https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Thu, 16 Jul 2026 08:20:42 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581414 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:15:32 +0000 doodlepoodle 581414@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Yoyo: Oh yeah! Angie's list...I'm totally signing up and checking them out! Great suggestion!! </p> <p>I really do well making decisions if I just have a few options, give me a ton and I'll over-analyze every piece "Oh but that door has a curve in the grain of the wood" "Oh, do I like the scroll or the straight?" UGH! Just tell me what to do! :) </p> <p>I think DH really was sold on the idea because of the fact we wouldn't need to upgrade in 5 years like we did (are) with our first house. I grew up moving a lot, he'd only lived in 2 houses his whole life before college and they were on the same plot of land so he doesn't want to move J a lot! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581413 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:10:11 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 581413@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babyjmama: That's good. Definitely still do some Google searches/Angie's List and what not just to confirm, though. </p> <p>I'm also champagne on a beer budget, so I hear ya. And yeah, it would be easier if they just said "X Y or Z" but with the exception of a few things, it was more "This is our supplier, here are things that other people have liked that will keep you in budget, but you can really get anything you like (if you're willing to pay)." Cue me not liking ANYTHING in the lighting showroom, and spending a week on manufacturer's websites to find stuff I did like ;) </p> <p>Despite the extra work, I'm glad we'll have something we're really happy with from the get-go instead of builder basic that I want to upgrade. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581404 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:03:06 +0000 doodlepoodle 581404@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Ooooh yeah, I know what you mean. Here in Kansas everything is out of date to everyone in the rest of the country, we're a bit behind on the times ;-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581401 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:01:58 +0000 doodlepoodle 581401@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Yoyo: I have a friend who built a home in the same town so I'm hoping she might have some insight! The other homes in the neighborhood are really beautiful and seem to have held up well even though none of them are over 10 years old. The company has been in business for 60+ years and is family owned, but I'm still nervous about building for some reason! I've never had free reign (so to speak) it's always someone else making the choice (generally "builder's gold" fixtures!). </p> <p>I'd have a really hard time staying within allowances. I'm a champagne girl on a beer budget, that's for sure! :) I do well with "you can have a, b or c" rather than "go to the store and pick one of 80 choices" and I think that's why I like the idea of choosing from plans rather than creating my own...? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581400 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:00:12 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 581400@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babyjmama: 14 year old homes in Florida are not exactly "older homes" they are just not trendy. For example the original build for this home had small white tile throughout, the previous homeowner replaced hardwood and oversize travertine. </p> <p>There's a DIY network show Rehab Addict and the host/designer does some fabulous older, historic home rehabs. She really honors the original style of the home while adding the modern touch. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581371 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:47:46 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 581371@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am in the process right now! We closed in December and will move in May. Basically, you need to check your builder's reputation VERY thoroughly, first and foremost. It's generally best to go with someone who does more custom work than a regional or national builder -- they don't allow you much latitude and may cut more corners to get stuff done quickly.</p> <p>It's super easy to go over allowances, especially when you have no clue what something will cost from the get-go. We have reasonably generous allowances (since we went with a custom builder) but it's still hard -- I'm looking at our lighting quote right now and we're $1000 over and definitely didn't get anything extravagant! Also, they can be sneaky on what is/is not included. Our appliance allowance didn't figure in the cost of a fridge, for instance. Um, that's like $2000! And the lighting quote is also a lot of stuff like wiring, cans, etc -- not just fixtures.</p> <p>Anyway, it can be fun picking things, but it's time-consuming and there is lots of back and forth and I would really like to be done with it all :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581365 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:46:01 +0000 doodlepoodle 581365@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: I wish we could rely on a nicely renovated home, the area we're looking in is a new "commuter" community, it's halfway between where I'll be working and the town DH will finish his degree in so it's pretty new in the past 20 years. I love love LOVE the look of modern touches in a really old home! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581340 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:31:10 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 581340@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We bought a turn key home. It is 14 years old, but the previous homeowners made some stylish changes/upgrades. Would I have made all of the same style decisions NO, but unless I could direct an architect with a really custom floorplan I am okay with not having my dream house. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581323 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:23:01 +0000 doodlepoodle 581323@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Beebug: Ok! That makes perfect sense! We'll have a really good amt to put down (almost half of the cost of the house/lot) so I can't foresee any issues getting approved...I'm hoping we'll get more out of our current home than we're anticipating but it's an older home and just needs some TLC :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581316 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:16:21 +0000 Beebug 581316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us, both builds we had until X date (usually 5 business days) to satisfy having a lawyer review the Purchase and Sale agreement, and then sending our mortgage agent our P and S agreement so she could get a rate hold and ensure we were 100% good to go on financing.</p> <p>We had different builders for each house, so each had a different deposit structure, first one was $5k deposit on offer, remainder of downpayment (whatever we could come up with, was $12k) at closing. This one is $5k at offer, $20k at 90 days after signed contract, then whatever else at closing (what we made on our current house will go into new house).</p> <p>Our "approval" for financing was based off lot price and base home price, once we did upgrades (and do them again this time) an amended purchase and sale agreement with the new purchase price will go to mortgage ppl (and lawyer) and as per our mortgage agent she did our base approval for $100k more than base price just so we had peace of mind that we were well qualified and could do "whatever" for upgrades (we'll prob do $30k or so in upgrades).</p> <p>Ummm does that help? I know when we looked into more "from scratch" building we had a builder who would hold the mortgage (lot and house price for $10k until closing and then either hold mortgage for us once we took possession or transfer where we wanted mortgage, but so long as we had approval for whatever we wanted to do for house + upgrades he'd hold it for us until house was ready...! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581298 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:07:17 +0000 doodlepoodle 581298@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Beebug: That's not a terrible timeline! Building has been really slow here so they said it would probably be closer to 4 months from signing of the contract. </p> <p>Now I have another question (that I know will get answered but I like talking to you gals!;)<br /> How does the closing work? Do they build going off of what you were approved for by the bank and you have a contract then close with the $$ at the end? Down payment? I'm sure that seems like a silly question but I've never been involved and I'm getting super excited about the possibility of not having to sit in a bathtub that somebody else's ass has touched! ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581294 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:04:19 +0000 Beebug 581294@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@babyjmama: we close Aug 29th! So not far off what you were given! Bigger builders in our area are into 2014 closings already (insane!) and where we are our build to closing timeline is probably the best there is outside of buying off inventory or model home! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581285 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:00:57 +0000 doodlepoodle 581285@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Beebug: What was the time frame they gave you? They told us 5 months, which seems like a long time (emotionally, not in reality!) but we were looking at some short sales too which are the exact opposite of the name...so time frame would probably be similar. We'd be in this house a LONG time (can't say forever but it could be!) but our taste is pretty vanilla anyway so we probably would pick a lot of "sale-able" choices :)</p> <p>@MamaBehr: This company builds a lot of subdivisions so I'm assuming they do the same. What I was thinking is just go through the list of options, pick everything I'd WANT then start trimming down to what we could actually afford LOL! :) I know they do the one year warranty too! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581278 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:58:43 +0000 yoursilverlining 581278@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We had trouble finding land where we wanted; and then this new build hit the market with even nicer touches than our builder had quoted us. We really wanted out of our former house, so the timing was perfect!</p> <p>I think the absolute best way to go about building is to hire a retired contractor to act as agent on your behalf so you don't have to wonder about the deal you're getting.</p> <p>Building is exciting though, good luck! :D </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581270 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:55:08 +0000 MamaBehr 581270@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So we didn't build our house, but walked into the model home as they were putting it on the market. But I know that my builder is very clear about different price differences and brackets. Like this is the base model, for this much extra money you can choose from these options, etc</p> <p>And, if you buy new you get a warranty! That was amazing the first year, if anything is broken or works funny they fix it! Even though our house was the model home and three years old when we moved in, we still needed to use the warranty more than five times. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581265 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:52:49 +0000 Beebug 581265@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our second new build (as you just commented in my thread!) will be on its way up this Spring!</p> <p>We got the call today and booked appt for Monday to look at what counter's, cupboards, etc SO excited, but with this being our lifer house I feel more pressure to make the right choice, current house we made pretty for resale (and it paid off!) But now it's like.....what do we reallllly want! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581254 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:48:41 +0000 doodlepoodle 581254@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yoursilverlining: Thanks for your input! Did you decide to buy new instead of build to avoid any headaches? I'm going to look up the company and see what I can find out about them, great suggestion! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581231 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:35:46 +0000 yoursilverlining 581231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We were planning to build before we bought new. Research any contractor; some states don't require contractors to be licensed; some do. Check to see if any complaints have been filed against him.</p> <p>Using a single contractor for all finishing touches instead of subbing out that work on your own is generally going to be a fair bit more expensive and will limit your options. It's also less headache; so it's a trade off. </p> <p>He should be able to customize any plans as well as any finish work; and I would seek outside quotes before signing paperwork. One thing to watch out for is your allowances. If you just get "20k allowance for woof floors" and they don't really itemsize for you each and every cost for floor ahead of time, you don't know if what you pick/get is 20k worth of flooring, or more like $15k.</p> <p>The awesome thing about building new is getting what you want, and that you can also make use of new green technologies. I would inquire about those options as well. The initial build is the easiest/cheapest time to install some of those systems. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/anyone-built-a-home#post-581187 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:16:40 +0000 doodlepoodle 581187@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DH and I are relocating since I got an awesome job about an hour and a half away and he'll be going to school about 20 minutes away from my job (as a bonus my parents/brother/our best friends &amp; god sons are up there! yay!). We're selling our house and are looking at buying up there since we know we'll be there a long time. The houses we're looking at are okay, well, they're nice don't get me wrong, just not the finishes/location I'd choose for myself. </p> <p>Today I found out that there's a contractor who owns a few streets and builds homes for people with the choice from a few plans and you choose finishes and such. Has anyone else done this? He quoted me a general price over the phone but I didn't go into details with him. Did anyone start this process and end up spending WAY more than what they were originally quoted? </p> <p>I love the idea of getting to choose the color of the flooring, counters, etc. Every house we've seen we think "Well...we could change that eventually..." </p> <p>We'd be pushing our top budget but DH only has 2 more years in school and after that we'd pretty much be rollin' in the dough compared to the frugal lifestyle we have now on my measly salary :) </p>