Our new home!!

Hey Jen
You can get grants in NY State for restoration of old barns. And/or tax credits. Check on the internet and don't give up. It is worth preserving!

http://nysparks.state.ny.us/grants/programs/barns.asp

Look what i found ; )

Ahhh Jen ... Knew it'd kick in ...

Good, good, good .. for you kiddo!

Now, get after it .. ASAP !!

- Magpye

Oh Jen im so happy for you-looks like you will have lots of room and i can just see the FUN you will have there and to me FUN is the most important ingredient to LIFE!!!

cant wait to see more pics!

***love the pool of course!

Jen that is awesome, now you wont have to stress over covering the entire restoration costs. You know you want to do it.... So go for it....

Your girls are beautiful....

YAY!!

Wow Jen, you have found yourself a beautiful place. Congrats on your new home! The girls looked pretty content even if you did wake them up and their eyes look like they are throwing sparks at ya, heehee.

Jen, that barn is fabulous! I recently found out mine was built from piece goods around 1977. I would be better off to knock mine down and start over. LOL Yours looks solid and very well put together. I think it looks really promising!

CONGRATS! Looks like heaven to me!

Its unreal how peaceful this place really is. I have a baby monitor set up in the barn because i can't see it unless i walk in to the bathroom.
Every once in a while i hear a car drive by, but mostly i hear the wind (sometimes have to turn it off when it gets to howling) and i hear birds, constantly.
Last night was really freaky because a band of coyotes (i assume) we're on the move and they were screaming, it rattled me. I kept imagining a rabid coyote hurling itself at my window, breaking it and attacking me. Silly, eh?

okay, heres the bedroom. It definatley needs some personal touches but that will come in time. Thankfully i was able to salvage the bedroom set!! The afghan is rather loud, but the previous owner left it in the closet and it comes in handy, lol

and the foyer

Lovely - hope you create many wonderful memories of happy, loving days living in your new home!!!

Anita

Jen, get a copy of this book, it's a classic!
Eric Sloane's An Age of Barns: An Illustrated Review of Classic Barn Styles and Construction
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0896585654/qid=1132173676/sr=8-2/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-9133147-4414461?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

MsJen....I am so happy for you...Now bundle up.....

Hap

I think I have a barn book, it may be the one dairus mentioned. I will look for it and will send it if you'd like. D-mail me.
The bedroom furniture is lovely. But I was really impressed with the flying buttress. The construction looks so sound. I am guessin that barn was built about 1905.
I have worked with the local historical society, the historic preservation commission and the county's archives for many years. So I am as excited as Magpye that you are keeping the barn.

I was out there for about an hour today supervising the unloading of 200 bales of hay bud didnt have my camera with me. The inside of this barn is massive. I was looking straight up and the ceiling almost looks distorted because it so dark and so far away. I promised on the next sunny day i'll take better pics of it.
Woodspirit, i'd love the book!! I'll dmail you
Jen

congrats Jen. We too just moved into a home in Vancleve. We closed on the 1rst. It got no damage from the hurricane so I don't guess I'll ever have to evacuate again lol. Saw about making mortgage payment on another post. I flat out told mine the place was totaled and when the insurance paid off they would get paid off lol. I haven't sent them a dime nor has the insurance sent me a dime either. Good luck in your new home(((Hugs)))

Donna,
Good to see you posting again!! I was so sad to hear that you had a total loss. Your place was beautiful!!

Now that we've closed on this house, i dont know for sure that i will continue to make payments, lol. I would just love to have some sort of closure.

Donna! It is so great to see you posting!

I am very happy to read that you both have new homes and that you are finding a way to move on and enjoy life again.

MsJen, do you mean not make payments on the new house or one you lost in the hurricane?

Jen, your new home and barn look wonderful. Am sure you will enjoy. We will miss you here though and think come summer you will suffer from tropical withdrawal. You can come visit!

LOL ws, the one she can't live in o' course. Not like she can keep payin' on two.

woodspirit, even tho we cant live in the home in ms, i've continued to make mortgage and insurance payments.
found out today that we were denied fema assistance, totally bums me out : (

Maybe you should file bancruptcy in Ms?

I imagine this storm is going to force alot of people to do that. Not sure how they will be affected by the new bankruptcy laws tho. Not even sure if we will be able to because our income was well sufficient enough to pay our bills.

I hope that my insurance company will do whats right. Right now, i'm just disgusted with the whole thing. People who had no insurance, car or home, are being catered to by FEMA. If you had a car that was totaled and you had no insurance, fema takes care of it. If you didnt have insurance and you had damages, fema took care of you. Case in point, my DIL sister lived in an apartment that was damaged, she had no insurance. Fema paid her the initial $2000, gave her $2358 for rental assistance and then GAVE her a check for $8000.00 for contents. So far shes ahead about $13,000. Shes working on settling on her car now. Where is the fairness in that?

Anyway, i'm not going to dwell on it. I'm still so happy to be alive and have no regrets about being a responsible citizen. Its a pain in the butt to have to fight with the insurance company, almost a slap in the face, but i stilll feel good knowing that we were insured. IF my insurance company falls short then i can appeal to fema to beg for a readjustment. At this point i've thrown my hands up in the air and know that i'll get through this without them. I've never asked my government, state or federal, for anything. Guess now i know why. The system isnt designed to help the middle class.
I'm so aggravated by the people that are coming out ahead in this...a natural disaster should not enable people to live a better life than they had prior to the disaster.

sometimes insurance companies need to get a letter from your lawyer. Did your policy survive? If you have it, you can have an attorney look it over and see if they can get away with refusing anything you claim.
Some of the lower-income folks will end up in better housing than they had before because so many of them had very poor housing and government housing has strict standards. But yes, everything is being put on the middle class.Remember when Leona Helmsley bragged about not paying taxes? Of course, she tried to take too much advantage, charging to her hotels that went to her home and they got her. LOL.

My adjuster is *supposed* to give me figures tomorrow....we'll see, eh?

I had/have my policy in a fire/water (lol) proof box....everything in it survived. Time will tell what will happen.

I dont' mind doing whats right. I never had my sights set on coming out ahead. Just want to find some closure to this all. I'm sure i'll feel much better when all of this is over. Everything that we've done has been out of pocket.
I sometimes wish i could be the type to stand there with my hand out expecting my goverment to take care of me.

How did you end up moving to NY?

I would kill for that barn! Awesome! Beautiful new place! Did you have to install the stall fronts? The girls look very happy!

Hi Jen. I just followed you from a chicken thread. Your new place is wonderful! It brings
back the excitement I felt when we got our little farm in 1997. I would like to hear how
you went from hurricane area to NY state! And with your horses? (gorgeous barn!!!)
Tam

After my breast cancer diagnosis in '04 and the radiation that followed i started analyzing my life.
I quickly realized that i couldnt stand MS, hated what it had become, hated what i had become. We started looking, meaning dreaming, about dec or so. Our search area was so broad, Arkansas (thought that would be heaven and bought 11 acres in march, i think) Kentucky, Wyoming, Texas, etc. My searches always seem to bring me back to NY. We started working with a mortgage company in June or July, found a farm we wanted, had his parents look at it and made an offer. It was approved the thurs or friday before katrina hit. A few days after the storm, i talked to my brother who had looked at the farm and he informed me that the wiring was awful, the kitchen had one cabinet and the foundation was crumbling. i managed to touch base with my real estate agent and he told me about this place was on the market. We back out of the previous one, actually wasnt hard because we couldnt get the surburban ruling that we needed and the rest is history.
They begged us to come up and take early possession just to get us out of gulfport, but i had so many things that needed my attention down there.
We made our official move on Oct 5th and moved in here on Oct 10th. We finally closed on Nov. 2nd.
The barn came as is. The owners prior to the one we bought it from had horses, but they havent lived here in 10 years. They were a little dusty, but easy enough to scrub and spread lime.
We hired a guy to ship the horses for us. I think they started their journey on Sept 14th or so. Our inlaws knew a lady that had a son that boards horses, so he offered to take them in until we could get up here.

Wow! What a journey you've had. Takes a lot of courage to follow your dream.
I predict you'll never regret it. Looking forward to seeing more of your place and
hearing how you settle in!

Tam

MSJen, I am sorry for the circumstances that caused you to evaluate your life but so glad that it happened at a time you were still able to make a change.

I am so happy to know that you are where you want to be and with those you want to be with.... Those two things seem to be what helps us accept the rest. Wishing you the best that Thanksgiving has to bring....

Did I tell you that your girls are beautiful. I love horses. Never have been on one but I have always admired their beauty and grace.

Casey

The strongest thought that kept coming to me was that if/when i died i didnt want it to be in a place i hated. I know thats morbid, but i just couldnt think of anything more awful.


I finally talked to my insurance company. The house wasnt totaled, $25,000+ in damages, but about $7000 less than payoff. Silly, eh?

Ms Jen: Will you repair the house and then sell it? I hope you can get enough for it to cover everything and be done with it.
Why did you dislike that area so much? I don't know much about that region.

Or could you clear the lot and just sell the land?

Wow, you are the third person that I know of from Katrina that have been told the house was not totaled and the amount was close to 10,000.00 less then owed. One of these house's doesn't have a roof and was under 7 feet of water for over a week and they claim it not totaled???? I would love to know what damage is considered totaled. One of my friends requested an itemized list of the damage and estimated cost of repair from the insurance company. She is getting her own estimates from places and so far things are not adding up. FEMA also told her no to assistance too. She is retired and lives on a small retirement and SS, but owned her home outright.


I don't think that your feelings are morbid at all. When my parents were ill and I would take them outside for some fresh air (HaHa, Vegas has no fresh air) I would sit and think I dont want to come outside and stare out at someplace I hated when I am old. So we are in the plans of fixing that now.

I always figured I'd buy a large property after I retired so I'd have "time" to enjoy it all.
Well - best thing I ever did was buy this place! You only go through this life one time so
it makes no sense to put some stuff off for later. (Now that I have 9+ acres, I realize
I may need to move to a smaller place after I retire. Its a LOT of physical work to keep
it up.)

And shame on those insurance companies! As individuals, I'm sure the folks working there
are good people. But its too easy to forget your humanity when you're at a big company and
your job is on the line I suppose.

The first line of defense for any insurer when confronted with a claim is deny deny deny....before you pay money to a lawyer, check and see if your state has an insurance commissioner, and file a complaint with him/her. This forces the insurance co to provide multiple man hours and paper copies of all the relevant material and they HATE doing it. This could get you a higher settlement. Tell your agent that is what you plan to do, and see if they come through with a better offer. If they don't, go ahead and file the complaint. Get a separate appraisal from a professional and submit it if it is higher than the ins. co offered. Be a real PIA, they might just pay you to go away. (30 years of experience in casualty and life insurance provided this background.)