Back in February 2013 I began looking to invest some of our hard earned money on land. I happen to loathe the stock market, which I liken to a casino and the whole idea of “investing” in general. In the past, we’ve been burned by roller-coaster markets and wound up losing a lot of money to the point where we began believing we were better off stashing cash under the mattress. My real estate search began in the mountains of Mendoza, Argentina. I became enamored by the idea of how cheap land was and how much money people were making farming it. The derelict, romantic side of me said, “do it,” but as I came to discover later, that was not exactly the voice of reason. Argentina has been in turmoil for years and the dollars that go in almost never, ever come out. Investing money in a vineyard in Argentina would have certainly meant a relocation at some point and my husband and I were just not ready for that. We liked our lives in the US, we have our friends and family here, our jobs and well, I knew first hand the horrors of immigration.

Just for kicks, I began looking at land closer to us. I began to hang out at websites likeLandandfarm.com and Landwatch.com and realized that for the cost of a vineyard in Argentina I could theoretically buy land much closer to home. It was this search that led me to discover Zillow.com, a brilliant site for window shoppers with amazing functionality. As a web designer, I was very impressed by Zillow’s features and as a potential buyer became an instant fan. I guess on some level you can say I was bored and experiencing some kind of existential crisis, but let’s face it–existential crises do have their place. It’s good to shake things up in your life every so often and welcome change, and I was, most definitely looking for change.

And… I found it.

My husband thought me a little crazy when I told him I wanted to go see a farm 2 hours from our house near the Delaware border, yet, he indulged me. The plot was 46 acres and the house was old. It was an 1826 farmhouse that had been restored by an architect. It was very pretty and I tell you that I loved it–or at least the idea of it. This marked the beginning of a very strange journey. After seeing the farmhouse I kept looking. My husband and I began having discussions about money, something we had never really done and it exposed some weaknesses.

He and I had drifted apart in very significant ways. We discovered that our future visions were misaligned. He was happy with the idea of simplicity, yet his definition of it was muddled. He wanted to retire early and pay our existing house off but had no clue as to when we could conceivably stop working. What then? We built up some lofty ideas of what we could do with the 46-acre farmstead, but we knew each other. The house was truly in the middle of nowhere and at 2+ hours away from our main residence, it was unlikely to be a permanent home. In spite of our misgivings and soul-searching, we actually put in an offer. We lowballed the seller whose property was undergoing a short sale because we felt his price was too high. The guy was asking 300K for a house in an area where the highest priced house was $110K. We thought $250K was a deal, but he didn’t seem to think so. After a few arguments and confusing phone calls plus the discovery of marsh flies that flooded that area during summer months, we withdrew the offer. The house had too many strikes against it.

Unbeknownst to my husband, my house search continued. When I asked him to look at another house, we butted heads again. He thought we had decided that we were going to pay off our house and live debt free for a while. I convinced him on the premise that I had never looked at houses before and I was “having fun.” It was true for the most part, something about searching for a new place to live was thrilling. Our existing house was nice, but I was never partial to the community. Outside my house, our town had absolutely nothing going on. No culture, no art, no poetry, no nature, nothing, save for a quick 20 min ride to NYC.

The next two places we saw photographed well, but just wasn’t us.

One place was a pseudo-Swiss chalet built by a quirky guy near a mountain. It had a lot of land, but the nasty rugs, wood-paneled rooms, and 80′s roadside motel amenities horrified us. The guy also carved hideous flowers in the wood paneling and painted them bright colors. This place had a turret that served as a front entry and nice grounds complete with a natural spring lake, but the location was really off. Even though it was an hour away from Manhattan we could only get to it along Route 80, which just translated into hours stuck in traffic. The real estate agent was also a real jerk who put a lot of pressure on right away. Uhmm, no.

After the Swiss Chalet fail, I had to ask myself what was I looking for really? Some properties photographed extremely well and yet felt awful in person. I began to realize that home buying had a lot to do with gut and a certain undefinable feeling of rightness. It was certainly an uncertain science. The Swiss chalet left me feeling depressed. I knew that our future held something magnificent, but I was bummed out with the utter lack of style. The types of homes I liked, with unique architectural elements were sadly millions of dollars–millions we didn’t have. The market was flooded with homes that were less than ordinary and cost a lot of money.

I could not accept that the home of my dreams wasn’t out there so I made a little cutout and put it on my magic fridge. It read “Narcisse’s Enchanted Forest.”

I can’t really explain the madness that overcame me during March, April, and May. It was as if I couldn’t focus on anything, least of all my writing, in search of a new home. I don’t know what possessed me to go in this direction. I was a woman on a mission. I knew that our future didn’t lie in the humdrum cultural wasteland where we currently lived. I knew I was on to something and when I say go, the Aries in me doesn’t let up. My husband was baffled by this. He was resisting change with every ounce of his being.

Several times we thought of going back to the farmhouse offer. The farmhouse by this time had foreclosed and gone to auction. There was an eviction notice on the owner, who in short order we found out was charged with fraud. It was too complicated and too hot and the distance was still wrong. This still didn’t stop me from plopping the Vatican right in the middle of those 46 acres in photoshop. Damn. 46 acres. I could fit three Giant Stadiums in that land. Then again, so what? What in the world was I going to do with 46 acres?

It occurred to me that I only needed about 5 acres or so to feel like I had enough room from my fellow human beings. My husband and I had sort of a long-running list of things we would like in our next house. It was one of those wish list things that you talk about here and there that you never expect to happen. It included a huge fireplace, curved stairways, a lot of privacy, hardwood floors, french doors, classical features, and of course unique. We’ve spent years traveling through Europe admiring the ancient architecture. We were freaks when it came to our taste in homes. So the search continued.

I shifted my parameters and spent some time on Zillow looking at Greek Revivals. I really love historic homes and I figured, why not, let’s see what is out there. That’s when I found the house where President Grant used to go for drinks back in the day. From the pictures, this place was stately, private and absolutely majestic. It was only an hour from NY and it seemed really ideal. I fell in love with it right away. “Let’s go see it,” I pleaded with my husband. Finally, he agreed and off we went.

The area was gorgeous. The tiny town of Goshen was breathtaking and the area had perfect biking roads–ideal for my husband who’s into cycling. When we got there we found out that the owner had subdivided the parcel in a way that took away the house’s garage. The guy was using it for his own storage and that was paces from the house. It wasn’t obvious from the pictures that the house was also very close to a busy roadway and traffic noise was loud. We already had that going on in our existing house, so that was a disappointment. The interior that had photographed so well was dilapidated and falling apart. This house was old and in need of major repairs. We’re talking 700K worth of repairs. The electric had never been updated, the roof was ancient, the plumbing was from the turn of the century. It was a mess. The moldings were chipped and falling apart, the kitchen needed to be gutted, the list goes on and on. I was amazed I was so misled by the pictures. I realize now that fisheye lenses will do that–lie.

The final straw came when we went down into the basement. There were mounds of wet earth down there that reminded me of Dracula and his gypsies. The seller was like, “oh yeah this grate here lets in the water when the river out back floods. The water gets up to the roof of the garage.” What? Floods? Really? Not only would we have to spend the rest of our lives fixing up this money pit, but we’d have to find ways to contain the Nosferatu that was obviously dwelling in the basement! That’s when we both panicked. It was time to leave.

The real estate agent on this property was pushy to the max and kept calling my cell phone even after we had said no. The crazy part is that they wanted $575K for this house. There were bathrooms in the place that had bathtubs that weren’t’ even connected! The place needed so much repair that even $200K would have been too much.

After Greek Revival fail, I had almost given up my silly Enchanted Forest idea. I kept browsing Zillow on occasion just for fun. I put in crazy search terms just to see what quirky houses were out there. One afternoon just for shits and giggles, I put in the term “castle” and opened the map to include areas an hour away from NYC.

And… there it was!

Long winding drive to this hilltop Chateau-Castle styled residence that blends beautifully into the private setting with fantastic views of sunrises and mountains. Created to evoke an aesthetic/artistic venue, with an early 18th & 19th-century feel. Keeping room with hand-hewn beams, wide board floors, stone cooking fireplace and a curved staircase leads to a spacious light-filled living room and views. 2nd floor includes a library, castle tower, solarium, tea room tucked alongside kitchen and many intriguing spaces w/historic architectural elements. Pennsylvania style 2 1/2 story barn & yeoman building. Gunite pool with decorative iron fence, perennial gardens, and gazebo. Magnificent!

I did a double take and blinked. The price on the listing had to be wrong. It seemed too low. What the hell! A castle tower? I just knew I had to go see this place. I had found my new home. It was this crazy feeling–like this was it.

It took us about a half hour to locate the place on the map. The castle located along a private, winding road half a mile up a mountain. The GPS was clueless. We drove through the woods somewhat surprised at how remote the place was. Nerds that we are, the first thought in our minds was that the place had no broadband. Well, we were right. More on that later. The house sat at the top of a 700′ hill, hidden from view until you’ve crossed the gates. As soon as I lay eyes on the gothic gates I squealed, no joke. The two shields are of Perseus defeating the Medusa, crowned by golden drakes. Perched on two stone pedestals, eagles eye visitors with a wary stare. As soon as I crossed this gate I knew I was home. This was my house. I don’t know how I knew that I just knew. I got out of the car, and much to my husband’s chagrin, I declared, “This is my house.”

I moved through the rooms in awe. From the garage sized fireplace to the Greek temple bathroom, this place was like something out of my fictional imagination. The guy who built it was a master carpenter and an architecture teacher obsessed with castle building. The sellers were in their late 60′s and had begun work on the house at around our age. They had traveled through Europe to many of the places we had and had the same tastes we did. Essentially they had lived similar lives and built “us” the perfect home. Inside, the house was a hodgepodge of styles, but very artful. It had the greek revival qualities I liked in some of the rooms, the French doors, the curved cherry stairway alongside dungeon doors and Medieval turrets. My jaw dropped.

I had always wanted Italian gardens with urns and flowers and gorgeous gates and there they were–albeit totally overgrown! I could not believe my eyes. The house came with a gorgeous pool, gardens, 11+ acres of pristine woods, a stream, a stunning Pennsylvania-style barn, I mean the features were endless! When I saw the two fairies (green luna moths) perched outside the bedroom deck the superstitious side of me knew I had been visited by one of my totems. The butterfly has been a totem of mine for a while, but it had not made an appearance until I went to this house. The butterfly is all about transformation and metamorphosis. This house, this magical place would allow me to make great changes in my life. I just knew that the castle would open up possibilities we simply didn’t have back home. My husband would travel 40 minutes to Harriman to hike and bike–nature was now at our doorstep. I’ve always wanted to garden and grow my own food, the list goes on.

Strangely, the house was too weird for most. It had sat empty for two years. Several people had gone to see it but had backed out claiming it was either too remote or too weird. During those two years, the price kept dropping. I was baffled when the real estate agent got all scared about showing us the rooms with spiked walls. As a D&D playing geek and a gamer, I was in heaven. The bottom line is most people want boring homes and so…contractors build boring homes. Everything nowadays is about efficiency. There was a very good Zillow blog post that resonated with me at the time of purchase that spoke about the design of houses vs. homes and why for years we’ve been designing bad architecture.

I won’t bore you with the details of what happened next, except to say that this house brought ample turmoil.

My husband and I argued about all kinds of things. We laughed, we cried, we gave up on the idea of this house many times, yet, it just didn’t go away–even when we gave up on it! The inspection revealed that the house was in good shape but sections of the roof were old and needed repair. The well was contaminated with e.coli and needed to be fixed as well as other minor issues. Optimum Cable quoted us $14K to run the cable up the hill when they conducted their first survey. We were simply overwhelmed by the change. We had no idea about living in a rural place, about septic tanks, or taking care of pools or cutting all that lawn. Our moods swung wildly for months as more and more things were revealed about the place. The land wasn’t subdivided which made it impossible to close on the house..and on and on. Upon meeting us the sellers fell in love. They really wanted us to have the house and they made many concessions regarding price. They also fixed many of the issues found in inspection out of their own pocket which was very generous and agreed to split the cost of running broadband up the hill. The offer was getting sweeter.

During the course of 4+ months, this house dominated our lives. We were on the phone all day with various contractors, lawyers, agents, you name it. Our lives were thrown into free fall and I don’t even recall much of what I did during the summer. It was absolutely crazy–but in my mind still worth it. I do feel that as a result of this process, my husband and I are more aligned than ever.

I gave the castle the name Ravensrook after the fictional demon tower in my books. Even as I write this I have no idea how all this happened or how we were able to buy this place for such a great price. Some things are just meant to be and I can’t picture a better place to live. I am in love with my new home, in love with the peace and quiet, the woods, the sunrises, the gorgeous little details prevalent throughout the home, the quaint little town down the road, the orchards, the air. In short, I have found a piece of my soul.

The only other time I have felt such a connection to a place was while in a palazzo in Venice many years ago. Ravensrook is pure inspiration and now that the dust has settled I am looking forward to enjoying it. Progress will come, little by little.

There are many nuances I’ve skipped in the telling of this tale, but Ravensrook will be part of my life a long time and…well, I just love telling stories. To say that the purchase of this home is a dream come true is an understatement. When I consider the place where I grew up and how poor my family was in Cuba, this place is nothing short of a miracle.