Well, the blue prints have been finalized, the building bids are in, and everything is ready to go…..except us. We’ve been slowly pushing back the build date because of financial fears. We’ve been through bankruptcy once, many years ago, whoever thought giving an 18 year old $10,000 worth of credit on a minimum wage job was a moron! We sank ourselves within 2 years of ever getting our hands on credit. It has been a long road to rebuild but we finally did and we’re never going down that road again. So any credit purchase since has been a scary task for us. For many years we lived off of the rule that if we couldn’t purchase it in cash, we didn’t really need it. But everyone knows that isn’t the truth, it’s all fine and dandy when you’re doing apartment living.
Back on topic…we redid the floor plans to shave a foot off of two walls to lower the house price by 20k, a must if we were going to finish the basement like planned. That’s where our son’s bedroom and my office will be. Now that that part is done our builder and agent…he multitasks is ready to break ground. But like I said, we’re hesitant. Since we put our house on the market just a few months ago, about 10 other homes just in our tiny neighborhood went up for sale creating a not so friendly selling competition. Which at one point resulted in missing home for sale signs (OUR SIGNS). Evidently people paying a realtor big bucks don’t like us Home for Sale By Owner folks.
Long story short, we’re meeting with the builder tonight to decide once and for all. If we move forward, ground will start breaking and he will also take over the selling of our home.
I’m nervous on several levels.
1. What if our house sells before the new one is built? We’ll have to live in an apartment for lord only knows how long all while very pregnant and through the holidays.
2. If our house doesn’t sell, not really a big deal. He’ll just put the one we built on the market until it sells or ours does and start back at the beginning.
3. Our house payment will nearly double. Financially, that will be a tough one to pull but is doable with my husband working overtime until I can get my business back in full force. I’m still making decent money but not as good as I was last year when I actually worked on the business part time.
Up there in the corner, that’s the house we’re having built, only the brick will be shifted from the side of the home to the entire 2 story part that sticks out, and our garage will be turned around to face the front with only 2 doors. Oh and the colors will be different.
Buying a house is big but exciting too. Sounds beautiful!
That is a beautiful house. Honestly though, I would put it off for right now. I have been in contact with the realtor that helped us buy our house (we became good friends through the process) and she told me that witht he economy in the state it is in, she is barely making any money (homes aren’t selling). She said that due to loan restrictions, people can no longer do zero down type senarios and they are required to put down 3.5 % of the balance. Now that is in our market but the chances are that it is the case country wide right now. I have seen houses in my area sit on the market for years.
The reason why people don’t like for Sale by Owner is that the agent has to be the one in contact with you to be able to get paid. If you are being represented by another realtor and agency, it will be listed in RMLS and be free for all agents to look at and then deal with the selling company. When it is listed for Sale By Owner, because of legal issues, the agent has to be the one to contact you or they cannot make a commission. We made the mistake of contacting a for sale by owner on our own and the agent told us she couldn’t represent us in buying the house. No writing an offer, no dealing with the seller and banks, nothing. I sure wouldn’t want to deal with that on my own!
I know that this whole economic crisis could last a few more weeks or a few more years. I just think that with things being so uncertain (including state/city funding for your husband’s job) that you should hold off on building. Make sure that there is no chance he is going to get laid off because of funding cuts. Make sure the economy is at a place where you are sure you can make the money you need from your business. I know a lot of self employed people who have suddenly been left with no work because people can’t afford to pay them.
That being said, if you still want to build the house, you can write into the acceptance offer (if your house sells) that the closing date can’t fall until you move. I suppose that would depend on how long it is going to take to build the house. You can also do things like open houses to get people through your house to try and get it sold. You can look online at the houses for sale in your neighborhood and try to improve your house so that it stands out. Honestly though, like I said, I would just wait another couple of months to see how to economy is doing.
Sarah, thanks so much for the great response.
A couple of points I did miss was that we aren’t contracted to buy the house if he builds it, we just get to design and have first dibs at buying it. If our home doesn’t sell, he’ll put it on the market 30 days after it’s built for someone else to buy.
Cat,
That is good to hear but I am a little confused. Why would be custom build a house without a buyer if you guys can’t buy it? I mean, who is paying him to do it? Aren’t you supposed to be paying him for the labor and what not? Just confused lol.
LOL Sarah, it is a bit confusing. Basically, this company owns just about every lot in our developing subdivision. He’s currently building several other homes here at the moment. We are contracting him to build the home, but as part of the contract the home is only ours if our home sells, the down payment is tied into our house. If we don’t buy it when it’s completed he just simply puts it on the market. It’ll be one of very few 2 story homes in the neighborhood so it’s no skin off his back if we don’t buy it, someone else will. His homes never stay on the market more than a few months. In the meantime, he’s also going to be our realtor and sell our current home commission free because if he does sell it he’ll get an even bigger commission from us buying the house he built.