My landlord died on Monday. (we've rented for 7 years)

I'm not sure what kind of life insurance he had or whether or not the house will be repossessed by the bank or if his sons will try to maintain the house and allow us to continue renting. (one son is a drunk, the other just got out of prison last year)

Here's the dilemma: I found a home today that is gorgeous. It's a farm house that sits on 6.5 acres of land, four bedrooms, two baths, I can keep all my pets and they're allowed to roam free. There's even a pond on the property that's fully stocked with fish. All for $850.00 per month.

Should I stay at my current house and wait and see what happens or go ahead and move? The lease for the new house is three years so I know that for at least three years it'll be fine. With the old house, I don't know if I could be evicted next week.

What would you do?

I don't know about the legalities of your situation, but, if it was me, I would move. I like the sound of the house you were looking at, and I don't like putting myself in a position where something as serious as where I live is in someone else's hands.

Btw, welcome aboard.

Move, of course.  But.....why not BUY???

As long as you are not locked into a lease at your present location, I'd say go for the new place.  Sounds too good to be true, though.  Are you sure that pond isn't stocked with something that crawls out at night and eats pets and tenants?[:D]

Move!  Your potential landlords are both people who could be in need of quick money.  This is not to say that they are bad people.  Their present positions may compel them to do things not in your interest.  The deal that is opened to you sounds very good.  good luck  bybon

Gosh, I have to log in again just to post.

Thank you to the people in chat who explained this to me. I was a member of the old AR15 board before it changed formats.

Okay, there are setbacks to living on this farm. I'd have to give up my high speed cable connection. There's no cable out there and I'd have to get DirectTv. It's on well water. The house itself is really nice with a wraparound porch and it's been freshly painted and insulated, but it *is* an old house so I'm sure there'll be problems that arise with it.

It's in a tiny little town in Northwest, Ga called White. There isn't even a grocer in that town. The nearest one is about 15 miles. It's close to I-75 though and my job is just off 75.

I'd love to purchase a home, but the wife took me through the wringer and I had to file bankrupty two years ago. HOWEVER, at the end of this lease I should be able to buy something for sure.

Thanks for all the feedback and the welcome to the new board.

I would agonize over this for, oh, 20 nanoseconds.  Then move, after giving whatever notice is required under your state law or any agreement that you signed.  Many leases provide that the same terms apply on a month-to-month basis upon expiration of the lease period, which could be years back.

Your downside staying where you are is pretty significant.  While they may want you to stay now (cash flow), it may be up for sale before you know it.  Do you want to deal/move on their terms or your own?

[b][size=4]Buy the farm![/size=4][/b] I mean that in a good way.[:)]
The sons sound like bad news.

coyote3

Just for kicks I'll offer a differing opinion. One way to tell if a kid is destined for a life of crime if if he'll take a marshmellow now, or wait and take two. These sound like one marshmellow guys and you might be able to strike a quick deal with them. Be creative...

Get a good lyer, admit nothing, deny everthing, make counter accusations.

If you have never lived on a farm you don't yet know all the shit you gonna need to live rural. No snow plows are gonna get to you the driveway. You gotta have a small tractor lots of equipment, heavy, etc.

Remember in the country free roaming pets are called tasty snacks by preditors vehicles call them road kill and are targets of any neighbor who sees your animals looking sideways at thier livestock.  If you can't control your animals they will not last long.  2-3 yrs is good life span for a dog and months is good for a farm cat. Don't get too attatched.

Other than that you can buy something for $850/month the interest rates are so low now.

Sounds like a pretty cool place. when you moving in. Oh and when is the AR15.com shoot out at your place?



Six

If the name on the lease is the dead landlord, you no longer have a lease.  I doubt any state law can enforce a contract with a dead man.  Your deal was with the person who had his name on the lease and signed it.  Not with the house or it new owner/operators.
Given the way things are in the world right now, I think that a small farm in a small town sounds real nice.  Get yourself some elbow room and you won't be sorry.


[chainsawkill]

move to the house, and if you can make this a "lease option" and in five years give the owners some money and start paying a mortgage instead of rent. the money you give them as well as a percentage of what youv'e payed all along will be the down payment.

You can get DirectPC. They have a two way VSAT system now (doesn't use the phone line for upstream--Tx direct to the satellite). Pricey, though!

The Hun says MOVE NOW, work out the details later! [>]:)]

It's a sign!.........MOVE!

I agree with everyone else...

I pay 1200 mo for a 2000 sq ft 4-bedroom APT... yeah Its one of a kind here in Phoenix but still! I can't piss off my porch at night (the cholo's will shoot at me) and I worry contantly about my guns...

That right there is ALL you need to know.

The house will QUICKLY end up in probate court, you will receive an eviction notice, and the brothers will plunder the building looking to quickly convert it into cash as they step over their fathers body to cash out ASAP.

Make a move NOW. Get the brothers (in writing) to release you from your lease, and get the heck outta Dodge City my friend.

As a CPA, I've helped to administrate estates where there was a fair amount of $$ and property. It gets REAL ugly.

Shit. Do what phii9 said.

For $850 a month that's a mortgage on a decent house up here in rural Michigan.  I just sold a farm on 40 acres for $170k.  I have the house we lived in right next door for sale for 140K on 4 acres.  Room for a 200 yard range out back.  Clear some trees and make it 300 yards.  It's a buyers market right now.

What do you do for a living?

You ain't left yet?
Agree with the previous posts.  You no longer have a legal lease.  Don't wait for the eviction letter.  Haiyaku out of there now and settle into your rural bliss.
Five years ago I dropped a good job and we fled the rat race in LaLa Land and bought a bit of land in semi-rural Virginia with a heavily stocked pond (DAMN-free fishing any time is fun!).  Then we I built the Boss her dream house.  Best damn decision I ever made.  It is really neat to wake up in the morning, get your coffee and go out on the deck and see two deer grazing just a few yards away on the water's edge.
Don't worry about the high speed broadband.  Take the move now and get the satellite service or wait for the cable to come to you...it will eventually.
Good luck and Happy New Year!
[beer]

Crimminy, It's Northwest GA, not the outback!

The most dangerous "predator" is likely to be a skunk.  Seriously, at worst maybe a fox.  

You will likely not get more that a few snowsorms a year, and only once a decade will it be bad enough to keep you home more than a day and that assumes you don't have a 4X4 (Unlikely in NW GA.).

I'd chime in that this sounds like a wonderful opportunity.  Even if you like your current home a lot, I have to agree that the sons sound like 'neer-do-well's who will very likely take exactly the course of action garandman suggests and you will then have to find a new place on less favorable terms.

My one concern is that you didn't mention if you or the landlord would be responsible for keeping up the land.  It wouldn't be too bad if the landlord provides a tractor, but if he expects you to maitain that sized lot you're looking at a $10-12K Kubota.

Oh yeah,  Well and septic take about 15 seconds to get used to, DTV kicks ass, and I can deal with a 56K modem.

Get the farm! I'm looking for property up in New England and touch anything less than $1,200 pr month and that's for 1/3 acre.

I wouldn't move out unless you can somehow get a refund on the year and a half rent payments you made in advance! (hint, hint)

J/K...I would probably move like everyone else.

Shame on you, these 2 lost lambs are victims of this very kind of insensitivity and doubt. To think that they might remove things from a house that is in reality thiers is not helping to make them better members of society. I would instead offer that what is needed is a group hug. NOT
Move, move now, if you feel bad send the widow(?)a check for a portion of the rent as a condolence.

BUY THE FARM!!!!

Too late, the landlord bought it first![}:D]

gods...... tell me you didnt just suggest that? besides costing a fortune. you have to pay for the dish, sacrifice 2 USB ports (one uplink and one downlink modem) have a proffesional insall (no choice, FCC mandate) as your haveing a highpower transmitter installed on your roof.if it goes out of whack you must have the pro come realign it. 199 a pop. not to mention the incompetent florida based techsupport (it used to be in Augusta, GA at Sitel. Peachorchered road, moved it for some reason) the techs at the Network Ops Center (NOC) cannot keep their fingers out of the system, the "tweak" (read BREAK) it daily. you get speeddrops, total cutoffs(when the screwup the gateways) IRC apps dont work great, truly sucks for gaming. 500+ms ping time. they do admit it is not good for gaming on their site.

i used to work for them if you havent guess it by now. do not go near them you will be truly sorry. also they are damn near impossible to get money back from if they screwup your bill.
i was one of the smartest and best ones there(of the lvl 1's & 2's) due to the long term computer experience i have over most other people my age. thet pissed me off to many times. they couldnt figure out who i was to send i customer who wanted a supervisor to. a real supervisor (he was gay) the buddy techs (lvl2 techs) or the imitation super of the day (some yoyo who got to talk to only irate customers) the did this change 20-30 times... in a month!

Gilat has a 2way i think, have no knowlege of them besides the same ping time problem (i canna break the laws of physics jim!)


NOVA5 - Ex DPCTech.

Before buying my current house, I used to rent a place on 60 acres out in the sticks roughly 20+ miles from my workplace. Most of the commute was rural, and I loved it. Sadly, the owner was elderly. Her daughter was breaking up some of the land to a couple road side lots. The writing was on the wall. I was ready to buy anyway, but the decision became easier.

Cons: here in central NY, we can get a bit of snow. I hired a local guy to plow me out when I needed it, which wasn't often as both myself and the Mrs. have 4WDs. Probably not much of a problem in Ga. I use my ATV to plow me out now.

Well water. This place had plenty of it, but also had more than its fair share of iron. Most wells in this area had very hard water. I really lucked out with my current place. Wells have also been known to go dry during a dry summer.

Stores: Yep we were 10+ miles from the nearest grocery store. You simply plan better and stock up. You simply shop after you leave work.

No cable? Get a dish. I don't have a computer at home as I can use em at work. It doesn't break my heart not to waste time on a computer during weekends. There is other stuff I'd rather be doing.

In my opinion, country living can't be beat. Yesterday afternoon, after a short day at work, I started up my ATV and took a trip up my hillside to remove some treestands. Deer tracks all over the place. Might do some coyote hunting this weekend. Ah, country living is rough...

$850!!! Do I even make that in a month? :)