02 Purchasing a Log Cabin

Purchasing a Log Cabin and Transforming it into a Farmhouse

Purchasing a log cabin is a dream I knew I wanted. I wasn’t sure at the time I would make it a farmhouse until later. I was hoping to put it on a mountaintop, if possible. But, there were so many variables, how could we possibly make this dream a reality? We didn’t have a job, nor extra money or land to put the cabin on. I didn’t let that stop me, I knew from experience you cannot always have things in chronological order. 

My husband knew the minute I saw it by the look on my face that it was a done deal! We were going to be purchasing a log cabin and figure out it from there and worry about how later.

The cabin had a for sale sign on it so we assumed it would be acceptable to look inside of it. For eight years, two homeless people were living in this vacant cabin without electricity, plumbing, or water.

I had no idea what it would look like inside under those conditions. Not that it mattered, I knew I wanted it no matter what it looked like inside and we were going to have our new home!

We asked them if we could come inside and look around and they allowed us. It was amazingly clean; making me want it even more. See the pictures below of what the inside looked like.

Log Cabin for Sale!

The cabin was sitting on a moving trailer. We called the number on the for sale sign on the side of the cabin to see if it was still for sale. The owner stated he realized it was too expensive to haul once he put the cabin on the trailer and received moving quotes. 

Western Sizzlin had recently purchased the land and the cabin had to be moved as soon as possible. The owner needed to sell it quickly per his agreement with the Western Sizzlin since he could not afford to move it. We drove away feeling overwhelmed and not knowing what we could do.

Financing a Log Cabin

Fast forward a month later. My husband was offered a job in the area near the cabin and as part of his offer letter, he was given a sign-on bonus. We figured we could use that money to buy the cabin.

Well, most of it. We had put down a thousand dollars prior to hold the cabin and we asked the owner if we could pay most of it with the sign-on bonus and if he would take payments over the next 6 months for the rest. He agreed to hold a note for us provided we could move the cabin within 60 days.

Living in a Hotel

We lived almost a month in a hotel while trying to find a house to rent so we could find land to buy and start putting the cabin on. The window was closing on moving the cabin per our agreement with the cabin owner.

Even if we had a place or land to move it, moving it on a trailer was out of the question. The moving cost was over $30,000 to move it just a mile. The costs included electrical wires to be moved, permits, escorts, and too many other issues that I knew we could not afford.

Tearing Down a Log Cabin

We knew we had to start taking the logs down to show good faith and honor our agreement to remove the cabin in 30 days off the lot it was on. We hired the movers that moved our belongings from Georgia to Tennessee.

That decision proved to bite us in the end, very badly. More about that later.  Our main focus was to get the logs disassembled and moved; time was running out. Moved to where was the next question?

Snowstorm in TN

January of 2011 and Tennessee encountered one of its worst snowstorms in a decade! Being from the north, we have always worked in the snow which was normal for us. The same was not true for the men we hired; they were from the south and had a hard time adapting 8 hours a day working under those conditions.

It snowed so much that we needed a snow shovel to shovel the snow off the cabin. That was a daunting task in itself, to find a snow shovel in southern Tennessee!

Dismantling a Log Cabin

Visit Log Cabin Farmhouse Introduction if you haven’t read our introduction to our log cabin.

If you missed 01 Re-claimed Log Cabin, hop over to read that before going forward.

To read the next blog in this series, tearing down the cabin, can be found 03 Taking Down the Cabin.

Shop Here:

We are a participant with the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

You will not incur extra fees or charges for using the links. We only recommend items we believe in and have tried. If I personally make or sell an item, I will mention this in the post for each item or items.

Visit our Amazon Storefront!

Please subscribe:

Thank you for stopping by and reading our blog. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, please take a moment and do so. We will not sell, share, or use your contact information. We are also ad-free and will not inundate you with unnecessary emails. Click the button below to join our community and receive our newsletter.

Please see the footer for FBC Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Terms, and Conditions.