could just tap into it with a T-joint or something.

And, there was indeed, a fairly decent flat spot to build. You crested this rather steep road and at the bottom was a nice little circular area that would seem to lend itself to a small cabin. Major drawback – the water sources, such as they are, were all the way at the other end of the property 440 yards away. Thats a quarter-mile for those of you keeping track.

The roads to get up there were about what I expected. There’s no way youre getting in there in winter without either a snowmobile, snow-specific four-wheeler, a horse, or snow chains and some cajones of steel. That isnt necessarily a deal breaker. The roads could accommodate trucks that were designed for such roads. I saw a forest-fire-fighting tanker trunk maneuvering the roads with aplomb. I suspect a small-ish well drilling rig could get in there. I’d rather lean towards having a well in there.

It has…possibilities. The price is somewhat within the range I was looking for but there’s going to be a degree of terraforming necessary….trees removed, some minor roadwork, etc.

I was thinking of offering 20% below ask, cash, and go as high as %10 below ask. I think I’ll just offer 20% below ask and if it happens it happens, and if not…the hunt continues.

Going to look at a piece of property tomorrow. The problem with these sorts of pieces of property is that you often seem to have to navigate a labyrinth of dirt roads of varying quality that often, because of terrain, need to switchback, loop, dogleg, and otherwise snake through the terrain. Google Earth is definitely useful for getting an idea of the path to take, but a GPS loaded with the appropriate maps is also a requirement.

My goals tomorrow are to see how navigable the road is, what the terrain on the property is like, investigate the purported water sources on the property, locate and GPS mark at least one of the corner pins, and generally get a feel for things. If, and only if, all that checks out…then its time to start figuring my plan of attack. My research shows the owners are out of state (California, of course) and that they haven’t been to the property in years. To me, that sounds like people who inherited it and might appreciate a fast all-cash sale. Just how much cash is going to be the challenging part.

If that goes through (and thats a heavy if), then its time to start prioritizing things. Most notably will be getting a current survey done to get a detailed map of the place, pins in place, and some very exact ideas of where the boundaries are. And setting up whatever sort of legal fiction is necessary to maintain privacy.

Maybe spend a few weekends out there camping as I explore the place to get a feel for it and think about what exactly I want to do with it and where.

But, thats all putting the cart before the horse. I’ll walk it tomorrow and see what happens. If I don’t like it, I’ll hand it off to you guys and you can see if it’s something youre interested in.

And, as is slowly dawning on me, the purchase of the property may be the cheapest part of the whole affair. Once that’s done its time for wells, septic, foundations, infrastructure, fuels, landscaping (or, more accurately, terraforming), etc, etc. I’ve been searching for property for so long now that Im like the dog that chases cars and then doesn’t know what to do with one if he caught it.

Guess we’ll see tomorrow if its a car worth chasing. Should be interesting.

Oh, and you know what the most useless-but-fun part of this process is? Coming up with the cool name for the place. I’ve often referred to it as Commander Zero’s Post-Nuclear Bunker O’ Love And Lingerie Proving Ground but I might need something a little bit more succinct for the shoulder patch.