Well, the misses and I found some land we like. Just got back from looking. Its 5 acres in a somewhat restricted community. The area is quite wooded and on the edge of a small town in MO that is beginning to grow as fast as here. It would be a longer drive, but the area would be worth it. Most of the land is sloped, and when the leaves are gone should have a great view of the valley. I can't say for sure how many trees there are, but I fell in love with a very large oak right in the middle of the property. The back of the land is quite wooded, and the front has small patches of large trees with several good places to build a house and shop... There will be NO trees removed if we build there...

I've never owned a home, neither has the misses, so we're on unfamiliar ground. We've talked to friends who own, but none that have built their own. Just looking for pointers, especially in the financing area... maybe some websites with good floor plans. We've got an idea of what we want, but could use a little help...

So, if you've got anything offer, fire away...

thanks...

BTW, if we don't get this land we'll keep looking for something similar. We prefer to build on wooded land. Nothing in the city.

 

Congratulations.

I really dont know what your asking for.
I didn't build my house, my dad did, then I bought it from him.
If I can help you with any questions just ask.

 

Run Forest Run!

Just do it. You will not be satisfied with your first build, you will always see something that you wish you would have done, or shouldn't have done. but that is just part of it. get the land first. Just check it out real good before you buy. Water rights, power, water, code requirements for the sewer system, etc. A friend of mine bought 10 acres several years ago, and didn't check to see how much it would cost to run power. It was in the neighborhood of 15,000.00 . He had to wait 3 years to build because of that.

And when you start to build, just let the misses pick our everything on the inside. Save you alot of heartache later.

good luck.

 

My top two 'wish idda done different' items ...

First floor mud room / utility room for the washer and dryer. Running down to the basement to do laundry gets to be a pain.

Electrical outlets. You can never have enough of them.

 

Ditto

I have atleast 2 on every wall, looks like enough until you start putting things in and arranging. One wall in the kitchen should have put 4 or more.

Next time I'll probably put one every 3-4 studs and do a quad juction box on one stud(s) where I think I'll probably put computers, A/V equipment, etc.

edited to add:
I also only did one outside, wish I'd done more there too.

Also where the electric comes into the house I have a lead straight off the main power to a box, incase I need to add electric to a shed or something on the same meter. That was a good idea that the electrician suggested.

 

Instead of spending hours pouring through websites and books on floor plans, consider hiring a Professional Building Designer. Go to www.aibd.org to find someone in your area. They can design you just the house you want, to local building codes, and local building practices. When you buy a stock drawing, they're designed generically. A designer can also help steer you on the right path with referrals. Some designers are certified through the Nationcal Council of Building Designer Certification. You can find more on them through www.ncbdc.org.

 

Well, I was just wondering where can I find how a construction loan differs from a home loan, and how/when to switch over, what's a good rate right now, is there anything I MUST ask the bank/realtor, is there anything I really should watch out for or not do, how can I found out the cost per square foot for my area, or what kind of loan might I be able to get on just land and build later? That kind of stuff, and what you guys have already mentioned. I hate to sound like an idiot, but when it comes to buying/building a house I am...

BTW, I had already thought about the electric outlets. The place I live never seems to have them in the right spots, especially the garage, plus I would want 220 in the garage for my compressor.

We're thinking 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage in a log cabin style with a full length or even wrap around front porch. Nothing too fancy (even though there are a couple rather fancy homes in the area) or too big. We both prefer a nice cozy cabin, but realize a family could be coming along before long. The land slopes, so we're thinking walkout basement with the garage possibly in the back with a carport/deck. I hope to build a shop within the next few years also. Probably something around 40x40.

We drove by this lot last weekend, and I thought it was "okay". But you really can't see much of it from the road (which is dirt for now), because of the slope and trees. But when we went by today we road along with the realtors (some old friend's of my mother's, and she was the librarian when I was in elementary) in their Jeep around the property. I fell in love with the trees, especailly the big oak I mentioned earlier. Plus, we saw 4 deer and a large black snake, just sitting up watching us (probably saying "Get the hell off my land ) I'm kinda excited. Right now I live in a duplex, with almost no lawn...

 

Look foreward to when you sell it. Increase the likelyhood of a sale by making it accessible to all ages. Make it all one level. Older folks do not want stairs and you don't want stairs if you're incapacitated( God forbid). Talk to your wife and other wives. Get their input on the kitchen, unless you are the primary cook.

Look at the lighting, will you utilize the natural light available? Look at the orientation of your house, not only for view, but to gain all the natural lighting you can get and the benefit of the sun's heat, along with shelter from the winter winds and storms.
There are so many suggestions that it would take me a week to type them all.
It would be much better if you gave us a list of what you want, or think you want, so we can tear it apart.......I mean...offer constructive criticism.

 

A couple of design tips, coming from a guy who has built (2) homes of his own so far:

* Don't skimp on your electrical service! I would put in a 200 Amp panel, minimum. Especially if you want to add a detached garage/workshop at a later date!

* Consider putting a utility tub in your garage area. I did this on my current home and absolutely love having hot-and-cold running water in my garage!

* Especially if you're building a 2-story home, build in a large electrical chase of some kind that allows you to run electrical wires from the basement to the attic with ease! This makes it so easy to add TV/Electrical/Phone outlets in other locations at a later date!

Good luck with your home, and as was mentioned earlier, don't expect to get it right the first time around!

 

If you can afford it, put all your electrical/phone, etc. underground. It may be expensive, but done right you never have a problem, and it makes the lot look clean.

 

I have gotten a couple of constrution loans to do somethings to the house.

Here is how my bank set them up for me, basically just opened my checking account up. Anything I needed that I didn't have the actuall funds for and that I wanted included in the loan, I just wrote a check for and put construction, or loan or something in the memo and they would covered it for me. When the projects were all done, then we totaled them all up and came up with a total cost and that's how much I borrowed.
Also what I did, I went to the local lumber yards and opened an account at each one. Then when the contractors needed something I just called and had it brought out or went and got it, or had them go get it. How ever it got here, I just put it on my account. Basically what I did by doing this was give myself 2 months to get the projects finished interest free and surprising how much I was able to pay for out of pocket with out borrowing.

 

Oh yeah, one other thing -- build your workshop right away!

Once the little lady starts pumping gremlins out, adding a nice workshop/garage to your property will get vetoed for things like dance lessons, braces, college funds, etc.....

 

My wife and I are building our own home right now. We purchased the land back in '98 and had it paid off before we started. We are building completely out of concrete for the slab, footers and exterior walls on all three levels. It's been very easy going, and we haven't had any big hiccups yet except for the price of concrete being a little more than we expected. We were able to make up for it in other areas and currently we are ahead of schedule and under budget.

As for the construction loan, we had to apply for a general residential home loan and were pre-approved for a certain amount. The bank simply set up a construction loan after we provided them with a budget worksheet. They set us up with a checking account and when we need to make draws, we go to the bank or call them and they deposit the money into the account and apply the draw to whatever portion of the budget that it pertains to. We have to pay the monthly interest on the complete draw amount however, and we are unable to take a draw to pay the interest (not that you would want to anyhow).

Certain banks have certain requirements as far as when you can close out the construction loan and convert it to a home loan. You will also be limited to what loan types you are able to apply for if your house is not completely finished.

My wife and I knew what we wanted in a house, so we drew up our own plans and had them approved by an engineer. By building it ourselves, we have been able to see things ahead of time and make the changes. I'm fairly certain that we are doing it right the first time, and I don't see myself building another large house, but possibly doing smaller homes in the future.

Just gotta jump in feet first. There will be frustrating times where things are going smooth, money is getting tight and so on, but in the long run, it is much cheaper than having a house built for you, and cheaper than buying an existing home. We are building ours for roughly $50 a square foot whereas contractors are charging 125-175 per square foot to build right now, and existing homes are getting 100-150 per square foot.

 

Hi Closer,

I build spec houses for a living. This means that we build the house then sell after it is built for whatever the going rate on the market is.

Most of the suggestions that have been posted so far are great. Make sure you have plenty of outlets throughout the house. If you are into computers and stuff you will probably want to add cat 5 cable throughout as well. Also may want to install a surround sound system in the living room before the drywall goes up.

As far as the financing goes the biggest bank that does construction loans right now is indymac bank. If you want to check out there construction loans goto www.indymac.com/hcl. This is for the home construction lending department. The way that they work is on a draw system. Basically you do something to the house then let them know via the internet and they send an inspector out to make sure it is done, then give you the money to pay it. They will advance up t 5% past the amount completed on the project. The rate is a variable rate which kinda sucks but thats how they do it. At the end of the construction loan period, which can be 12-24 months long, they have a roll to permanent option that will allow you to turn the construction loan into a permanent loan for 30 years at a competitive rate. The benefit to this if you plan on living there is that you don't have hardly any fees when you roll it.

As far as the payments on the loan go they require an interest reserve. This is basically a line item built into the loan that they draw from to cover the interest payment on whatever money you have borrowed. This means that you have no payments during the life of the construction loan, as long as you don't deplete your interest reserve.

They also require a contingency line item. This is in case you go over on some expense you have some extra money built into the loan. This has saved me money on plenty of occasions when an item has cost more then previously.

This is a draw system. A better way to go is a voucher system. Most local banks do it that way, and if you can find a local bank I would go with them since they normally will have a fixed interest rate and will also have incentives to roll the loan to permanent with them. A voucher system is basically the bank gives you a booklet with vouchers or checks in it. When someone needs to get paid you right them a voucher and the they take it to the bank, and the bank pays them. I like this better because the bank is the one that handles all of the 1099 at the end of the year and I don't have to float the money when I pay someone until I get the draw deposited.

If you have any other questions on this I'll be happy to answer them. Let me know.

 

Some very good points by everyone, especially cmany. We did a construction to perm. loan as we build our house 5 years ago. Just one set of charges for the combined loan. If you do construction, then convert to Perm, you will pay two sets of closing costs, plus many of the other costs.

We did a shop sink, and 1/2 bath in the laundry room in the hall from the garage to the kitchen. Smart move with children or messy husbands. POWER, as much as you can afford, walls, ceilings, etc.
We had outlets put beneath each window for Christmas lighting. We had outlets put over the top of the kitchen cabinets where they didn't reach the ceiling with wall switches at countertop level. Never can tell when you will want some indirect lighting above the cabinets. We had outlets outside that were wired to switches inside. Great for seasonal lighting on the grounds that needs to be turned off at night. Electrical outlets all around the garage wall, but not a floor level, about 40 inches high to allow for moveable worktops or benches.
Master floodlight switch that controls all outside lights next to the bed in the master bedroom. Also next to the bed is a switch that controls the room lighting, and overhead fan.
If you build a garage, make sure to include a pedestrian doorway. It's a real pain to open the garage door every time you want to walk outside from the garage. Wire your attic spaces for lights, even the crawl spaces that you don't think you'll ever get into. Put lights in all your closets, even the smaller ones.
Outside water spigots, at least one on each side of the house.
Tilt in Thermopane windows, they make washing them so easy.
Steel or Fiberglass doors for all exterior doorways. Insulated garage doors. Tile floors in laundry and mudrooms.
Good luck!