Hi Artemis_ma: I'm curious about the reason you've owned your lot so long. We've owned ours for 2 years, and we are still not 100% sure we will build (concerned about cost overruns, etc.). Thanks.

Congrats! We've had our lot since April of 2014 and HOPE to break ground next month. We are currently in the process of working through the budget numbers trying to cut here and there -- would love to shave off about 6-7% with some work. GC is comfortable he can and I've let him know where I can sacrifice/ defer a few luxuries. It's funny how "must haves" turn into "we really don't need that" when you put the numbers to it. Oh well, it will be a very nice home in a high end neighborhood regardless and isn't as if most (but not all) of our cuts can't be easily added later if we decide we really can't live with out. Two years will fly when you are busy planning.

Start with the Architect. s/he will probably recommend a soil study and have some ideas on placement. Do NOT count on your architect to be much help in controlling costs, but bringing in a GC early in the process will be more helpful. It is also helpful that we paid our Architect along the last couple of years just out of current earnings.

You are right about interest rates -- the rate on our first home was well over 10% in 1984. I don't recall exactly but I think the rate was between 12% and 15% back then. Wow! Today we are looking at about 3.25 (and possibly a bit lower) and we won't finance that much of the cost to build. We probably could wait and work a few more years and end up with no loan, but with current rate it would be silly to wait. The loan to value will be someplace between 25 to 30, meaning between the paid for lot and the cash we are putting in from the sale of our current vacation house, plus a bit we've put back for the house, will be between 70 to 75% cost to build even with a worst case appraisal. It may actually only be 20% loan with an 80% down if the appraisal is close to similar homes in our neighborhood.

Congrats! Get ready for a wild ride! We've had our lot since August and HOPE to break ground this August! When we bought the land we thought we'd be in by now.

Congratulations. Don't rush the design process because it really is the most important part. Remember changes on paper are a heck of a lot cheaper than change orders when building.

We put a deposit on our lot in March of 2015 and we just closed yesterday. We bought the lot from our builder and we're about 3 weeks to a month from breaking ground.

Congratulations!!!! Enjoy the process!!!!

Yes, take advantage of the time to really study your lot before just plopping a house down on it. We owned our rural property for 5 years before we started developing it. The house design and siting was carefully integrated with the exposure and topography. After living here a while- It works! Also- study your land some before clearing it. Trees take a LONG time to grow, and if you have some nice specimens, you might want to preserve them. You can't let trucks and construction equipment drive underneath them, or they may die a few years down the road.

With the constraints on your property, select an architect with experience with similar sites and has done previous designs you like.