Browsing real estate is a bit of a hobby of ours. Aaron happened upon our current situation thanks to some very broad search parameters. He showed me five acres that back up to the trail system here in Bellingham on our way to a ride that would put us right next to them. It was almost like he planned it. My interest was peeked as there were already two homes and a shop on it, though the price didn’t reflect that. We did a drive by and I called our realtor while Aaron unloaded the bikes. By the time we were on the trail, we had an appointment to see it the next day.

The owner was there when we arrived the next day (it was that kind of deal) and gave us the tour. It turned out the property included a single-wide park model to which he had added a stick-built addition. There was also a should-be-condemmed, four bedroom, double wide towards the back of the property. It was being rented by an apparently disgruntled gentleman, as the owner explained that it was not available for showing at that point. We had already gathered that from the yelling on the other end of the phone when he called to ask about a tour. Bazaar housing aside, the 24X36 foot shop was the stuff Aaron’s dreams are made of, the well was plentiful, and all utilities were already run (and split!) to the front and back units, and let me reiterate the trail access! The front unit was far from ideal, but livable. The big catch here came when Chuck, the owner, explained that it had just fallen out of escrow because of financing. I knew next to nothing about mobile homes, so I had been slow to catch that the stick-built addition to a mobile home meant no bank was going to touch it; it would have to be cash. The problem was that we had just spent all of our cash on the investment property in the fall.

We left the property and, with the Stoke Wagn already hitched up, rolled out of town to the next bike race. I love a creative real estate deal and this one could be the best yet! If there is one thing the bureaucracy of the military taught me, it is to keep asking the question until you get the answer you want. I spent the drive calling banks. After a few flat ‘No’s, I got a hold of someone who also appreciated a good challenge. I got him some numbers and addressed some initial concerns, ‘No, neither of us are working right now’, and ‘No, we don’t have a permanent address’. Oddly, the address thing presented a real problem, but we persevered.

We would ‘refinance’ the property we had bought in the Fall (it was called a refinance even though we didn’t have a mortgage on it) and pull out enough to buy this property with cash. The numbers all worked, it was just our somewhat unorthodox lifestlyle that was making the lenders squimish. I spent the next month in daily contact with Brian, ‘the mortgage guy’, providing all of the documents the lenders could ask for.

After I had sent all actual documentation, I started inventing it, literally. I wrote letters explaining the traveling, I asked our bank to change our address from a mail service in North Carolina to my family’s in Montana, and then regenerate the statements, I pled with our homeowners insurance to get me a renewal notice now, even though it wasn’t due for three months. It was intense. It was touch and go and even up to two days before close, I was still getting calls that they were pulling the plug on the whole deal. Brian made us a personal mission and somehow got us to signing. We were actually late because we were in the queue to buy Rampage tickets at the same time, but we did it! And that is where the current adventure begins…

Dream Property