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So for those of you that had to build on a budget, especially earlier in life, did you put emphasis on sq footage or nice finishes? How did you decide how much home to buy? I have a great job now, but a long time left to work. I'd prefer to keep things modest and do some compromising and would like to know where folks feel like they get the best bang for their buck? I'd like to build this year so all my stuff isn't on two properties and mortgage rates are still historically low, but we aren't rushed either.
When we bought our property, the plan was to build a decent house ASAP that was affordable and allow us to quickly pay off the land AND house loan.
We looked at modular but a quality modular was not cheaper than stick built but it could be placed much quicker. Since we only wanted a house around 1,600-1,800 square foot we hoped we could have a lower payment. Which we could, BUT our dream home is only 2,400 square feet and the payment difference is not that much. So the quandary become build the dream home now and eat the higher payments or wait until we were 60 when the small house was paid off and THEN build the dream house?
We built the dream house and that was 10 years ago. Neither of us has ever lived 10 years in one place so this is a record. :laughing::laughing::laughing:
It is a mistake to not think of resale. Life changes and while one may never expect to sell the house, one may end up needing to do so. I have family members who built a nice little two bedroom house that was perfect for them. Since it is two bedrooms it has been difficult to sell. Adding another bedroom would not have cost that much more and would have generated greater appreciation on the house over time AND allowed the house to sell easier. Think resale.
We spent money on things in the house that are hard and/or expensive to do after the build was completed. Glad we did. We put in granite counter tops which are wonderful, lots of wood trim and very nice cabinets. We spent money on these items and since we don't allow housing magazines or TV shows to tell us how to live we will never change them out for fashion reasons. Since we are stick built, we put in colored concrete floors which is dirt cheap, looks good and the kids can't destroy it like carpet or wood. We figured worst case is that we would hate the concrete floor and we would put down whatever we wanted later on. With a concrete slab you can put down what ever floor you want and not worry about it. The other big ticket items on the build were the windows and doors, both interior and exterior. So glad we did what we did.
I don't think putting in say, a cheap door today and replacing it with a better door tomorrow makes money sense. If you have the money, it is better and cheaper to do it right the first time.
We are seriously thinking of selling everything we own of value, buying a boat and seeing the world. :confused3::shocked:
This is NOT something we had planned to do and is the exact opposite of what we planned to do which was to build this dream house, on our dream land and die where we currently live. Life changes things sometimes. Think resale. :laughing::laughing::laughing: In the boating world, boat designs are very serious compromises. Houses designs are compromises too but no where near the compromises in a boat. One saying when buying a boat is to buy the smallest boat you can live in, not the biggest boat you can afford. Reread that a few times and apply it to a house. THAT is the compromise to make.
Go get some 1/4 inch quad ruled graph paper and start drawing house designs. You can do this for stick built and modular. Look at other house plans and see what you like and don't like. Start drawing house plans on the graph paper. Minimize hall space and if you must have stairs, use the stair space wisely and minimize the stair landings. The design should be as simple as possible to minimize foundation and roofing costs.
I bet I have a stack of drawings an inch thick for all of the designs I created before starting on real blue prints.
Later,
Dan
