| We
rebuilt the easement road, as it was just a grass path. This was a very
big task. The easement ran between our neighbors land. These were locals
that inherited the land from their father. They did not have much knowledge
of the land or of the deals their father had made with the man I bought
the property from.
They did not
want anything to do with me. I was an outsider whom they believed should
not be bothering them. I had much anger and resistance from them. I had
known the son previously and had always gotten along with him until he
found out I was going to be his neighbor.
After many
conversation with him and his sisters they realized I had there interest
in mind along with mine. They also realized legally I had all the proper
papers.
It was a big
help that I was always respectful when speaking with them. I knew local
customs for speaking. Always say good afternoon or good day, speak slowly
and listen to what they have to say. It also helped that I knew the history
of the land. It made them feel I cared about the land. In the end they
agreed to the bulldozers for the road as long as I stayed away from a grave
site they believed was where their aunt was buried. Also the son needed
to be told when the trucks would be there so he could watch over it all.
Fair enough.
This whole
process made me realize that having all the proper papers didn’t always
matter. If they wanted to fight me in court it would have been years before
I could have built. It would have been much better had the easement road
already been built before I bought the property.
We started
to build the smallest building on the plans. This was due to the fact we
paid off the land with the money from selling the house. This was not a
wise decision. We had never owed such a large amount and did not like it
hanging over our heads so we paid it off.
We also wanted
to remove any chance the land could be taken away if we found ourselves
unable to make a few payments in the future as it was a 20 year loan.
But what it
also did was use up all our money that would of helped us build more buildings.
This in turn would have helped us pay off the property from the collecting
of rent. Instead we paid off all family loans and all other loans with
the money from the house.
Now all we
could build was the small office space we had drawn away from everything
else. It was a 12 by 12 foot building. Clearly not enough room for us to
live. I spoke with the building inspector and got verbal permission to
build it a little bigger.
They liked
me. It had to be because they did not do this often. They said when I could,
I had to resubmit the plans as a revision which I did six months later.
I ended up with 3 times the building that was on the plans and now that
building is on the market for $595,000.
A year later
when we finished that house (office) and moved into it, we started to build
one of the real houses on the plans. There were two houses and an office
on the plan. This second home was started by my father and us. Three quarters
into it he decided he wanted to move to the states so we decided to take
it over. We got a lone on a half acre of the land. A land loan. We had
subdivided one parcel of land into three separate pieces.
You are allowed
to do this once a year. If you choose to subdivide more than 3 parcels
per year it has to go thru senate hearings. I believe this is where the
payoffs start. The 6 acres was actually 3 separate parcel numbers. Three
separate tax bills. The one parcel with two acres is the one we separated.
We have houses on two of the newly separated pieces. The other piece is
just land. This is the piece we have tied up in a land loan. This gave
us the money to almost buy out my father and finish the house. Now that
house is on the market for $945,000.
This is the
short version of the story. The long version is two boring to tell. It
entails endless moment of patience. Endless moments of waiting for revised
house plans, people to show up and do what they told us they would do weeks
earlier; waiting for weather, insects, people and product.
All the while
getting to watch the ocean and mountains, smell the trade winds, hike the
land and find all the little treasures we found. But most of all we got
to dream. Dream of all the times ahead and laugh about all the times gone
by.
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It
is where all the legal papers are that record who owned what and when.
This is where title search people do their research. I had never done this
before but there are employees there to assist you. Many people that do
this for a living were also very helpful. One file lead to another. I found
it very stimulating to find the names of those that had come and gone before
me. I love reading history and this history had personal meaning to me.
I even found out where grave sites were. I found info on the land that
long time neighbors did not know. I found out they called the area Williams’s
retreat which had special meaning to me as I wanted to build a spiritual
retreat center and my last name was Williamson. I also found out that my
easement was legal and even survey by the government.
