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Young Couple Buys Ranch with
Government Money
Kirk and Tina had a dream. They wanted
a ranch of their own. But with the rising cost of land and the
demands of raising three young children, the possibility of
realizing their dream often seemed remote.
Kirk, 29, grew up
on a ranch. He earned a degree in Agriculture, and now works for a
construction company. Tina teaches Spanish at their local high
school, in South Texas.
From the time they
got married, they had their eye out for available ranchland. They
investigated financing, and they learned they would need a down
payment of at least ten percent.
Most area banks
required twenty percent. On top of the purchase price, they would
need to finance any improvements, equipment, and livestock. If the
property they selected didn't have a home already built on it, they
would need to finance construction of a house. Despite the apparent
obstacles, they never gave up hope.
Tina spent months
researching on the Internet. She followed up on every lead for
ranches and financing. Finally, she came across a reference to a
program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through the Farm
Service Agency.
The program, called
the Direct Farm Ownership Program, is designed to support and
encourage people just like Kirk and Tina to settle in rural areas
and either farm or ranch, or both.
Immediately, Tina
contacted FSA and they completed an application. In order to
qualify for the funding, they first had to be rejected by
conventional funders. That part was easy. Tina simply explained her
need to local banks, and they wrote her a letter verifying she would
not qualify under their guidelines.
Although the
program is available to all Americans, there is a set-aside of funds
earmarked especially for minority applicants. Because Tina is
Hispanic, they qualified under the set-aside, and were approved in
the summer of 2003. With a guarantee of funding, they began
looking in earnest for the ranch of their dreams. Through one of
those strokes of perfect timing, they learned from friends of a
ranch that was soon going to be put up for sale, but had not yet
been listed.
The ranch was 140
acres, and included a frame house. The house had been built in the
1930’s, then added onto twice. It had fallen into some disrepair,
but it was in good enough condition to merit renovation. Three
middle-aged siblings had inherited the property upon the deaths of
their parents. None of them lived close enough to the ranch to want
to keep it, but they had grown up there, and they wanted it to go
into the hands of a family. They quickly accepted Kirk and Tina's
offer.
Working closely
with helpful staff officers at the Farm Service Agency, Tina and
Kirk structured their financing into two loans. They used the
acquisition loan to buy the property and finance a portion of the
repairs on the house. That loan had a term of forty years, at an
interest rate of 3.75%. They also took out an operational loan for
seven years at 5.25%.
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Kirk and Tina and
their family
Tina at the entrance
to their new home
When
they closed on the property, the real work began. They made the
money stretch by doing a substantial portion of the repairs on the
house themselves. Kirk’s construction skills, and his relationship
with vendors, were a definite benefit. Everyone in the family,
including the children, helped with the renovations. Tina sums it
up, “Essentially, we just gutted the house and rebuilt it from the
studs out.”
That
work took several months, but finally, in September 2004, the family
moved into their new home. For all three children, life on a ranch
is a wonderful adventure. They have room to roam, and opportunities
to make a real contribution to the family as they help their parents
put things in order.
Their
son, now 12, is working on business ideas of his own. He plans to
participate in a youth business opportunity program of FSA, which
allows young people from ages 10 to 20 to borrow up to $5,000 to
start a business. And Tina’s father has taken responsibility for
one field, where he has already planted a large garden to keep the
family in vegetables. Tina laughs, “He’s out there all the time on
the old tractor that came with the house. He’s having so much fun.”
Meanwhile, Kirk has rebuilt some of the fences on the property, and
has moved his three horses into their new home. His pride in their
ranch, and in his wife, is evident as he talks about their new
life. “You know, I’m the one who knows about ranching, and cattle
and horses. I know we can make this a wonderful place. But it
never would have happened if Tina hadn’t been so determined, and
gone out and found this program.”
For more information,
to go:
www.NewAmericanLandRush.com
2008
(c) Live Oak Tree, LLC
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