The Second Piece of Land...

A few days ago, Nunu went back out to the land to see if he could make a deal on the neighboring piece of property. To give you an idea, the first piece of property that we made a deal on is about 138' x 110' and the deal was made for 180,000 mzn (about $6,000). This second piece of property Nunu originally thought was smaller and therefore, he thought it would be much cheaper. But upon measuring and finding out the actual property boundaries they found it to be about 128'x 118'... so very close in size the first property. So then I didn't know what to expect, but kept thinking they would ask even more money.

Nunu checking out the second property.

Nunu on first property.

Nunu on the other side of the first property.

While Nunu was gone, I got a text from him saying they wanted 100,000 (about $3,400) and something weird about a mango tree... what? I was pretty excited about the price, but had to wait for him to get home to get all the details.

A few hours later, in walks my sweaty husband. What a guy to do all this walking, crazy bus taking and standing out in the blazing sunshine negotiating the price of land!

I give him about 30 seconds to drink water and sit down... if even and then I pounce! “Tell me everything! How much? What about a tree?! Tell me, tell me!!!” This is my attempt to contain myself and my excitement!

Apparently the land was owned by a few people. One lady didn't want to sell the land because she wanted to build something for her grandchildren. The guy who is building the fence, aka the Negotiator, was also there and Nunu said he was the one who was making the deals, saying to the lady... “You aren't going to build them a house here, when?!” Nunu was ready to walk away, he isn't about trying to pry land out of people’s hands, but the Negotiator convinced her that she was better off selling. But she really, really wanted to keep her mango tree, because her grandchildren like mangos so much. I guess the tree is like 10' or so in from the front property line and she wanted to notch out the land, just around the tree.

I'm not even sure what I would have done or how I would have reacted to this, but my husband being cool, calm and collected just kept going trying to settle on a price for the land she was willing to sell. With the help of the Negotiator, they got the price down to 85,000 (about $2,835)!! Then Nunu offered to give an extra 5,000 (about $165) for the mango tree and the woman didn't hesitate in saying yes!

In the end we made a deal to purchase the land WITH the mango tree for 90,000 (about $3,000)!

We were also debating if we should try to buy the other neighboring property. But Nunu didn't realize that it wasn't the same length from front to back as the other properties, rather 30 – 40% shorter. I guess someone else owns the front little chunk. Also for the smallest piece of all three properties, they said they wanted 200,000! I was confused but Nunu told me now that they sold another land, they have money and food, so they aren't eager to sell. Maybe next year if someone else doesn't buy it they would ask us if we were still interested and be willing to sell it for less. But only time will tell.

So now that we know the prices of the land, it's much easier to come up with a budget for the money we are trying to raise!

Our goal is to raise $12,000 to:

• fully pay for two pieces of land (about 138'x 228') & legalize them

• clear the properties & put up a simple fence (to show ownership) 

• build a simple guard shed (about 25 sq. ft.) and latrine

• dig/build septic tank, build a water tower, begin process to get water & electricity

• transportation for Nunu to oversee these things

Remember the money we raise up until Mother's Day is going to be matched dollar for dollar (up to $6,000), so while $12,000 might sound like a lot, $6,000 sounds a lot better!! Have you considered giving in honor of your mother?

So far we have raised $750 which is $1,500 with the match! That's 12.5% of our goal and $5,250 left to raise! 

And don't forget that for donations made before May 1^st if you email me your mother's name and I'll type it into the document shown below!