We didn't have a formal counter offer waiting for us from the real estate agent. Instead, the guy who owns the land said he'd take $1500 an acre or entertain cutting out a smaller parcel for us.

It turns out he recognized our names, and realizes we are just starting out doing the farming thing. He said he wants to cut us a deal since he likes us. Unfortunately, we still can't afford more than we offered on the 33 acres.

AJ and I walked the parcel tonight. We thought about just making an offer on the 18 acres immediately behind our place. AJ really wants to protect the pond out in the middle of the field. After looking at it, however, we realized that much land is more than we want (or need) to take on at the moment.

After some consideration, we are going to come back with an offer to buy the weird dog-legged piece that would make our land a larger rectangle with more frontage on the highway, and some on Redinger Road. The total acreage probably equals less than 4, but it's enough for a Dexter cow or two, some apple trees, grapes, and a large market garden. In fact, it's more in line with what we have time to maintain, and what we can afford.

The size also means a smaller loan payment that will allow us to continue fixing up the house. This excites me mostly because I've been working on slowly finding the fixtures we need to remodel. We'll buy them as we can afford them, and save a bunch on interest by not needing to take out a remodeling loan.

I'm much more pleased about this scenario than I was about the prospect of so much land and debt. It's also nice to find out our neighbor really doesn't only look at his pocketbook, and likes us to boot. So, keep your fingers crossed for us, eh?