My lease runs through May. I’m already beginning to watch the real estate market here in Saratoga Springs. My plan is to buy a house in the very early spring. I have a number of options - I can buy right in Saratoga Springs and walk to work, but I’ll be in a very crappy house in a very suburban ‘jammed up against the neighbors’ setting. I could live with this - the ability to walk to work and to dinner in town is really compelling, I was very envious of my peers at Bowdoin who could do this. I could also buy in the surrounding region and, as with Bowdoin, commute for 20 minutes or so to work. This could possibly get me a waterfront home on the Hudson, but it would put me far away from the conveniences like shopping and dining, and while I lived with a 20 minute commute for at least 7-8 years (4+ heading north to Bowdoin and 3-4 heading south to Portland), I would love to be rid of it. Or there’s one other option - I could build my own house after buying some land in Saratoga Springs or right near it. If I chose this latter route I could choose to do something really interesting and build a really unique home, say something like this (that site is great btw, they post all kinds of interesting and novel stuff). I’d definitely go for the double unit if I went with that model.
I’ve ordered the book I linked to, and over the next couple of months I’ll need to decide how I want to do this. The wrinkle with buying the land is that I probably can’t get that done and the house built by May when my lease runs out. My landlords are pretty cool and might let me stay a bit longer if I need to but I’d rather not have to go through that if I can avoid it.
So. More as things develop. I have to say right now I’m leaning towards the $150k house inside the city limits, with the walk to work, and use it as an investment, it’s bound to increase in value and I can move in a few years into a house I build, or onto the water up north somewhere.
well, you listened to a lot of my griping during the building process, so you know it can be challenging. Here’s some advice, but we can talk more about it …
- build when you have time to be around. Don’t let someone else gloss over decisions that you need to really think through.
- think carefully about what direction to face your house. solar heat can be great if you do it right and fuel costs are very high.
- don’t skimp to save a buck and regret it. We did that on some things like a breezeway between house and garage (mistake!) Saving 6-7k on a 250k house is kinda silly and it can damage the overall value of the house.
- leave some rooms unfinished … don’t pay to have sheetrock hung when you can do it yourself over time.
- lumber and materials are very expensive right now. not sure about land, you could buy land first and secure it then save up to build.
- don’t build on a big ass hill
- plan a backup heating source like a woodstove (remember the ice storm, that would have been nice! oh wait, I was in California! LOL)
I could go on and on, I’ll spam you later instead of your blog
At the end of all the hassles, we made a lot of equity in the house. But that was a bit of an anomoly. Try to find out what people are paying to build and what the values of the homes in those areas are. A good realtor can help you with that and set you up with a build package too.
8 months isn’t much time, especially if you have no plans or anything yet.
k, I’m done.
oh wait .. one last thing .. DON’T save money by doing the painting yourself. Painting sucks. Pay someone else to do it, you’ve earned at least that much!
well, you listened to a lot of my griping during the building process, so you know it can be challenging. Here’s some advice, but we can talk more about it …
- build when you have time to be around. Don’t let someone else gloss over decisions that you need to really think through.
- think carefully about what direction to face your house. solar heat can be great if you do it right and fuel costs are very high.
- don’t skimp to save a buck and regret it. We did that on some things like a breezeway between house and garage (mistake!) Saving 6-7k on a 250k house is kinda silly and it can damage the overall value of the house.
- leave some rooms unfinished … don’t pay to have sheetrock hung when you can do it yourself over time.
- lumber and materials are very expensive right now. not sure about land, you could buy land first and secure it then save up to build.
- don’t build on a big ass hill
- plan a backup heating source like a woodstove (remember the ice storm, that would have been nice! oh wait, I was in California! LOL)
I could go on and on, I’ll spam you later instead of your blog
At the end of all the hassles, we made a lot of equity in the house. But that was a bit of an anomoly. Try to find out what people are paying to build and what the values of the homes in those areas are. A good realtor can help you with that and set you up with a build package too.
8 months isn’t much time, especially if you have no plans or anything yet.
k, I’m done.
oh wait .. one last thing .. DON’T save money by doing the painting yourself. Painting sucks. Pay someone else to do it, you’ve earned at least that much!
I would say start with getting the closer in house, then rent it later when you are ready to build the other one.