The assessment has come back for The Ranch.
It is not necessarily the end of all the work, but it remained the single largest issue to discuss in settling the estate. There are loose ends still for sure - one I know about is completing an estimate of the equipment that is there - tractors and so forth - but they will be relatively minor in the course of the whole settlement.
As you might expect, the assessment has gone up in the 18 months since the first one was done - not incredibly (for which I am grateful). About 4%, which seems right given the current state of things.
On the one hand, it will be nice to have things resolved. On the other hand, this will introduce a new set of challenges to the life of The Ravishing Mrs. TB and myself.
The biggest, perhaps, is simply how we are going to deal with a property that is not in the state that we live in. Yes, we have folks there on a daily basis - Uisdean Ruadh of course and The Cowboy and The Young Cowboy - so that is no more a concern than is now, but there are other concerns. Maintenance on the house of course; these things do not maintain themselves. Equally as critical, the two major expenses of property taxes and insurance.
There will be a little rental income from The Cabin of course, and that helps - other than insuring that we are keeping enough money for ongoing maintenance there as well (fortunately I have some idea of what that should be on an annual basis.
On the one hand, I admit these are completely first world problems. On the other, just because they are "first world" does not mean that they are not concerns.
Still, moving this towards resolution has the impact of setting the course of the rest of our life - so in any sense, some resolution is good resolution.
It will all come together, eventually. And then when the dust settles, it gets kicked up again. At least there is some progress, which hopefully makes it seem like you're going in the right direction :-)
ReplyDeleteAny calves yet? How was the grass this year?
~hobo
Hobo, I think so too. In a way, I could use it not coming together too soon, as it helps me get working out here established first.
DeleteFrom what I know and have seen, they have still been getting rain up to last week - so I imagine it will be plenty green and delightful when I go there this weekend.
Step by step TB, moving has a number of areas to be resolved and it takes time.
ReplyDeleteIt does, Nylon12. Like many other things, this is the first time I have done this, so there is (once again) not really a personal road map for me to follow.
DeleteUnlived in houses require a lot of maintenance to maintain them compared to lived in houses. My parents bought a lot of farms over the years with houses and the one constant was that they all ended up in severe disrepair. They even rented some but the quality of renters to be had only made the disrepair happen much faster. Perhaps you can find a quality renter for the house.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the land is the easy part to deal with. You just cash rent it out and collect the annual/semi annual checks. Not being familiar with the area though, that cash rent for grazing might not be enough to cover taxes. We most do that with crop farm ground where the cash rent is many factors higher than the property taxes.
Good feedback, Ed.
DeleteOne of the things that I plan to do once things get settled here is to start some semblance of my regular trips back there. The distance is much less and doable over a weekend (which may be the time I have).
We have gone back and forth on renting the house out and likely we will have to revisit it in the not too distant future. On the plus side, it would help immensely with the expenses (and be lived in, which would be nice). On the down side, this is a house we are planning to live in at some point and the wear and tear has me worried.
We always did complete background checks on prospective tenants for our house. Then we said there was a waiting list so no one could claim discrimination. Always had them fill out application. There are websites for landlords with everything you need. No smokers or pets (or big deposit for pet). We also insisted on references that we followed up on. Also iron clad lease where you can evict for no cause. Big deposit, usually first and last month's rent. Never had damages in 30 years as landlord. I would also be a good idea to hire your neighbor to keep an eye on the place. On the other hand, we always took care of things that broke or leaked, etc, right away. Good landlords deserve good tenants. We were always available to talk. The worst experience we had was to hire a realtor or property manager. They just collected the money and didn't inspect the property. We fired them. We had the best luck advertising on Craigs List and interviewing personally.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tewshooz.
DeleteTo be fair, we have had fairly good luck on The Cabin, although that was almost always handled by personal contact, even in my father's day (e.g., he never advertised).
I will definitely keep it in mind. Realistically we need to have it make generate some kind of income if we are not living there.
Perhaps Uisdean Ruadh, The Cowboy or The Young Cowboy (not sure how young) could help you find a renter, be it for cattle on the land, or The Ranch.
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, It will come.
You all be safe and God bless.
Possibly, Linda. Certainly they may know of folks. Either way, likely we need to get the estate settled first in order to start that next phase.
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