APRIL 2006 - MAY 2006 - JUNE 2006 - JULY 2006 - AUGUST 2006 - SEPTEMBER 2007 - FINISHED HOUSE - CURRENT
In January 2006, our family relocated to the Rio Grande Valley in deep south Texas. Upon arrival we immediately began a search for our new home. Obviously we had a list of criteria for our new home, based in large part on the size and type of home that we were moving from coupled with a few ideas of what we would want in a house that would be a 'step up.' Also, having been extremely fortunate in playing the housing market game both coming into the old house and selling it again, we ended up with a nice nest egg. Subsequently, the new house needed to be a good, long term investment. While there are all kinds of non-tangibles that go into selecting a new house, there were certain criteria that were absolute.
CRITERIA: 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, living room, dining room, large kitchen designed for cooking, 2 car garage, and a large yard that would accomodate 2 active kids, their friends, and a dog (in the future...). These were the non-negotiable items and we would not be willing to purchase anything that did not meet this criteria.
I'm fairly certain that my realtor became more discouraged than I did after about 3 weeks of looking for a home. I read papers on and walked through every house that was in our price range, and a few that were above it. Still, nothing. Finally, 2 houses caught my attention: 1) a 2200 sq. ft house with 3 br/2.5 b with a sunroom/bar, in a reasonably nice area of town, and our number 1 choice of elementary schools. Drawback, it was 10 years old and would obviously (even by visual inspection) need some upgrading & repair including HVAC (an immediate red flag since we had just spent $$$ on an efficient system on the old house). They also had at least one large dog who apparently let them know it wanted to go out by scratching on gouging on the front or back door. The house was also higher than our anticipated budget. 2) a 1700 sq ft house, 3 br/2 br, large kitchen, large backyard with hot tub, good neighborhood, average schools. Drawback, layout was a bit odd, and there was no immediately identifiable area for the piano. Nonetheless, I made an offer on house #2. The house, while in good shape, was priced a bit high for the neighborhood. I made an offer based 100% on the recent sale of same size, same age homes in that neighborhood and the surrounding area. It was, admittedly, low compared to what they were asking, but I was very clear with my realtor that I was prepared to and comfortable with playing the offer-counter-offer game -- it was a FSBO and I (via realtor) had been very open with them from the first time I visited the house. No dice. They didn't want to make a counter offer until after they hosted an upcoming weekend open house. I waited.
Then, as I waited I began to investigate new construction (we hadn't done so up to this point) and the realtor had me tour a few brand new homes. The price tags were a bit more than I had originally intended to spend, however... new = good long term investment. She then introduced me to the young builder of one of the homes that had made an impression on me. That was it. I was sold. I called Ken within an hour; "Let's build!" I don't remember how long the silence lasted on the other end of the line, but before I knew it Ken had a plane reservation and was coming down to take a look. Together, a) we toured the new homes that the builder (RBe Construction) had recently built and some that were still being finished, b) told the owners of house #2 to go hang that we wanted our deposit back (they hadn't signed anything so there was no monetary obligation) and c) sat down to begin to dream. We were going to BUILD a home.
Building had always been a dream, one that we entertained periodically, but one that we always figured would be for little cottage or a retirement investment. But now... we were going to do it!
Here then, is the daily record of our experience; the ups and the downs, the joys and the fears, the panic moments and the bouts of elation. We began with a groundbreaking party in April the evening we closed on the construction loan and continued into mid-September with a move from the dinkiest little apartment we've ever lived in.
The experience of building a new home has been for us absolutely glorious -- we had a blast! We enjoyed the creativity, the feeling of creating something organic, the ability to create signature items in the house, and the process of building something together.
As you read this journal/blog, feel free to leave comments, ask questions, or make inquiries -- I can only speak from my own experience, but (never fearing giving my opinion) am happy to do so.
Enjoy!
APRIL 2006 - MAY 2006 - JUNE 2006 - JULY 2006 - AUGUST 2006 - SEPTEMBER 2007 - FINISHED HOUSE - CURRENT
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