Can I have $144,000?

[Narrock]

http://www.golyon.com/Search/PropDetail ... rice%20ASC

That's exactly what we'd love to get. No annoying moronic neighbors, no road noise, lots of wildlife around, less than 10 minutes from the freeway. This parcel is so "me."

[Arlos]

That's a lot like the place my grandmother used to live, just she was a bit outside Grass Valley. She had neighbors, but each parcel was like 10-15 acres, so they weren't real near. My grandparents bought the property, then lived in a camper trailer for a year while my grandfather worked (with contractors, obviously, but he worked on it full time himself too) on building the house. The story I have mentioned about idiot kids firing rifles without watching what was downrange and nearly killing my brother was at that house there.

Was a cool place to go to on visits, would go wandering through the forest and brush on the property, climbed what trees were actually climbable, etc. We'd go up there for Christmas and such and play in the snow and such.

Unfortunately, we had to give the place up and sell it, ultimately. My grandfather died in 84, and my grandmother lived there on her own for years, but she was a lifelong smoker. In her 70s, she had a progressive string of micro-strokes that ultimately ended up working out to be about the same as a bad case of advanced alzheimers, and we had no choice but to put her into an assisted care living facility. She had pension funds and savings and such, but the price was so high, we had to sell the house to be able to pay for it the rest of the time until she passed away.

Anyway, it's a nice idea and a nice concept, but the isolation does get a bit much at times, I can speak from experience. heh. Having a town right nearby to go into is nice.

-Arlos

[Narrock]

Grass Valley is gorgeous. I deliver propane to a retailer in Nevada City, and you have to drive through Auburn and Grass Valley to get there, on Hwy 49. I'd love to live there, but it's too far of a commute to my domicile. This 10-acre parcel we're looking at is only about 5-6 minutes further of a commute from where we are now. I'd love to build a home on the property, but man... if I had to finance the land and a construction loan, it's very expensive. Maybe we could get the land and put a small manufactured home on it to live in temporarily. Decisions, decisions.

[Arlos]

Yep, her place was right off Highway 49 a few miles before Grass Valley. Smith Road, I think it was. As kids, we used to keep an eye out for a hotel called the Dew Drop Inn on the right side of the road to let us know we were really close. It's been many years since I went up that way, though, so I have no idea if it's still there.

And as for building a house, yah, it's pricy, but I imagine the satisfaction of living in a home you helped build with your own two hands, and is laid out exactly like you want it is pretty nice.

-Arlos

[Narrock]

I don't remember seeing the Dew Drop Inn, but I see lots of cheesy motels on the side of the road on hwy 49. I listen to real estate shows every weekend, and listen to the news about 12 hours a day lol. Real estate, although it has temporary upward spikes, is prejected to continue on a downward trend throughout the remainder of the year. Maybe that parcel will be $120,000 in 6 months.