Financial realities from Rock Spring Farm's perspective

 “‘Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes”

 Christopher Bullock, The Cobler of Preston (1716)

Although many attribute the quote about death and taxes to Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, they seem to have plagiarized Mr. Bullock. Regardless of whom initially voiced that observation, the reality is true.

Many of you have asked why we cannot accept 3,000 entries and declare a winner. Here's why: Our accountant has said the sale of the house via the essay contest will not be treated as a traditional real estate transaction where $500,000 in capital gains taxes automatically are deducted because of our age, length of ownership, etc. Instead, the entry fees will be counted as personal income on which we will be taxed at approximately 40 percent when you combine the taxes we will owe to the IRS and the commonwealth of Virginia.

Let's do the math in light of state and federal income taxes, if we stop at 3,000 entries:

$600,000    amount generated from 3,000 entries at $200 each

-240,000    40% taxes

$360,000    amount left after taxes

By the time we pay the taxes and the expenses associated with the contest, we will have enough money to pay the mortgage with not a lot left over to buy a retirement house.


Let's look at the math, if we receive 5,000 entries:

$1,000,000   amount generated from 5,000 entries at $200 each
-   400,000   40% taxes
$  600,000   amount left after taxes

We then will have enough money to pay the mortgage the bank holds on Rock Spring Farm, buy a retirement home, and contribute some money to each of our four grandsons' college funds.


We are plain folk with a mortgage and bills associated with living -- insurance, phone, electricity, transportation, food, medical, etc. We do not lead an extravagant life. As much as we would like to submit 25 essays to the judges today, doing so is not financially feasible.

We have been steadfast in our proclamation that this contest never has been about money. It truly is about passing along a legacy.

As soon as we began reading the essays, we realized that our essay contest was much more than a little essay contest. It began to take on a spiritual quality and quickly grew to something much greater. We realized that God was using Rock Spring Farm to answer someone's dream. We feel so blessed and so honored.

I have done everything humanly possible within my means to make this contest successful. In many ways, it is a success. Randy has accepted that the dream he and Margie had is coming to a conclusion, and it is time for our dream to take flight. That is a HUGE blessing!!! Many of you have written how the contest has changed your lives in positive ways. You cannot imagine how awesome that makes us feel; we are so happy for you!

However, we also know that God's time and our time are measured much differently, and God's plans and our plans don't always mesh precisely. This contest is in God's hands. If the course of this contest coincides with the hopes and dreams of this community, there will be great cheer and joyful noise. On the flip side, I hope that if the contest does not coincide with our hopes and dreams that we are strong enough and faithful enough to accept that God has bigger a plan for each of us!

Thank you for your prayers and your support!

Cottage generates rental income

When considering if entering the Rock Spring Farm Essay Contest, keep in mind that the cottage is rented. The annual income is more than enough to pay the annual property taxes and liability insurance premiums.

The two bedroom, one bath cottage is 950 square feet of upscale living with little to no exterior maintenance. Amenities include Hardiplank siding, composite decking, vinyl trim, solid hickory wood flooring throughout the house except tile in kitchen and bath, hickory cabinets, crown moulding, wainscotting, and front and rear porches. The attiic is large enough to be finished and converted into another room. Artesian well.

This is the view from the master bedroom.

This view is standing at the front door looking in. Randy's trademark is unique patterns in hardwood floors. Ignore the messy kitchen; we snapped the pictures when we were painting!

The view from the front porch.

For more pictures, visit facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm. Look in the photo albums!

Contest deadline extends to November 7, 2015

Due to the recent publicity, several people new to the contest have asked that we extend the contest for at least at week. Randy and I have decided to honor those requests and extend the deadline until November 7. This is a fitting date because it would have been Margie's birthday! Margie is Randy's late wife. We WILL NOT extend the contest past November 7.

Hamptonroads.com publishes a story about RockSpring Farm!

For those of you new to the Rock Spring Farm Essay Contest, welcome!

Scroll through the posts to learn about the contest and read the news accounts of our lives and our farm. The newest story is by Philip Walzer at the Virginian-Pilot. Read it here:

hamptonroads.com/2015/10/write-essay-and-you-might-win-farm-near-tappahannock

Phil is writing a longer story that will be printed in the October 28 edition of The Virginian-Pilot.


There is more information at Facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm



This has been an exciting time for Randy and me. We truly love living at the farm, but it is time to for us to launch a new dream.

News Releases and Contest Documents

News Releases

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0_K7V1Mb8VXdndnREtBSjRnTXM&usp=sharing


1. One lucky essayist will win a 35-acre Virginia hobby farm


2. Win this farm


3. Essay contests sell businesses and private residences (national perspective)


Contest Documents

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0_K7V1Mb8VXfjdNYTk5SUI3YmZLMFBfZENMNHgtdGE1STRHNE4xZ2NPUkx6WmlXd3VLcGc

Facebook

facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm

Free Lance-Star publishes follow-up about the RSF essay contest

http://bit.ly/1iOdEDM


Many thanks to Cathy Dyson, a reporter with the Free Lance-Star, for writing a follow-up article about the Rock Spring Farm essay contest!

The RSF Essay Contest deadline has been extended to October 31, 2015.

Essay Contest Update:

-- Entries must be postmarked no later than October 31, 2015
-- Entries must be received no later than November 14, 2015

-- The winner will be announced New Year's Day 2016 (subject to change based on judges' availability.
-- We will contact the 25 finalists the first week of December.

-- It is difficult for Randy and me to know exactly the number of entries we have. The trustee has a full-time job, is training for a marathon, which almost is a full-time job, and is handling the contest's financial affairs, which is time-consuming as lots of entries are coming in. Please be patient. We will announce when we have reached our goal - promise!

-- The animals, except Diesel -- Queen of the Barn, will go with us, so will the workshop tools and carriages.

-- Mail your essays to
Rock Spring Farm Essay Contest
PO Box 9702
Virginia Beach, VA 23450 USA

-- Entry fee: $200 US

-- Word length: 1,000 words maximum

-- Writing Prompt: How will winning the essay contest impact your life? Why do you want to own and live on a farm in rural Essex County, Virginia? What is your vision for the farm? Provide enough details to let us know that you have the physical and financial ability to care for the farm.

For more information, visit facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm AND Google Drive!

Need help writing tight copy?

Follow the suggestions posted in these link!

http://theexpatfreelancer.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/word-count-limit-got-you-down-try-these.html

http://accentuateservices.com/archives/1367

http://writetodone.com/trouble-sticking-to-your-word-count-try-these-editing-tricks/

http://www.writing-world.com/grammar/less.shtml

http://expertedge.aje.com/2013/01/01/editing-tip-of-the-week-reducing-word-counts/

http://www.rachellegardner.com/how-to-cut-thousands-of-words/

Rock Spring Farm: Three hundred years of courage and dreams

William Pilkinton had a dream. He wanted to own a farm in America. He knew all his dreaming and all his yearning would not make his dream real, so he developed a plan. He set sail from London in 1697 as an indentured servant, worked seven years to pay his debt, saved his earnings, and in 1726 began living his dream. For the next 22 years, Pilkinton lived the life of a yeoman farmer on a good-sized farm with no slaves.

A new dream

Rock Spring Farm's current owner, Randy Silvers, 64, fell in love with the property because of a deep ravine. He overlooked the thistle and the briers, the ramshackle two-story farmhouse and the derelict mobile home that sat vacant. This place was the answer to his prayers.

“I saw that gully and knew right away this farm would be our home. I didn’t even need to walk the rest of the land,” he said. 

A spring is at the bottom of that gully – the spring for which the farm is named, the spring from which Pilkinton drew his water, and the spring that feeds the well of the main house. Renewal. Rebirth. Reflection.

Deed in hand, Silvers set out to build his forever home. He pounded fence posts, attached rails, and painstakingly turned the overgrown fields into pasture for his horses. He razed the farmhouse, removed the mobile home, and built a two-story house atop an English basement. He salvaged the wood from the farmhouse to build out the barn and fashion fireplace mantles and decorative beams for his new home.

That was 20 years ago. Aging has a way of adjusting priorities, and living with rheumatoid arthritis can be painful. It makes mending fences, maintaining pastures, and weeding flower beds quite difficult.

“I have watched Randy slow down considerably,” said Carolyn Berry, Silvers’ wife of six years. “The upkeep for this place requires a lot of physical labor, and his health no longer allows him to keep Rock Spring Farm as the showplace it was just a few years ago. I knew we needed to sell the farm, but every time I mentioned it, Randy would tell me sternly he wasn’t going to sell it. He wanted to live here until the day he died.”

Plans change

After reading articles and watching news clips about a bed and breakfast that was being offered for sale through an essay contest, Silvers agreed a similar contest might be a nice way to transfer ownership of his beloved farm. He has no children and Berry’s children are not interested in living a farm life, so the contest made sense. Another plus - unlike listing the farm for sale with a real estate firm, Silvers would have a say in who would be the next owner.

The couple launched their contest about six months ago and began marketing to people interested in owning a hobby farm in rural Essex County. Dreamers started dreaming and essays trickled in.

“The essays are awe-inspiring – beautifully written, so heartfelt and deserving. People have told us the contest has given them permission to dream, to remember how much they loved growing up on farms, and to reflect about what truly is important in their lives. Some have said dreaming about owning the farm has brought them closer to their spouses, and others have said thinking about the contest has helped them realize how happy they are right where they are with what they have now,” Berry said. “Winning the contest will be a life-changing event for someone, but the contest itself is changing people’s lives.”

Dreams change

“When we launched the contest it was just that – an essay contest by which people could buy the opportunity to own the farm for a lot less than its assessed value of $600,000. As we read the essays and replied to posts on Facebook, we began to realize the incredible responsibility we have,” Berry said.

“This contest is more than an essay contest. It is someone's future, and it really no longer is ours. It belongs to the people who are submitting the essays. We realized God is using our farm and this contest to answer the prayers of someone who is dreaming of owning a small farm and needs this land more than we do. Knowing that we have a role in this miracle is extraordinary and provides us with amazing feelings of joy and thanksgiving.” 

The contest and the affirmation of the farm's beauty and the quality of Silvers' craftsmanship have given him permission to dream. 

“I have accepted that it is time to put the dream Margie and I had behind me. We lived our dream, and I am excited about the next chapter of my life,” Silvers said. “It is time for a new dream; it is time for Carolyn and me to live our dream.”

Berry said that was the first objective of the contest. “Randy needed to be at peace with selling the farm and moving,” she said. “The second objective is to deed the farm to someone who loves it as much as we do.”

Berry and Silvers have a passion for horses. The new owners need not. “They might love alpacas, goats, sheep, or donkeys,” Silvers said. “Some folks have written they plan to use the land to raise heirloom flowers and vegetables. Others want a peaceful place to live and entertain family and friends.”

Dreams can come true

October 1, 2015, is the deadline to enter the contest. More than 2,500 hopefuls have written their 1,000-word essays, submitted their $200 entry fees, and are praying they find out Thanksgiving Day they have been chosen as the farm’s new owner.

“Mr. Pilkinton had a big dream and he had the courage to make it come true,” Silvers said. “He molded this land into the Rock Spring Farm of his dreams. Twenty years ago it became my dream and I worked hard to make it just the way I wanted it. Now it's time for the dream to belong to someone else.”

To award the farm Thanksgiving Day, Berry and Silvers need to receive approximately 2,000 more essays. “Walt Disney said, ‘All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them,’” Silvers said. “This farm is a phenomenal opportunity. Its legacy is of dreaming and courage and it’s waiting to take shape for someone who has the passion and courage to enter this contest and pursue living on a hobby farm in rural Essex County."

To read the contest rules and other contest documents, visit <http://bit.ly/1ERoUJj>. To learn more about the contest, visit <rockspringfarm.org> and <facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm>.

Be sure to visit our Facebook page!

facebook.com/virginiahorsefarm