The PA Tacos' Biggest Buildup Ever!

[JanMarie13]

   Big changes are afoot in Taco land!   

Last month, Brian and I purchased 3 acres in our hometown of Beech Creek, PA.  It's only about 10 miles up the road from where we live now in Lock Haven, but it's a much more "country" location.  Many of you already know, our current house is actually a 3-unit rental property and we occupy the biggest apartment.  But we have HAD IT with being landlords and with living in town.  This has been the big plan all along...to get back to Beech Creek and build a new house in which we are the ONLY occupants.

So anyway, as it turns out, an older gentleman who lived just up the hill and around the corner from my Dad, passed away last year.  He lived in a reeeeaaaalllyyy old and run-down house on 3 acres.....he even had an outhouse!  And that was it!  So anyway, to make a pretty long story short, we got in good with the old guy's nephew who ended up being the administrator of the estate, and we got a pretty good deal on the property.  We did have it perc tested first, of course, to make sure we'd be allowed to put a septic system on it, and it passed with flying colors (so why that old guy never had anything but an outhouse, I'll never know).

Soooooooo.......we put the word out that our property in Lock Haven was for sale, and didn't have too hard of a time finding a buyer.  He's a local guy who owns other rental properties and already had his ducks in a row financially, so we hope to be able to close the deal pretty quickly on that.  We'd like to get it out of our name as soon as possible so we can start looking into construction loans.

We're going to move in with Brian's mom and enjoy some mortgage-free living while we build.  We have several contractors in the family, and even recently found out we also have an excavator.  So things are looking up in the "cheap resources" department!   

So anyway, we've been pretty busy with trying to get his mom's house cleaned out to make room for us to move in, as well as getting our current house sold, and starting to pack.  We hope to have the deal closed by the end of this month and be "settled" into Brian's mom's by Dec. 1.

Probably won't start building until March-ish, I'm guessing.  But we have plenty to do in the meantime!  Like I said.....there's a REALLY old house on the property that we're going to have to tear down.  It's most definitely NOT a fixer upper!     Plus the property is pretty much a shale pit right now, so we do have a lot of excavation to do.
 
OK, time for pictures!  Here's what we're starting with!  haha.  You have to really use your imagination.  This should be a fun buildup to compare the before and afters!  Hope you stick with us, I'm sure I'll be updating regularly!  God help me when the construction actually starts....I'll probably be out of a job by then because I'll never be at work!  haha.  I'm SO EXCITED!! 


Here's our new house!!  hehehe...






Just in case you questioned the "not a fixer-upper" part....   




Big shale pit out back:




View from the pit...haha....




Cute little bean tree out front...it's gonna have to take one for the team when the sand mound goes in..




And here's our favorite....the view from "up top" out back....

[Rocksurfer]

That last shot is awsome, beatup 4x4 at a beatup house. 

Good luck on your newest builup, are you going to lift it and put lockers under it?

[JanMarie13]

OK I forgot to mention our plans for the shale pit.  We're going to have the excavator round it off so it's more of a gradual slope.  I don't think you can tell from these pics but there is already a skid road that goes up along the right side of the pit, so there's already the start of an easy way to get up there.  Brian calls it his "Toyota path", of course!  

So anyway, the property is pretty much a long skinny rectangle.  We do have a good 250 foot of road frontage, but then the rest of the acreage is all wooded and goes up the mountain out back.  After we do some excavating, we want to put a gazebo up there and make it our little party spot.  

And the BEST part about this property is there is pretty much no potential for future neighbors who aren't already there, and there aren't any that are right on top of us.  We're bordered on one side by a guy who owns 10 acres, and we're bordered at the rear and the other side by a guy who owns 115 acres!  Both of whom are people who really enjoy their privacy and have no intentions of going anywhere, or subdividing, or anything like that.

To the front, there is a neighbor way over to the right, and one way over to the left, but none directly in front of us.  I love it!  

PLUS, we just so happened to have gotten the opportunity over the past year or so to become pretty good friends with the guy who owns the 115 bordering acres.  We had no idea that we'd be buying bordering property, of course.  But anyway, he's a really awesome dude and he's already talking about hooking us up with some of the land of his that directly borders ours in such a way that it already "feeeeels" like it should be part of ours.  He really likes us and is pretty psyched that we got the property, and basically said welcome to the family!  

Ummmm.....lemme see what else.....what else.......OH, we already replaced the mailbox!  So I guess I have my first update to make already!  LOL.  Need to get a pic of the new one.  We wanted to do that so we can change our address to there when we move, instead of changing it to something temporary and then changing it again next year.  What a pain that would be.  So we'll just scoot on out there to get our mail, because I'm sure we'll be there daily anyway!

[JanMarie13]

That last shot is awsome, beatup 4x4 at a beatup house. 

Good luck on your newest builup, are you going to lift it and put lockers under it?

haha.....thanks RS!   yeah.....I really love the "redneck-icity" of the last shot

Not gonna lift it....I think we'll SLAM it instead!  hahaha

[Tallchevy]

Nice score  I like the potential private off road park  When was it built? That must be a pre 20's home cause of the electrical. When is the house wheeling warming party 

[79coyotefrg]

looks like "test track" to me 

[DTB]

looks like a lot of work!

good luck with that!

[79coyotefrg]

oh man  couple hours on a dozer  and i could have  a nice  "track"  made for ya 

are you going to build a new house behind that one or "rebuild"  that one

[Willy Mammoth]

Nice

are you going to build a new house behind that one or "rebuild"  that one

I would build the new one back away from the road a bit just incase they want to widen the road someday 

Where am I going to park the LBC.    Oh and shop 

[Doof]

nice score...awsome view you got going on there!!!

[Lady Di]

That's sweet. Too bad the house isn't worth restoring.

where are we going to park the LBC.. oh, and put up the shop

[DanS]

Very nice property, good luck on the development  . May I ask what the property taxes are a year? Up here 1/4 acre is approx. 1800. a year 
DanS

[brainlessfool]

Nice find, we're am I gong to park the stabin cabin and where the adult book store going?

[kneedownnate]

Dang, that's the kinda deal I'd love to find too!  Well, I really want enough property in a good location where I can hunt without people bitching, but just being away from people would be bitchin!  Congrats

[JanMarie13]

Thanks a lot everyone!!

I'm not too sure when that place was built, but the deed only went back to like 1943 when the property was left down to someone within the family we bought it from.  So it must have been around for quite awhile before then, I'm sure.  It's definitely ROUGH, and it's definitely not worth restoring.    Can't wait for the big warming/wheelin party!  haha....sometime next year is all i know   

Definitely going to be a lot of work, but not too bad really.  First things first the house needs to come down, then get the excavating done, put in the septic system and well, and start building the new house!  haha

Dan--I don't mind the tax question at all.....right now the taxes on just the land is only around $300 per year.     Now, when we get the new house built, the total real estate taxes will probably be around $2000 per year.   

Here's another picture of the land that will hopefully answer many of the other questions. 

[RK]

Congrats you two.........awesome plot.

[79coyotefrg]

Very nice property, good luck on the development  . May I ask what the property taxes are a year? Up here 1/4 acre is approx. 1800. a year 
DanS

HOLY

7 acres here  with our house  and  6000sq feet of concrete = $215 a year

[JanMarie13]

   Alrighty folks, time for some updates!  So, the guy who was to be buying our rental property in Lock Haven ending up backing out!  Put us a month behind schedule.  But we quickly found another one, and we closed on that place on December 28th.  So we were moving over Christmas, and it SUCKED.  But oh well...it's over with!  We're settled into the mother-in-law's basement, and that's treating us alright.  Don't completely want to hang ourselves JUST yet, but there are days. 

So anyway we got the old shack knocked down!  Amish people paid us $250 to let them dismantle it and take what they wanted!  There wasn't much but the shell left, and I got to pull it over with my 4Runner!!   It was so awesome!  Unfortunately, it was just me and my 7-yr-old stepson.  He did his very best at running the camera, but we didn't get any shots with the 4Runner actually IN it.  hahaha.

After it was a shell, our excavator pushed it all into the foundation, and we had ourselves a little bonfire Friday night!  Brian and I even camped out in the back of the 4Runner.  Our first night at our new place!    hahaha

OK....I'm gonna use BigMike's fancy "Spoiler" tags for the pics so you can look at the one-by-one.  That ought to help with the load time. 



So here is what it looked like part-way through the Amish people's part:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

And here is what it looked like when they were done:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

And THEEEENNNN....the rope in this pic is attached to my 4Runner!! 
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Then the excavator guy came:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

And he left us with a big pile:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

And so we had ourselves a bonfire!
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Burn Baby Burn!
[spoiler][/spoiler]


It got too dark to take pics then but I do have one or two from yesterday that are still on the camera.  There's absolutely nothing left but the stones from the foundation.  It's like a huge fire pit now!  haha

And now, as promised.......the new mailbox! 

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[DTB]

awesome! 

too bad u didnt get any pics of the runner pulling it down

[Lady Di]

  pulling it over with the runner had to be a blast! Nice job.
Wow! now the fun really begins! 

[JanMarie13]

awesome! 

too bad u didnt get any pics of the runner pulling it down

I knooow, I'm so bummed about that.  But they were using a REALLY long rope.  haha.  We were just driving by for something to do, to check their progress, and there they were......3 Amish dudes trying to pull the rest of the house over by hand!  The leader of the show was pretty excited to see my tow hitch, let me tell ya.  haha.  I was glad to oblige!  

[DTB]

3 Amish dudes trying to pull the rest of the house over by hand!  

I'm surprised they didnt try to hook a horse up to it! 

[JanMarie13]

I'm surprised they didnt try to hook a horse up to it! 

hahaha......   'round here they pay people to drive them places, and that's what they did since they were going to need a big trailer to take the wood away on.  Some dude drove them to our property and dropped them off and just left them there all day!

[Yota87Truck]

Sweet Property, looks like fun

[MiniSimp]

 

[unclejpl4x4]

you guys so took my idea on a back yard


I know where im taking my next Vaca  as soon as  "PA Taco Land" park is open. 
O and how big are the camp sites gona be + will there be camper hook-ups ?


and the best part it's only 4hr drive one way

[Wermz84]

Good luck on the new build!   Don't forget the sliders. 

[unclejpl4x4]

backyard ideas   

[Doof]

that would be a lot of fun

[JanMarie13]

 Ooooohhhh lovely, thanks for the idea joe.  haha.  Brian already caught hell for having our excavator dig part of the cliff out and dump a big pile of dirt in the middle of everything so he had a little play mound.  hahaha.  I was like nooooooooooo not there!  He has the whole woods up out back to play on.  Although that's where the bad BAD tree is that ate his bedside.