For David and Laura Boomer, purchasing their own recreational property was about more than just enjoying the beauty of the natural landscape and peace and quiet of the remote location. It was about creating lasting memories with their family for generations to come!
“We knew we wanted to purchase property up in the Traverse City area when our daughter moved up here,” said the Boomers. “We had been looking for years, but nothing had worked out up until we found this property. This one was just meant to be!”
Originally from Michigan, David and Laura moved to West Palm Beach, Fla., for a number of years where David worked as a firefighter and paramedic out of Dade County. “Living down there made us realize we really enjoyed living up north,” said Laura. “We moved back to Michigan thirty years ago after our first child was born, but that really solidified for us that our home was up here.”
After raising their family in the Eaton Rapids, Mich., area, David and Laura were ready to find land their family could enjoy spending time on together. “We started looking for properties every day on Zillow,” David explained. “It felt like there just wasn’t the perfect fit out there. But we kept looking.”
“It was getting kind of frustrating,” Laura added. “We were looking at properties for about three years, and there were several times we lost out on them just because the demand in the area is so high for recreational land. We didn’t give up though!”
Well Worth the Wait
While they were hunting for the perfect remote getaway, David made a call to GreenStone so they could secure financing and be ready to move right away if they wanted to put an offer in on a property.
“I had heard a lot of good things about GreenStone from people I knew, and also our son was familiar with GreenStone because he studied an ag-based program at Michigan State University,” said David. “He knew GreenStone from their agricultural lending services, so we were excited to learn they also provided financing for rural home loans and recreational land!”
The Boomers began working with Stacy Stinson, senior financial services officer at GreenStone. “Working with Stacy was great,” says Laura. “She explained the whole process and how it would work with us and answered any questions we had right away.”
The Boomers stand amidst the pine trees on their new property with Financial Services Officer Stacy Stinson, who helped ensure they had everything they needed for a smooth closing.
David also recalled how Stacy worked with them to obtain a preauthorization letter prior to putting any offers in on properties so they would be ready to act quickly in such a competitive market.
“She explained to us why it was so important to have one and then was able to get us the letter back within the same day! There really were no hold ups working with Stacy, and we were amazed at how timely she was with getting everything we needed to us."
“Most of the paperwork we had to sign was able to be done right on our phones,” Laura added. “It truly was a very easy process.”
The search continued, until they came across a parcel of 21 acres of red and jack pine forest located near Grand Traverse Forest Management property. “We actually almost passed on this land too just because we had been looking for so long and we wanted to make sure it was everything we had been searching for,” said Laura. “When we went to visit the land in person, we knew we had finally found the right one, and we put our offer in right away!”
Property to Call Their Own
“I remember one of the first times we visited the property after we purchased our land. We were out walking in the woods, and I said, ‘do you hear that?’ and it was dead quiet. I said, ‘That’s the sound of nothing!’,” David laughed.
David and Laura both agreed one of the most important attributes of their perfect plot of land was that it had to feel like you were up north. “We just love the serene atmosphere of being surrounded by all the trees. When we’re out here it just feels like you’re somewhere else completely,” commented Laura. “We’ve always loved spending time out in the woods, and this property really gave us that remote “up north” feeling we were looking for.”
Both David and Laura are excited to experience the change of the seasons on the land, especially the winter. “I’m just excited to be able to take a walk in the woods and see the snow decorating all of the trees,” says David. The property is mostly wooded, with a mix of red and jack pines standing up to sixty to seventy feet, providing plenty of shady coverage and making the property feel even more enclosed and private.
David is also excited about all the native wildlife in the area and being able to hunt on the land come fall. Laura is looking forward to harvesting Morrell mushrooms on the property in the springtime and just spending more time outdoors in the peace and quiet.
A Place to Gather
“Our goal with this property was to have somewhere to spend time as a family and get to watch our grandchildren grow up and have fun out here,” the Boomers said. “We plan on adding trails to the property and are hoping each of our grandkids can have their own special place on the property that they will enjoy coming back to as they grow up.”
With their dream property secured, David and Laura are looking forward to being closer to family, spending more time in nature, and eventually would like to build a home on the land and retire there.
“We just love how peaceful it is out here, and the potential for what we can do with the land is endless. We’re just looking forward to spending as much time as possible up here and making meaningful memories with our family,” they shared.
To view the summer 2025 issue of Partners magazine in its entirety, click here.
