How is Your Planning Progressing?
I love the How is your build progressing thread. But while many of the folks frequenting this board are actively in the process of building, there are also many of us in the planning stages (and even dreaming stages) so I thought it might be fun to start a monthly thread for the planners amongst us similar to the monthly "How is your build progressing" thread. Certainly the "builders" are (and others not in the planning stages are free to comment) and offer advice, but I'd love to see how the other planners are proceeding in a monthly "How is your Planning progressing" thread as kind of a mutual support group among those of us who have yet to break ground and as we go we can toast those as they move into the actual building stage.
I'll start with a recap of where we are in the process and how we got there. Sorry this is long to begin with, but I promise to stick to "updates" in the future. We are building a duplex at a ski area in the Colorado mountains with out DD (our only) and SIL. They met there and have lived there since DD graduated from university, are fully integrated into the community (small town of about 12,000 full time residents). DH and I currently live 1200 miles away in the South, but have visited the town often for 31 years have owned property out there for almost 20 years, so the town has been a second home to us. Since they married the 'kids' have been living in our current vacation home. DH and I both plan to retire in about 2 years and hope the new house will be ready then.
Steps we have taken:
1. Started thinking about this in 2010 and saved like crazy the last six years fortunately we have made very significant progress, while not ignoring retirement savings.
2. Purchased a lot we love in 2014 and got a great deal. This was a slow market to recover and we seem to have caught the market at the bottom. Purchased it at about 35% of the original list price, after multiple price drops, it got to an acceptable level so we tool the leap. A few months later the owner of the remaining lots, sensing the recovery had started in earnest and this subdivision was becoming the "it" place in the mountain area, started raising the list price on the remaining lots so significantly to the extent that the lot next to ours (which had been listed at $15,000 less than our lot at the time we bought our lot) sold last year for $95,000 MORE than what we paid.
3. Engaged an architect and have met with him several times while we were in town. We are at the stage we are tweaking floor plans. Just got the preliminary elevation sketch below and absolutely love it. The first is angled to show our side, while the second shows the kids' side.
4. Interviewed builders and found one we feel comfortable with and have him on board to start when we are ready.
5. We want to sell our current home out there because we aren't comfortable starting the build until we sell the existing vacation home, we have met with our realtor and plan to list by mid March. She actually suggested a listing price $75.000 more than we were expecting and we know her to be conservative. Unfortunately, DOM in our price rand is 3-4 months, but we are in a great location.
6. Investigated construction loans. We had a good meeting at local bank we use out there and it has a good product, got interest rate, one time close and converts to a 10 year ARM after. CO. Lender doesn't anticipate any problems because under any set of circumstances (see below), it will be very low loan to however, hopefully, by the time we finish, we will have sold our home in the South and another property here and will have little, if any, to convert to perm even if the price is 25% more than planned.
7. Not build related, but definitely move related, we've convinced my Mom (85) to move to a lovely senior living community about a half mile from our building site when we move. When I first mentioned it to her, she knew it was the smart thing to do and rather reluctantly agreed to take a look. The last two times she visited out there, she visited the place and she is really warming to the idea.
Next steps:
1. Huge one: We really only have a very rough idea as to price to build, so we really need to nail that down. As soon as we get the plans finalized and engineer review, the GC will give us some harder numbers. We've given him a number we are shooting for and he thinks he can get us there, but we are prepared for it to be about 25% over and realistically can handle that fine. Much more than that, while probably doable, may take us out of the comfort zone and cause us to reevaluate the plan.
2. When we sell the house, the kids will have to move into a rental -- and those are hard to find in the area, but they are well connected and have a few options that they can fall back on if necessary.
3. Subdivision design review and permitting. Architect is the DRB consultant for the subdivision and doesn't anticipate a problem since our design is well within the guidelines and we won't be asking for any variances that could slow down permitting.
4. We are slowly getting our house here in the South ready to sell and DH has taken steps towards marketing his practice. Hopefully this plus savings over the next two tears w I'll leave us mortgage free.
Where are you in the process? Anything about our plans jumps out to you as off?
The lot (only the center is mowed)
The creek behind to lot at low water.
The creek at high water and the back of the house two lots downstream.
Preliminary front elevation for our side:
Comments (24)
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It's November - How's Your Build Progressing
Comments (38)Well we are moving along - I hope that December will be our last month posting in these threads. We had our utilities hooked up over the last few days - today the gas lines were being set. I thought I would post a few photos updated our progress. So far the biggest delays have been the concrete polishing. We originally choose a finish polished to 1500 grit and after seeing the bathrooms and laundry room done to this level we decided to scale it back a bit and do more of a satin finish of 400 grit. In order to go to 1500 grit we would need to polish deeper into the slab which would reveal more aggregate and we didn't like that. Knowing that now we might have spread special glass or decorative aggregate when the slab was poured. The 400 grit finish is still very shiny, and while not perfectly flay is a bit easier on the eyes, and in the long run may be more forgiving for cleaning. Photos Below... Outside Views Concrete floor finish at 400 grit: Upstairs Flooring & Kitchen Cabinets:...See MoreIt's July 2015 - How is your build progressing?
Comments (2)I missed it. Must have been because I'm tired from the dog keeping me up last night because of the storms....See MoreMarch -- How is Your Planning Progressing?
Comments (6)Sabrina -- sounds like we're in about the same place. So far, getting our two houses ready to list is the hardest part -- the rest is pretty exciting! Stanley -- you'll be graduating to the How is your Build progressing soon! Be sure to come back and visit here! Cpartist -- just figured out your name -- colored pencil artist! I've been following your progress and sounds like you hit a home run on the additional land! The slight delay that may cause should be well worth it! You are probably still ahead of us. Just depends on how lucky we get on getting this house sold. Our rear rendering (front was on previous thread) Looks big, but remember this is a duplex -- left side of this pic is our side and the right is for DD and DSIL. Total square footage is about 5071, not counting unfinished walkout basements, divided about 2630 (us) and 2440 them. Edited to add: KTDH -- time flies -- I promise! Sounds like you are building from a distance like us. We're here now, but won't be back until Memorial Day week. Pics of the lot view from this morning:...See MoreIt's February, 2017- How is your build progressing?
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mojomom
8 years ago
sabrinatx
8 years agoscone911
8 years ago
DLM2000-GW
8 years ago
cpartist
8 years agomojomom
8 years ago
Daisy
8 years ago
ILoveRed
8 years agomushcreek
8 years ago
Ktdh
8 years agoscone911
8 years agoKtdh
8 years ago
just_janni
8 years agomojomom
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoKtdh
8 years agoThanks mojomom your lot looks really stunning. We are an hour from Denver.
This will be our view from the deck. We can't wait to break ground.
mojomom thanked Ktdhmojomom
8 years agomojomom
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoStanley Ridge
8 years agoFun to see some fellow CO folks here. We are building about 2 hrs west of Denver. Currently going through final steps of the construction loan approval and hope to break ground in March.
mojomom thanked Stanley Ridge
Ktdh