New and dreaming...

[MegR]

I am a "newbie" ...hehe....and I must say I am so impressed with all of these beautiful homes you guys built yourselves! WOW!

I joined up on this forum today for an obvious reason, my husband and I are seriously trying to figure out and plan what our next step is in life. We just moved into a new home in a new town less then one year ago-due to a job change. We love this town and this home, but we are in a bit over our heads with the mortgage payment, high utilities , etc etc. We have two small boys and we just don't want to blow our money away every month on the house and living in it! It is our biggest home together yet, a little over 2000 sq ft. We thought we "needed" this extra space with the boys growing and what not. We are a pretty simple family, we do not have many "things" to fill this house...and we realize we actually do not "need" the extra space as much as we thought..and the cost to live here is just not worth it to us! So, we have been talking about our options. Downsizing a bit. My husband is amazing with finances and a great saver. We would like to be able to pay cash for our next house and not have a mortgage if we can! We know of some land for cheap that we are looking into right now. We may go ahead and purchase the land now..and then plan this project over the next 2 or 3 years and save up a little for it. I wish we were as amazing as all of you are and had the time and the skill to build it ourselves! I am not sure about that part..but...we are going to look around and are hoping to maybe find some nice Amish fella's (we are in lancaster county pa ) that would like to help us with this project. My husband is good in wood working..so he can probably make our cabinets and do some of it...but other parts he just doesn't feel he would have the time or skill. We have NO clue what the cost of this would look like in the end..but we are aiming for around 50-80,000 MOST. If we could spend less..that would be amazing.

The thought of not having a mortgage payment and cutting down on our utilities and living even MORE simply then we do now is so inviting! Even though we have some years before this would happen I have started looking at our home options and plans. I LOVE the Victoria Cottage and have enjoyed looking at the photo's from those who are working on theirs. BEAUTIFUL! To live in this home would be a dream come true I am wondering if we have a basement (husband would like a garage if possible and affordable) if that would help with space and storage for a family of 4. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the upstairs loft rooms and the options there..and also the extra side room...that you can add a loft there as well. I am already dreaming about making that room our office (we homeschool) and making the loft above our little bedroom or sleeping quarters.  We have such a big bedroom here and while it is beautiful..it feels like wasted space to me! What I also love about that type of home is that as we "age" or if something unfortunate happens, we can turn the "office/study" room into our bedroom and be on one level. That is very inviting!

Having your price list is helpful! It helps me to see how much and what we can do on our own..and possibly what I can expect to have help with it. Which I know is going to up the price quite a bit.

Sorry for rambling....this is so new to us and while I am so excited about the possibilities...I am nervous and curious and wondering and unsure all at once!! This forum is very helpful

Until the next adventure...

Meghan

[Squirl]

I love Lancaster.  I heard land is getting pretty expensive there.  Congratulations if you found some cheap.  Beware of really cheap land in an expensive area though. I know Lancaster was once one of the largest manufacturing cities in the country.  There are many salvage materials for sale there, especially old industrial ones and bricks out the wazoo.  There are a few building codes built in for the Amish there too.

I also agree that with the concept of a smaller home and out buildings.  They can be cheaper to build and you don't need to spend all that money to heat and cool all that stuff.  If you are especially interested in saving on utilities, look at some of the simpler "green" building options, such as high insulation or passive solar.  These can be low to no cost extra when building a house from scratch as opposed to retrofitting. 

I don't know how old your boys are, but you would be surprised how much work can get done when everyone pitches in.  Many hands make light work.  My father used to take me on jobs when I was 6-8.  I would go around and pick up all the nails he dropped and help keep things neat and clean around.  There are a few stories around here of whole families that built their house.  Builders make a profit through economies of scale.  They can contract out a lot of work on a constant basis and get great prices.  This is a lot of what makes up the cost of the house.  50-80K Is a little lower than I have seen by others that higher most of the work out.  Does that include the cost of the land?

There are many that are happy to give advice and answer any questions.  Since you are at the planning stage, there is a lot of advice in the buying land part of the forum.

[Jeff922]

First of all good for you to realize that you don't need a large home.  It is certainly against the grain of American culture which is constantly screaming at us "MORE!, BIGGER!, LARGER!".  Most people lack the confidence to go smaller.  You guys must have both feet firmly on the ground.  When I was younger and new to all this stuff, an older, wiser friend told me that everything will always "take twice as long and cost twice as much as you expect".  For the most part he was right.  But your $50,000 - $80,000 concept may be attainable.  My Victoria's  is going to come in around $80,000  (that's total:  land, septic, well, EVERYTHING).  Full disclosure, I've been working on this full-time for about a year and a half.  You are wise to seek advice here early on (something I wish I'd done).  Good luck, you can do it!

P.S.  I'm from Jersey Shore PA

[MegR]

Thanks so much guys! Since posting that...we have brainstormed quite a bit. We are going to take on this adventure! whoohoo! But, since it is 3-5 yrs out...we have time to TAKE OUR TIME...to plan, to price things, to educate ourselves, to be informed so there are few surprises that pop up. We have started a savings plan/idea that will probably take us that 3-5 yrs to save for..BUT..we are willing to be patient with it in order to have a home paid for and cut down on utilities! We realize there are many things we do not know about yet and we do not expect this to be easy or fun the entire way. We do have our feet firmly on the ground We are very realistic people..but we also believe that with smart saving, dedicated work and time, it can happen! The land that we found is actually in a village near us (have you heard of Stoutsburg Village in Adamstown , PA?) Well, the builder wants out of the project and they are selling land for a short time for really cheap. It's great land, with the public water hookups and all. We feel we need to act on this opportunity since once it goes on the MLS (we got the inside scoop from our realtor) it will be eaten up quick probably! Or else, the price may go up on the land eventually. We will buy the land now..and then wait the proper time to save and begin building.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!! I probably will be posting as time goes on for some tips

Meghan

(oh and Jeff , Jersey shore-is that located close to Williamsport? I went to school at Penn Tech and I thought I passed a sign for Jersey shore on the way Where are you building your Victoria? Your pictures are great and encouraging!)

[glenn kangiser]

Meghan.

Looking forward to keeping up with your adventure. 

[PA-Builder]

...  Jersey shore-is that located close to Williamsport? ...

Not Jeff, but yes, Jersey Shore is in Lycoming County about 20 miles west of W'port.

I'm about 100 miles west of Lancaster along US30 ...  small world !!!

[Squirl]

Wow.  I just read your post.  I have been away for a while.  Almost everything of your post screamed red flags to me.  I may be skeptical, but in my line of work I see scams all day long.
The "you have to act now" point is first.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, sells anything cheaper if they could easily get more money for it.  If the builder has it listed with a real estate agent, putting it on the MLS, doesn't cost the builder anything extra, they have to pay the agents commission either way.
Also, you know their price.  If it goes on the listing later, you can always offer them that price again.
Also the land is a few miles from 3 cities (Reading, Lancaster, and Pottstown) and only a few minutes from the PA turnpike and in between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.  I know someone in selling a few acres just outside of Pottstown for a few million dollars. If it's too good to be true, it usually is.  Just ask any investor in a ponzi scheme.

How much land are we talking?
The fact that it has public water says that it may be in a subdivision or development.  This area would be the yellow flag area.  Normally developments have quasi-government agencies called home owners associations.  You can look to many people's posts here, there are normally building requirements in addition to all normal government ones. Typical ones are:
You must build a minimum sq. ft. house. Typical requirements are from 1200-2000 sq. ft.
You must hook up to public utilities.
You must build what they allow.
You must groom your lawn or take care of land the way they say so.
You must build facing the street.
You must pay association fees.

Many of these can be counter to what you are looking for.  Some developments divide large fixed costs (snow removal, public utilities, etc.) between residents.  If you are one of the only residents, you could be stuck with this.  I have seen this strategy in the Poconos a lot.  A developer would come in, and subdivide the land into small lots and build a development.  But nobody will buy a lot in a development with nobody else in it, because of the large fixed costs.  So builders would give away the first few lots to get people to come in and build to attract other buyers.  In the end you may not be any better off than you are now, with a large house with even higher utilities.

Sorry, I'm not trying to be a downer. Good Luck.

[cabinfever]

Hi Meghan - I've tried to chronicle how much I've spent at my blog - www.newenglandcabin.blogspot.com. We spent about 27,000 on 3 acres, and are currently up to over 70k on a 28 x 16 cabin that is about 750 sq feet. By the time we're done, I'm expecting we'll be at 90k. I've done all the work myself except for the land clearing, foundation (crawlspace w/ratslab), septic, well and roof sheathing/shingle. I don't know what land is in your area, but 80k is probably doable for 1000 sq ft if you take care of roofing and land clearing yourself. Good on you for considering cash for your home!! I wish had done this years ago...