Building New Home With Cash, NO DEBT - Advice Appreciated

[blueriver]

I did not read all that was posted .. It just happen to catch my eye ... In 1989 .. I know things are different today ... I bought an old live able single wide set it up for my family and started building a home as cash provided ... 2 yrs later we moved in and the home was paid for .. Then sold the mobile home for more than I paid for it ... If your mind set is to do it .. You can and will

 

[dave1949]

Houses with your general design often have a laundry room and 3/4 bath in the portion connecting the garage to the main house. It's not a bad permanent layout.

If your plan is like that, or you could use one that is, then building the garage plus that connector--with laundry and bath with a shower--would make a lot more sense. The plumbing you pay for is permanent. It leaves more space available in the garage which I think would be nice with kids.

 

[wolftree]

Consider making the garage upstairs/loft into an apartment rather than the creating, then tearing out the lower level. Having the lower level garage free for work and storage. If you can, enlarge the garage to 36' or even 40' by 25'.

 

[oosik]

We timed our move down from Alaska at just the most opportune time. We got max value for the house and were able to plow all the profit into a new house here on our 80 acres. In those days the gov gave you the opportunity to avoid tax on home sale profit by using this profit to build another home of equal or greater value.

Anyhow, I built this house and did everything except the foundation. We started in May and finished in mid October. Our first shower was by candlelight because I didn't have the electrical back to the bathroom yet. We lived in a log cabin on the property along with all the mice, chip monks, pack rats - took baths by swimming in the lake and started work at sunrise every day and quit at sunset. It was a wonderful time.

 

[PastTense]

Tell us more about the area where you will build your house. This country ranges from "nanny state" to places where people have the right to do pretty much what they want with their property and it's not clear where your area fits.

 

[TnAndy]

I did not read all that was posted .. It just happen to catch my eye ... In 1989 .. I know things are different today ... I bought an old live able single wide set it up for my family and started building a home as cash provided ... 2 yrs later we moved in and the home was paid for .. Then sold the mobile home for more than I paid for it ... If your mind set is to do it .. You can and will

We did the same. Bought a reasonable cheap mobile home, moved it to the site and lived in it while building the house. I would either do that, or build a separate, small quarters for living, and later turn it into a rental or in-law quarters or guest house.

However you decide to go, CONGRATS on the gumption to avoid the mortgage trap ! We've been mortgage free for 30 years, and you'd be amazed at the other stuff you can do when you aren't weighted down by debt. MORE people should go this route. In our 43 years of marriage, we've owned two personal homes, and built both of them ourselves.

 

[300UGUY]

You need to see what the zoning calls for. I bought my house cheap, it needed a lot of work, that was very stressful, living in the middle of a construction project for years. It makes it hard to get things done. I'd look into a mobile home for starts or get a mortgage. You can always pay off the mortgage early.

 

[jel1988]

I've built a number of garages with living quarters upstairs. Build the garage one year for the customer, come back in the second and third year to take care of jobs beyond the customers capabilities. In fact, I would like to do the same thing for my winter home but the HOA has a different agenda.

 

[s219]

I wish you luck, but having just built a house ourselves, I'd say you sound way too optimistic and a little naive!

The only way I'd consider doing something like this was with a detached garage that had an apartment up above. Build that first, then move into the apartment while you chip away at the house. The main reason I say detached is that you will be able to get it done and satisfy all building codes and get an occupancy permit. The work on the house can be completely independent and not impact your living quarters (or your marriage). And you can make use of the garage below to store tools, materials, etc. Connect up with a breezeway later on if needed, or leave it detached.

 

[westcliffe01]

I assume, looking at the plan, that you do not live where it snows ? Those intersecting roof lines would be a killer for holding snow and ice dams...

Many have commented and I have spent a long time investigating locations with little in the way of restrictions on building timeline and permitting process. There are still places where you have relative freedom, but fewer and fewer all the time and definite actions being taken at local government level to introduce code and the "cash cow" inspections and permitting that goes along with it. Last but not least, local government are simply addicted to having their nose in your business and you having to ask permission for everything - which means the opportunity to say NO every time ! If you read the minutes from council meetings, many of the conversations are highly stress inducing (stress being when you have to exercise the full force of your willpower to NOT strangle some stupid bureaucrat who is having a great time denying something that is of no consequence whatsoever to anyone - like a property line setback of 50 feet that is on a precipice which the owner is asking for a 10 foot variance on for building a garage)

There are a very few places where you can live year round in a tipi if you desire, but we are talking about places that require a tracked atv or similar to get into and out of for more than 6 months of the year and everything has to be hauled in down steep trails...