A lot of talk and no action

That is what my short lived home/land search was. A LOT of talk.

My husband and I (ok, mainly me) have decided we are going to stay in the house we live in. Why? Well, honestly, buying/building is more money than I want to spend. If we were to build/buy then I would have a shorter lived career as a stay at home mom. That is something I am not willing at this time to do. I have rather enjoyed staying home with my daughter these last 6 months and I’d like to be able to do this until she goes to school. Not possible if most of our money goes towards a new home. So, we’re here. Making memories and learning to re-love the space we have.

Instead of spending the money on a new home, any money we may save will go towards improvements in this home. After all, improvements can only raise the value of our home so that if ever the time comes we do want to sell we may be better off!

So, sorry for all the talk. I know there may have been a few people out there that were interested in seeing how I was going to use my Hobonichi to help plan and organize the home buying/building process. Don’t worry, I’ll still post on my Hobo usage 🙂

And we’re off…

After spending a few hours on the phone with a few different people it looks like we are a go for being able to finance a home! That is one bit of good news and a lot of stress off our shoulders. New stress: IRS… I don’t like them.

After talking with a NEW agent I am feeling much better about some of the options she suggested. Lesson: Don’t be afraid to call someone else if you and your Realtor aren’t meshing. This change has also helped me to feel less internal conflict and stress. My new agent really listened and explained to me the steps we needed to take and some of the options we have at the price point I gave her. Yay!

Now the hard part of finding somewhere to go… In looking on-line it appears there are not many options (that don’t cost an arm, leg and ear) at this time. I did tell my new agent friend that I may possibly not be searching correctly so hopefully she has better luck than me.

Next Steps: Look for land and fixer uppers in our preferred school district and call her if I find anything I like and want to take a look at. She suggested fixer uppers due to services already being on a piece of property and that alone could save us 10-20k in our area. I’m ok with this option until I look at fixer uppers… Scary!

So far in my A6 and A5 Hobonichi’s what I am tracking/doing: keeping my daily to-do list (including who to call) in the A6 (which is my daily to-do lists/planner/wallet) and keeping notes of conversations and actions to complete in my A5. This set up is working for me right now but being just a few conversations in we will see if it continues to work.

Step 1: Make a decision!

I don’t know about anyone else but I do some good thinking in the bath or shower! If I weren’t afraid of dropping my precious planning book (aka my Hobo) in the tub or getting it soaking wet I would have it in there with me. So last night while taking my shower I thought to myself, why am I trying to do 2 things? Why am I looking for built houses at the same time as talking about building a house?

It is actually quite difficult to do both. Why? Because if you’re talking to someone about buying land and you’re out looking at land and you’re online looking at home plans AND you’re having a Realtor send you available houses then you are not committing to either idea. Then I realized it, I needed to commit to one or the other to help focus my energies.

After getting out of the shower I sat down next to my husband and asked him which one he was more interested in doing. His thought was that he preferred to build because we’d get everything we wanted and it would be ours where we would be building brand new memories.

So ok… That is it… We are going to focus our energies on building our forever home! I’m nervous.

Next Steps: 1. Talk with financing people 2. Talk with agent about land that is available in our preferred area (as we HAVE to stay in the current school district) 3. Talk with contractor about the process.

I will begin with step 1 on Monday because without the money… Yea, you know what that would mean… But, we’re thinking positive here and whatever is meant to happen will happen!

And… for you planner people… yes I will be tracking and journaling this process in my A5 Cousin 2015 Hobonichi although all my appointments and lists will still be kept in the A6 size that I’m using as my wallet/planner combo! I’ll also be posting pictures of my Hobonichi(s) for those interested in how I’m using the Hobo(s) to keep up with everything 🙂

Our forever home search begins…

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Since it is a new year I figure I need to put some serious thought into a new start for myself and my family. Yesterday on January 1st I contacted a local Real Estate Agent to let her know that we were ready to begin looking at homes. I’m not completely comfortable with some of her ideas. My husband and I would love to be able to be mortgage free however the agent I spoke with thinks we should carry a mortgage.

“Isn’t it the American dream to be debt free?” That was my question to the agent. I think we’re going to go against the grain here and if we can be mortgage free we will be.

Then today I told her I was considering buying an acre of land and building the house we want instead. “Oh, you don’t want to do that…” is the response I got back. Now I really like the lady, I do. I have known her for years. But…

I told my husband I am not apposed to finding a different agent who will help us instead of telling us what we should and shouldn’t do. By all means, if you know something I do not know then I will hear your opinion but please don’t just tell me no I shouldn’t do something. I do feel bad if I contact another agent though. Would I be obligated to tell the agent I already contacted that we are working with someone else? I would hate that confrontation…

So moving on. I’m nervous. I keep going back and forth on the idea of finding a new home, whether we build or buy. There is so much I don’t know!! I don’t want to over pay. I don’t want to get taken by a scam artist. I want certain things and I don’t know who to talk to in order to get them. I have no idea how people who are not handy do this kind of thing! Lol!

The good thing is that I have a family member who is currently in the process of building their own home. I did talk to her and get the phone number of the contractor she is working with. I also got the agents name who they bought their property with and I am planning on putting in a call to her soon.

I would like to use this blog to keep a record of what is going on in this search. I am hoping that by Christmas of 2015 we are either moved in to a house we have bought or we are going to have purchased land and have built the home we want. Stay tuned 🙂

And so it begins…

To build or to buy? That is the question…

My husband and I have been considering a new home. In our home search we have been looking at Zillow and coming up with nada 😦

The problem is that we want either a three bedroom home that has a study or a 4 bedroom home. Also, we want it one story, not two. I had no idea this home type would be so hard to find! Apparently once people get in these homes they just don’t move out. The reason this is what we are looking for is that we are shopping for our forever home and let’s face it, if we are lucky we get old. With age may come mobility issues. For this reason I want a one story home! Also, the 2 story homes that mostly fit with what we are looking for are way too expensive and then they would still need updating and repairs. In my opinion of course. Apparently the city I want to stay in is an up and comer and it is driving home prices up? I don’t know.

Since we are having such a hard time finding a one story 4 bedroom home we have considered building. We’ve been checking out a website called Dream Home Source. Honestly, the whole process confuses me a bit. I wish the Property Brothers or the Fixer Upper people would just come and help us out! I mean, I’m in Texas so the Fixer Upper people would be perfect! Just saying… Just putting that out there… Lol! I watch way too much HGTV 🙂

The linked website is nice because it lets you put in your price and your home specifics and it shows you plans that match your criteria. We’ve had a lot of fun looking at these plans the last few days but we really need to sit down with a home builder and see what we REALLY need to do.

What I want in a new (or renovated) home:

3 bedrooms + office or a 4 bedroom home (with internet wall access in each room)

A master suite – 2 sinks in master bathroom and enough closet space for me and my husband

2 1/2 or 3 car garage (part of it will be used for storage)

A nice sized lot (an acre or close to it preferred) – in a good location to have a home business

A fireplace

A quiet street (cul-de-sac preferred) – so that kids have a safe place to ride bikes

A semi open floor plan

A nice foyer

There is more of course but I’ll have to add more to that list later. There are so many small things that get forgotten when considering what you’d want in a home. I’d like to remain a Stay at Home Mom and run an in home daycare so plans I look at are plans that will also work for my prospective  business.

Help! Lol… But no, really, if you have advice or suggestions on websites to check out or people to talk to feel free to educate me in the home buyer/home builder world.