More Property?!

I'm considering buying 120 more acres in a far away state in flyover country. My 40 acre tree farm is nice and all, but it is more expensive to live here than in the southern Midwest. This 120 acres with utilities and a 70 year old house in poor condition costs about what I paid for my clearcut 11 years ago. Plus, this property is about 3 hours from my sister and her brood. My mother is seriously considering moving near my sister too, so the bulk of my family would be within driving distance. I haven't seen my sister and her kids in about 3 years.

From numerous pictures I've seen, the property is as beautiful as deciduous woods can look in the winter. I'm used to green grass and green conifers throughout the year. More than used to -- I like it. The property is both flat and rugged. Apparently the flat portions, about 20 to 30 acres, are in pasture and that is where the house and some crummy outbuildings are. Everything else slopes which I consider perfect. If I want to live on flat land, I'll move to Illinois. But I don't, so I'm not.

Here is a nice picture of a rock band along the western side of the property:



And here is a picture of the pasture. I think this is looking towards the west.



The property is adjacent to national forest and is very secluded. It's 10 miles away from a small town and about 35 miles away from decent sized town with an airport and a university.

If I bought it, I'd have to really watch my expenses to handle the additional mortgage, taxes, and house insurance. That's the way it was when I first bought my tree farm, but my salary increased after a couple of years and the extra expenses were no big deal. Nowadays, I know my salary won't go up anymore. It's been stagnant for the last several years. I turn 45 this year. A few years ago, I said that I'd retire at 45. Even after buying this property, I still could retire soon, but I definitely would have to sell my house and maybe my tree farm. The house I don't care about. I'd be sad to sell my tree farm because I've worked so much on it. I'd lose the possibility of timber income in 20 years. Most likely, though, if I bought the property, I'd delay giving corporate life the finger until I paid off more of the two mortgages.

It's also possible that I could get laid off this year. I now work in the financial industry and, duh, things are shaky. If I get laid off, I'm out. I dislike my career so much now that I can't see how I could apply myself to finding a new job and to starting one. If I was laid off, I could survive as-is for a couple of years. Instead of that, though, the house would be on the market the next day.

I have a lot of things to consider. Too, I have yet to visit the property which I definitely would before making an offer. Fortunately airfare a couple weeks out isn't too bad so a quick trip across the country wouldn't be too costly. I could spend a day with my sister.