Six months after seeing the property for the first time, we were convinced that this was the place for us – and then we learned a lot of patience as it took almost 3 years to get all the paperwork in order. We were just ready to close on the property in June 2008 when we discovered that the well titles were expired and needed to be renewed. Since water rights are so vital here in the Valle de Guadalupe, we were advised to wait on our purchase until the titles were in order. Two weeks after we had our aborted property closing, a huge wildfire tore through the property and burned all the avocado trees – and about half of the citrus.