So what are the steps in this process?
Step 1: Get some land. Can't build a house if you don't have a place to put it. That sounds easier than it actually is. Fortunately for us, Jason's parents gave us three acres of farmland to build our dream house on. Wasn't that nice? We picked out a spot, which happened to be next to their house. Of course, in farm terms, "next to" doesn't mean the same as it does to city-dwellers. In the rent-house we live in presently, our "next-door neighbors" are quite a ways down the road. But that's one thing we love about living in the country. Call us crazy, but we just don't like living right up next to people. We like our privacy. And we've spent too many years in the country now to live any other way.
Anyhoo, after you pick out a spot, you have to have it surveyed. Lucky for us, Jason's mom got a surveyor who didn't have anything going on at the moment and came and surveyed right away. After the plat was drawn up, it had to be taken to the county recorder of deeds to be, well, recorded. Makes sense to me! :)
Step 2: Get an address. Our next item on the to-do list was to get an address, which couldn't be done until the plat was surveyed and recorded. We informed the county clerk's office of our location, giving them precise directions to the property. They then used the stakes left by the surveyor to determine the physical address of our property. However, our county only does addresses on Fridays, so we had to wait until the end of the week to get it done. We got a really cool piece of paper with our new address on it, and after all that was recorded and set up we could move on to the next step.
Step 3: Have a good idea of what you're wanting to build, and roughly how much it will cost. There is no reason at this point to get specific estimates, but before we attempted to secure financing, we wanted to know roughly what it would cost. We estimated everything high, to avoid being surprised later! We decided to go with a modular home, instead of a site-built home at this point. We looked at some floor plans, picked a company to build our home, and got some rough estimates.
Step 4: Apply for financing. This seemed like a long process, but looking back on it I guess it wasn't really all that bad. But while you're waiting to know if you've been approved, it seems like the time passes v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y! After looking into several lenders, we decided to go with the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Housing Development program. The program is designed to help families build or purchase homes in rural areas. Well, our site definitely qualifies as rural! They have two loan programs, direct and guaranteed. Guaranteed is run through a regular lender, and direct is funded by Congress. To qualify for direct, you have to be in the lower income section of your county. Even though Jason makes more than enough to provide for us, we qualify for the direct because we're a single-income family. (Not that all single-income families would qualify of course. I mean, if your single-income earner is Bill Gates, you're probably not going to get the money. But then again, you probably don't need it either!) :) After the first round of paperwork to determine pre-eligibility, we filled out a 13-page application to determine final eligibility, and had to take (and pass) a first-time homebuyer's education course online. A few weeks later, I received a phone call informing us that we had been determined eligible. After some celebratory jogs around the yard while shouting "We're going to be homeowners!" at the top of my lungs, I settled down and called my husband to share the fabulous news with him. He was at work, so he toned his celebrations down a notch, but nonetheless we were both over the moon! But this was only the beginning . . .
Step 5: Finalize house plans and get specific estimates. We didn't receive the full amount we'd requested, so some changes had to be made. Fortunately for us, those changes were pretty easy and we didn't have to make any changes to the house plan itself. Yay! Jason decided to do all the finish work to the house after it was delivered and set up. In doing so, we saved almost $6000. He has a week's vacation left to use before the middle of November, so he's going to take a week off and finish some odd jobs that need to be done for the house to be finished. Even though most of the house is completed, the house still has to be delivered to us in two sections. So some finish work has to be completed inside and out to make it look seamless. The ends of the house, for example, have to have the siding attached after it's delivered. Also, any drywall crossing the middle (technical term is the "marriage wall") has to be finished and blended in with the rest. If there are any interior doors in the marriage wall area, they can't be hung until the house is delivered and set up. Little things like that. Nothing that Jason can't handle, and it won't take too much time. Besides that, with a week's vacation to use up and almost $6000 to save it's a no-brainer.
Step 6: Get specific estimates on foundation/basement, septic system and well. After the house is priced, you can subtract that from the money you're getting and see how much you have left for all this stuff. The basement costs are going to be our most expensive item other than the house, but if you do your homework it doesn't have to be so bad. Number one, we asked for recommendations. Jason knows a guy who works for a big-time construction company in our area and he recommended a couple of guys. We knew that we were limited by our budget, so we ruled out the big construction guys because they don't need our business in order to make a healthy living. Therefore, they wouldn't be willing to come down in their price any. Also, the chances of them being able to work us in (pretty much immediately) was probably not going to happen. So Jas met with one of the guys his friend recommended, and they got back to us with an estimate that we could live with. Best part was, they could start soon. That was also really important. He also talked to a septic guy and a well guy, and got estimates on those as well. (Are there no women in our area doing construction, well, or septic systems? Come on ladies . . . represent!) :)
Step 7: Putting it all together. This is the tricky part. You know how much the lender is willing to give you, and you have prices on the house, the foundation, the septic system, and the well. Oh, and the electric company. I forgot to mention them in step 6, but unless service has already been run to your property, that's something else you will have to figure in to your overall budget. So we crunched some numbers. Then we got back with the home builder and crunched a few more.
Step 8: Get lender to approve construction loan. Once we got everything to an amount we could live with, we took all our information to the lender to get our specific plan approved. Remember, just because you've been determined "eligible" for a certain amount doesn't mean your particular loan has been approved. The lender still has to look over your plans, estimated cost sheets, land site, etc. before approving your construction loan. This is where we're at right now, waiting for our plans to be approved. Once that happens and we get the money, we can order our house and start on the excavation. Stay tuned! :)
