Renewed Search: Go West, Young Man.

After the Maker's Way deal fizzled out, winter began to settle in big time. As I noted in my post about my last visit around Thanksgiving, temps were dropping and snow flurries began for the first time that winter. In fact, my drive home from that visit was hampered by driving headwinds and occasional whiteout snow conditions.

These conditions turned into one of the biggest winters Bonner County has seen in some time. Numerous area homes and buildings collapsed due to snow loads. Area moose had a tough winter as they struggled to make their way through deep drifts and a record-setting 127 moose stumbled onto county roads, starving. Snow was so deep in December that a state of emergency was declared for the county as crews struggled to keep roads clear and many folks got a bit more intimate with "cabin fever", unable to leave their homes.

Suffice to say, not many new bare-land listings come on the market during a North Idaho winter. The listings that remain active are hard to assess and impossible to "perc" (for septic) this time of year. So, I continued to peruse the MLS listings via the CM Brewster website and occasionally sent an inquiry to Tom Renk to see what he might know about the listings in question.

I asked about an incredible value on a 10 acre parcel North of town that I learned was not wider than 100 feet at it's widest point and was a long narrow track with a railway down the center. That explains the price, eh!

I asked about another seemingly good deal on 12 acres a bit further up the road from the Maker's Way parcel I had tried to purchase and learned that the listing was held by a group of survivalists that may or may not have been likely to want me for a neighbor.

I asked and asked, but the pool was pretty small. Winter is slim pickings. I kept looking and waiting for the onset of spring.

In February, I drove back out to Sandpoint to enjoy a bit of a vacation with a purpose. I wanted to clear my head from work, enjoy some cold weather, sip some beers at Eichardts, meet with Tom at CM Brewster, and peek at a few semi-interesting listings that maybe had potential.

I took a different route into town, turning off I-90 at Spokane and following HWY-2 through Priest River and into town from the West. The scenery was, as always, absolutely stunning. I was also amazed to see a number of huge mill operations; at one mill there was an area which I'd estimate at over 20 acres in size covered with de-barked logs stacked almost 2 stories high. Got wood?

While in town, I started asking folks about any interesting places they might know of for sale. I got into a number of conversations with Doug, who bartends and serves at Eichardts. Notably, Doug has been working with his wife and friends building a house for his family built out of hybrid bricks - huge lightweight bricks cast of concrete and pulped wood fiber. He said:

Have you looked West of town? I know I've seen some realty signs on Carr Creek road for Widmer, or Windermere, or whatever... and it's a nice area. I keep seeing the signs 'cause that's where I'm building; we've got a spot up near the end of the road.

As it happens, one of the listings I wanted to peek at was West of town up Carr Creek road. It was a Southebys listing for "Luxury Vacant Land" with great views marked at $55,000. The next morning, I drove out to see what the area was like.

Learning About Buying Land

It's been awhile since I last posted anything, mostly just due to my busy schedule and general low-priority of "blogging". I'm sure you can relate...

Now that I'm back here, I had a bit of a chuckle about my posts regarding "my" new land on Maker's Way. To bring you up to speed; I was all set to close on this property. I had set contingencies - septic perc, site evaluation for well water, access to power, verified line of sight to satellite for internet - which were all met.

The property was situated with a clear line of sight to the Southern sky for internet access, Northern Lights had power less than 30 feet from the property edge, the soil drained at a proper rate for septic approval, satellite and local imaging verified that the property had a good access to water at about 175 feet of drilling depth.

So, what's the punchline, you ask?

In mid-2007 there were a handful of lawsuits regarding deeded-access insured by local title companies on simmilar parcels in Bonner County. These lawsuits put the title companies in a position where they were trying hard to limit their future liability. In the past, the title company I was working with had insured access to other parcels on the same private roadway (Maker's Way), but in the new paradigm they would not insure access as a part of my title insurance.

As the last guy on a private road, this put me in a position of potentially being blocked from accessing the land by any one of the owners whose property I would traverse between me and the county road. Awkward. I asked the seller to record deeded access or right-of-way with the neighboring owners and offered to extend the closing for as many months as this process might take. They declined. Either I could buy right now with no guarantee of access, or the deal was off.

As such, I decided to walk and see what else God might have in mind.

I thought about taking down my posts about the Maker's Way parcel. But instead, I think I'll leave them up as a part of the larger saga that will unfold as I keep looking and ultimately begin building.