Huckleberry House - 20x30 1-story with Loft in PNW Washington

Started by mollywheatbaker, January 20, 2017, 03:26:37 PM

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mollywheatbaker

I've been meaning to keep track of our project on the forum, as I enjoy seeing everyone else's! So, I'll start from the beginning for now...

In May 2015, we purchased a 3 acre property near the Hood Canal. We had never visited the area before, but this property had been for sale for over a year and had a well and septic already installed (big $aver!). After visiting the property, we immediately fell in love and contacted the realtor. We had been seeking owner financing as this seemed to be nearly the only option if you were cash poor to purchase an undeveloped piece of land. They were not interested in owner financing. We scrambled how to get the money. We finally came across a company called Northwest Farm Credit Services. Initially, it appears they are a lender for agricultural loans, but we found deep and dark on the Interweb that they provided rural land loans. After all the paperwork and stress, we were approved for a $50,000 loan. The property we wanted was $75,000. We felt bad about making an offer so low and it was initially rejected with a counter. Our only response was to tell them, $50,000 was all we had and they could take it or leave it. They stewed on it for two weeks and let us know that they would accept the offer. Turns out the owner was young and newly married. He had inherited the property when he was a teen when his father passed away. He wanted the money to buy a new house, so it worked out all around. YAY! We have land! BUT...

We were still living in the city "owning" a home. We were ready to get the heck out of the cookie cutter neighborhood we lived in and move to the woods. We were lucky to sell the house in the first week. It was a very bittersweet experience. We sold nearly everything we owned and built a temporary off grid living situation on the property. It was summer time and we were ready to build this house!
BUT...

Building permits! Dirt Work! Geo technical Reports! L&I! Inspections! Looking back, we thought we knew so much, but we were pretty naive. I think that helped us make this huge change in our lives though. Three months later we had a building permit. It is now over a year since we secured the building permit and we are about to get our BIG inspection (framing/plumbing/electrical/mechanical).

Here's where we currently are with the house. I'm going to start from the beginning (luckily, I took tons of photos) and write through the process. Please let me know if you have any questions. I will answer to the best of my ability.

*We built the entire house with the exception of the foundation and putting the roofing on. We had little, I mean little, carpentry experience and we did this. If we can, so can you!



Rys



ChugiakTinkerer

Welcome ot the forum!  Can't wait to see pics from your journey.
My cabin build thread: Alaskan remote 16x28 1.5 story

rickeyleee


irontazzscaggs

What a small world. Me and my partner just purchased 2 1/2 acres by the hood canal and we are looking to build the same style house. Would be really happy to get some more insight on the process you guys went through. Thanks so much!