We were not actively looking, but had heard an area of interest was starting a development and we wanted to check it out. We were very “Up in the air,” on what our future held when it came to a home. We knew we did not plan to live in our current home forever. We did not know when we would move, let alone, if building was something we were interested in.
We reviewed our current budget and how it would change with a large mortgage. With building you also have to keep in mind you are not moving into an existing home with a picket fence, sprinklers watering green grass, and blinds for privacy. These are all things to be purchased in the future.
Is there going to be HOA fees; does the city remove the snow? How does Briar get to school once she starts elementary? How far is it from our jobs? What size of house can we build; would it be grounds for a walk out basement? What future could the surrounding area potentially develop into? Who are we going to use as a contractor?
Basically like a kid doodling. We are not architects so the house we drew, who knows if it would have even stood. Doing this allowed us to go to our contractor and give him an idea of what we wanted. When he saw what we came up with, he found a floor plan he built in the past that was very similar. With that we were able to discuss the pricing of a home that size and if a house that size would fit on our potential land lot.
we bought the land with a HELOC. First, we had to arrange with the bank for the HELOC. Next, we picked a closing date with the seller. We used National Escrow Services LLC for assistance with the paper work, contracts, and closing.
we took the design our contractor gave us of his previous home and turned it into our own. We moved the stairs, changed some room sizes, and added our personal touches. Our contractor took us through some tours of his current builds and I crept houses on Zillow and Pinterest for ideas too. We sent the rearrangements to our contractor again so he would have an idea of what changes we had in mind. Due to schedules we do not have the final floor plan made yet so I have taken the time to ask Facebook friends for ideas on different rooms in the house. As I find things I print photos so our contractor has visuals when we meet next. Eventually I’ll need to stop over thinking, but with time brewing it’s hard not to keep researching. We appreciate the brewed time as we are not in a hurry. Our plan is not to build until the HELOC is paid off. This way the land is paid for and not a part of the mortgage. We predict we could possibly start building at the end of this year.
we are going through rooms of our current home clearing out things we do not use and therefore do not want to move. We have had two garage sales this summer and put items on marketplace. We have been using the money from our sales to start repairs, improvements, and finish projects on our house in preparation to sell.
