This entire story begins with my husband's obsession with Zillow. He would stare at million dollar homes and look all over the country to see the most amount of house you could get for the least amount of money. Soon after this obsession began Jon started to entertain the idea of us buying our own home. I was NOT on board with this considering we were, at the time, only 6 months in to our first ever apartment lease. I thought there was NO WAY on earth that we could afford our own home.
I was wrong... one day after church Jon asked if we could go visit a new housing plan down the street with the argument that- the new homes being built are cheeper than if we purchased an old one. I went in very skeptical... but left saying the words, "We need to put money down on that home!" They site was already building homes, so it wasn't a custom design. However, once we chose which layout we wanted to purchase we got to customize our cabinets, countertops, floors, and carpets! We were elated, needless to say. All of the current homes that were the same price as the ours needed major updates or the layouts were something we would never want in our home.
Luckily, Jon works at a credit union and got a lot of advice from his coworkers and an awesome deal on our loan. There are apps that can help you calculate what your mortgage would be each month to see if you can afford it. Our home is only going to be a couple hundred more a month than our apartment. There are HOA community fees and other bills and things to consider, but taking the risk is always better than playing it safe in my book. We ending up building a 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage home. It is a duplex, so one wall will be touching a neighbors, but we fell in love with the space and layout of this home for the price we got! The community we are moving into is incredible too so the resale value is though the roof. There are dog parks, walking trials, a gym, pool, and PICKLE BALL COURTS! It's the perfect place for us, and we feel so blessed to be able to do this.
Steps to take based on the steps we took:
(in other words.. we are not pros)
Get PRE- APPROVED for a loan.. see how much you will be able to spend on a home based on your income and other factors.
SHOP LENDERS. Most home builders partner with a lender that will give you special deals if you use them for your home loan.. but don't be afraid to shop around for the best deal
PICK ONE- Pick which is most important to you design or house. Jon and I could have gotten a slightly larger home if we settle on not getting the things we wanted in our space (i.e. granite counters, nice cabinets)
Put EARNEST MONEY DOWN. In order for them to start building you need to have a small percentage our the home down to secure your Lot
LET THEM GUIDE YOU through their process.. You will have tons of meetings and walk throughs along the way. Speak up and don't be afraid to ask the seemingly "dumb" questions. You will never know if you don't ask.
Save up your DOWN PAYMENT. No matter if you build or buy at the time of purchase you will need to have a minimum amount of money to put down on your home... We budgeted the most amount of money we could save per paycheck to make sure we had the cash for the time our home gets done.
WATCH THE MAGIC.. You get to see your new future residence be built in front of your eyes. Sit back and enjoy the memories.