Stops and starts

 We've had 5 different closing dates so far and we're hoping that this next one will BE THE ONE that finally works.
   To say that we've had some issues is a major understatement...let me explain.
   We have a terrific realtor...a woman who's been in every aspect of the real estate business and she knows her stuff.
   The other realtor is actually part owner of this property and he's 25 years old and this is his first real estate transaction.  And there in lies the problem.  A fairly large piece of property, 2 buyers (the property will be split between us and some friends), and one real estate person who is new to the business and this is his first transaction.  That spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E.  And it's been trouble.

     So this property has a mile of easement before we get to where the property opens up and the property proper begins...then you go another almost mile to get to where we will build.  Normally all you need for an easement for no matter how many people is 30ft...after all an easement is really just a road.  But this wunderkin decided that we all needed 50 ft of easement.  (Let me back up here to explain something else before I confuse you even more).  This whole place was once a very large ranch and it got split into 2 pieces.  Then the first piece was split into 2 sections and our piece was split into 3 sections. So on our side we have a 212 acre parcel, a 350 acre parcel and a 222.88 acre parcel...the last one is ours and we have split it with a friend so we get about 83 acres and they have the rest.  Bob and I will be the only people living out there full time.  Our friends don't plan on moving out there until their kids are out of school and that's about another 8 years.  The other tracts are strictly for hunting and recreation for the people that own them.

So the kid decides that we each should have 50 foot of easement from the County Road all the way to where each of our driveways will connect with the road.  So that's 200 ft of easement.  Which is really quite frankly stupid.  We don't need 200 ft for 2 miles...we need 30 ft. for 2 miles.
     It has to be surveyed and our surveyors found a mistake in the original survey...instead of 200 ft all the way down they had 200 ft from the County Road to where the property opens up and then it shrunk down to 50 ft.  It was recorded wrong and filed so there had to be an amendment done, a correction in the pin placement and then it had to be filed again.  That part was on their side and he just wasn't keeping his eye on the ball.  It's also County Government and the wheels always turn very slowly....it's not something you could walk through and get done. Ugh!
     The next issue that came up was an adjoining property owner had to have a low water crossing redone.  So they had to come on our side of the fence to fix the problem.  Normally that would have been just fine except that they left our side a mess and now we had an issue with the perimeter road not being driveable.  When we first looked at this property we were driven completely around the perimeter....presently  we can't  do that

because of the work.  This had to be fixed before we signed on the dotted line.  There was also a problem with the electric.  Because wonderkin wasn't thinking about the 200 ft easement when he had the electric installed....the pole and guide wire are in that easement....so the pole and anchor have to be moved.  All this stuff takes time unfortunately because we are just some people on a list of things that have to get done.
 There are a lot of emails, talking on the phone and  traveling back and forth to the property to make sure everything is getting done in a timely manner.  Meanwhile we are dealing with someone who had a "mission" trip he's going to go on.  Fine....when you've taken care of all the things you should be taking care of and then when he gets back from that his grandfather dies.  Which I'm very sorry about but you do have business to attend to and you are not doing it.  I don't mean to sound heartless but since this was now the beginning of July and we'd already missed 2 closings and our third is about to expire....I think we all had a reason to be a little perturbed.

Today is July 19th.  The first survey team went out and moved the pin to the proper location.  Our survey team was able to finish up their job and Pedernales Electric Cooperative has been out to move the pole and the anchor.  They will transfer the lines sometime next week but the main part (moving the pole) is done.  Hallelujah. We are going to go out this evening to inspect where they have split the property...hopefully it's where we expected it to be and then we just may....fingers crossed.....get to close by the end of this month instead of the end of August.

All these pictures are taking you on a walk from the front gate back to where Bob and I will build.  At least the general area where we will build....we haven't decided on exactly where to put the house yet but we have a pretty good idea.

The photo up and to the right where you see the power lines..(look closely...power lines in the sky) that is part of The Terry's property.  The Terry's are the people that we are splitting the property with.


Photo to the left is more of the Terry's.  We will both own everything to the right of the road.

Above and to the right is more Terry's but we are getting close to where our property begins.

Photo to the left....our property begins just a little beyond those three trees.

UPDATE:  July 31, 2019.  Closing tentatively set for August 9, 2019 or August 13, 2019.  I'm hoping for the earlier but almost expect the later at this point.
UPDATE: August 13, 2019.  Closing is now set for this Friday.  Wonderkund was supposed to get the electrical easement papers signed on Wednesday, that did not happen.  We were told that He had a meeting with the property owners on Sunday (Aug. 11, 2019) and that didn't happen....one easement was signed yesterday  I have no idea about the other.  I hope to hear something today.  We have our closing set for Friday and we have our closing papers from the title company but our friends do not.  I'm just shaking my head at the absolute craziness of this deal.  I know in the end it WILL be worth it but right now...in the middle of it all...it is just frustrating.

UPDATE;  Today is August 17, 2019 and we closed on the property yesterday.  Sorta anti climatic after all we've been through.  Signing what seemed like an endless array of papers but it's done.  Yeah!!

Picture above the gloves is the well head.  Bob will build a little shed to protect that but the rest of the well components will be in a big well house with the cistern.  That's what is up next.  Stay tuned.