Grim news: Terry the Motivated Renter is not buying one acre of my land after all.

To review the bidding: My (itinerant) neighbor, Terry, who was renting one of the houses in the "compound" up the dirt road from me, learned that the owners were moving, and he couldn't live there any longer.

He double-timed down to my cabin with his slobbering Lab-mutt Spike shortly therafter, and said he couldn't bear to leave our humble (and that it is) thoroughfare. He wanted to buy an acre of my land, upon which he would put down a doublewide trailer.

Terry is in his 60s, retired (or at least not working), and not one who strikes you as a man of means.

Still, when he offered me "10,000 for one acre, and $15,000 for two acres," I had to listen.

I listened. Then I nodded. Then he left for Indiana to generate some cash. I said, "I will send you a purchase and sale agreement, and we can move forward."

He was enthusiastic. He seemed to think I was a fine fellow for giving him access to ownership in a modest riverside community on a dirt road in Franklin County.

And I thought, 10 large!

Of course, it was too good to be true. After calling me a half-dozen times from the Hoosier state to stress his commitment, he then left a terse message on the machine that said the deal was off.

It would cost $7,000 to bring the poles for electricity down the road. And he wasn't sure the town would fix up the dirt road so he could drive up and down in winter.

So there it was. $48,000 for the doublewide (his estimate). $7,000 to get electricity. Perhaps $10,000 to clear the site. Maybe $10,000 more for septic and water costs. And $10,000 for the land, which HE did not negotiate.

I wasn't surprised at this decision. I wasn't disappointed. Actually, I don't know why he insisted on living on this modest dirt road in Franklin County, except maybe he is in the Witness Protection Program and didn't want the hassle of redoing all the paperwork.

At the end of the day, I stand to be short of $10,000 that, for a few weeks anyway, was scheduled to come my way.

But I'm still a happy camper. I have a cabin, a piece of property - and the whole summer to look forward to.

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