Hi all, Just wanted to chime in on this thread. I am starting my 3rd self-built home project. (Yes, I need to have my head examined) I run a remodeling company so it's not completely insane. Previous comments about kitchens and baths being core expenses are right on the money--- so to speak. They are expensive. Building one in an apartment and then a new one in your finished house is really shooting yourself in the foot. Try this instead. Build with the foot print of a 3 car garage, say 38 x 25, but only utilize the space a two car garage would generally take up as garage space--- 25x25. Use the 25x10 part to put your permanent stair, a foyer and your permanent kitchen in. Now you can think of the space over the garage as a second story of your finished home. You can get 2-3 bed rooms and a bonus out of the space with a hall bath. Unless you really need an apartment this approach can save a bunch of cash. Someone was asking about standing seam metal roofing. If you use the commercial folks you see on TV expect to be asked to pay $65 a square foot. I had one come out and give me a quote just to check it out. It was a real manipulative "hard sell" with all these "bonuses" and "programs" available "if you sign today." Be very careful. No matter how you slice it it's a rip. Either HD or Lowes will special order metal roofing for you. Its's not hard to install. (Be careful, wear sneakers and don't bend down on your knees, it is really slick.) If this is your forever house, install 40 year architectural asphalt. It looks nice and will likely outlive me. Good Luck and Be careful out there! Bruce

Online sites we used- Overstock.com IraWoods.com eFaucets.com wayfair.com ebay.com For your toilets, tubs, sinks, faucets, etc. I definitely recommend going to your local kitchen/bath/plumbing showrooms and inquire about what they may have in the back or in a bargain bin. Sometimes you will have to listen to a spiel about the great deals they have out front and ask again about closeouts or things that were ordered wrong, overstocks, etc that they may have in the back before they get the message that you know those pieces exist and you are only interested in those items. We got a top of the line Kohler tub with all the bells and whistles that was a floor model for 10% of retail (yes, 10% so we got a 90% discount). Our kitchen sink was 50% off, our bathroom sinks were purchased for 5-10% of retail (some were 5% and the others were 10%--so a 90-95% discount) & our custom shower fixture setup was 55% off. These deals were all gotten in the showrooms with no haggling at all. The only item that was discounted because it was discontinued was the shower fixture setup, everything else is still current and available today at full retail. Don't forget to check your area Habitat for Humanity Restores too. CEFreeman on the kitchen forums has found some totally awesome deals on brand new current style items in her local store that she posts for everyone to see. Hope this helps!

How many generations are sharing the house? We have a 3 generation household so we made sure my mother-in-law had a comfortable bedroom. Have you thought logistically about who can share a bedroom long-term when you thought about how many bedrooms you need? Is anyone planning to get married and move in with a bride within the next several years? Are they included in the 12-15 people? Will everyone be eating meals at once? Will there be space to accommodate that? Do the women in your family cook or do you hire a cook? Do you hire someone to clean? Do you send out your laundry or wash it at home? Do you need room for a dryer or do your dry it on the balcony or outside on a line in the garden? These are things the women in your family will consider in the design if they take care of household chores so if they don't hire the work out make sure you consult with them about kitchen design and whether or not the space will be easy for them to clean.

A couple of follow up points... A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. A sale today without marketing has real value. You will have access to the equity today and can use that money in the build and you will not have to worry about the difficulty of selling the home. Additionally, a sale without realtor's commission has real value. These two things give you some leeway to make a deal that nets out being better for both parties. You can give a discount because you are getting real value above the traditional sales method and if the buyer is flexible he can also get some real value. However, depending on the financial situation and your local real estate market, it is entirely possible that you will lose money doing this. You note that your house is paid off, but in a rent back situation you are going to have to make rental payments and probably at the market rate. It is entirely possible that given enough time or the right market conditions this will destroy any value you receive. ---- There are other options out there. Residential real estate has relatively few and pretty simple transactions, there are many other sales arrangements out there that are atypical for home sales but fairly standard in commercial real estate. For example, you might do an option contract on the property with a guaranteed sell by date. In that case he would pay you some amount today (usually between 5% and 10%), this secures his right to buy the property at a later date for a set amount. In a residential transaction that payment would probably be a credit toward the purchase if he agrees to complete the sale and would be held in escrow by the attorney. You agree that you will offer the property for sale no later than X date, but may offer the property for sale on any date before that with a 60 day notice (or whatever you are comfortable with). If he passes on purchasing that day he loses the money. Inspections would be done when the option contract is executed and you will have a refund period just like a typical contract but the final home sale wouldn't have an inspection or an appraisal contingency. He can still pull out at any time, he just loses the option payment he made. This protects him from things like a slowdown in the economy or a major loss of value on the home (he only risks the option payment he made), and incentivizes his going through with the sale. It also means you don't have to make rental payments. ----- I used to do options in rental properties quite often. Frankly, I just find the houses that look like they could use some money and offer them a few thousand dollars for the option to match any offers when/if they sell. Nine out of ten times they just call me up and ask for an offer before they even call a realtor and I get multiple properties close together over a period of a few years which really lowers my costs. Note: To relieve my conscience I only make fair offers, I am not trying to take advantage of people and although that certainly costs me money, I do sleep better at night. I despise those people who offer pathetic amounts of money to people in desperate situations.