I never thought that I would be blogging about constructing a home. There are a lot of things I didn't know before I started this process- and probably a ton more I have to learn before this project is over!
For one, I didn't know that this dream of mine would ever come to reality. I never thought that Mike would be so interested in building our own home. It was his idea after all, and in every step- he's having me make decisions, something I rarely enjoy doing. I've grown a lot since this process began.
Let's start from the beginning. When do you know that it's the right time to begin looking into building your own home?
Take a step back for a second. Look at the economy. Right now- it seems like the PERFECT time to build a home- if your better half or parts of your family is in the business. I won't lie, I think it's a really good time to buy foreclosures right now too. We actually started looking at foreclosures at the beginning of 2010. It's time we find something of our own. We've been living in an in-law apartment for the past 3 years together. It's just too small for us now.
A Lot of people think that Mike and I are nuts. Building a house? Hah! Why do that when you can get a foreclosure for $50,000? Well, let me tell you. After a long long time of debating and discussing out the pros and cons to buying and building, I've found that the best way to go for us is building. For one, we aren't buying a potential ruin. Yes you can walk through a house and take a look and turn on and off the faucets and stuff, but what are you really getting yourself into? Especially in the foreclosures! People are getting kicked out of their homes, and in most cases, are taking anything of value- including that wonderful copper piping that gets you a pretty penny in the market now. So, why buy something that you could potentially sink tens of thousands of dollars into, when I can build for the same price?
The best part is, Mike is a contractor... as is his dad. He also has friends and family that build. It just makes sense. we can build this house and buy the land for less than $120,000 (and that's with the fancy upgrades!) What we really needed to figure out is exactly how big do we need our house? I certainly don't want something the size of a mansion (can you imagine the amount of time it would take to clean?!) but I do want something decent sized. We found out happy medium. A Ranch with a walk out basement, one that would be living space for us. Mike has already created the designs with a few of my ideas and wants put into it. I really do want cathedral ceilings in the Kitchen/Dining room area, and he put them in for me.
So, we found our time... we found a piece of property, which we are still in the process of purchasing- which I will post about later- and we have the drive to make this happen.
There's SO much that you will need to consider before deciding to build, and there's a lot of things you need to keep in mind when you go to purchase that perfect piece of property.
In my coming posts, I will uncover what Mike and I have gone through already- and we haven't even started the building process yet!
To all those buying a home- congratulations! It's an amazing feat right now just to purchase a home. To those who are building- you amaze me! I hope to learn from all of you that are building!
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