Hopeful, but sobered.

We went to look at the house today.  The location is beautiful, the tract of land is just gorgeous.  The barn is huge, and seems to be dry, though it would need some work on the doors and such to keep the animals safe from predators at night.  The smokehouse could only be used to store garden tools.  The greenhouse need two panes replaced but it otherwise in good repair and is of a decent size.  There's a little deck area, a nice pond and the stream runs alongside the property back into the woods, really lovely.

Viewing the house from the fenced paddock in front of the barn

The rear of the barn

 The greenhouse and start of the back of the property from the rear of the barn

 The front of the barn

Inside the lower level of the barn

 The second story of the barn

 The greenhouse

The house itself is charming, but the original portion of it that was a log cabin needs a good deal of work.  It would need to be re-chinked, and have insulation added, and we'd definitely want to put in a woodstove as it have fuel oil heat.  Up in the attic you can see daylight through the wood boards on the one wall!  There is definitely some termite damage visible on the beams above our heads in the basement, but I don't have the eye to tell how recent and/or extensive it is.  The basement is a wreck, not sealed up well at all.  Some of the windows need to be replaced.  We got a snowstorm here over the past 36 hours, so we couldn't very well assess the roof or the state of the ground itself. 

 Love the look of the log cabin, but not the most heat-efficient structure.  A woodstove would probably be put in that corner.  The kitchen is to the right, a large main floor bedroom is through the french doors to the left.

 The updated kitchen, on the smaller side but likely adequate given pantry space in the basement.

 From the kitchen door

 A newer half bath off of the kitchen

 Uh-oh... termites.  Looking up in the basement.

Up in the attic.. yup, that's daylight we're seeing between those boards.

We're going to return when the snow melts, with our friend who ran a home inspection business for years.  He'll be able to give us a better idea of what we're looking at in terms of cost, and whether the termite damage is bad enough that we'll have to walk away.  If we were to move forward, the seller would either have to do the repairs, or adjust the price accordingly.  We both feel hopeful about it, but the fever pitch of excitement has passed, thank goodness.  That was exhausting.