New Guy with alot of Questions

[yakyakgoose]

Hi, Im Dave and Im an alcoholic...whoops, sorry wrong forum;)

I moved out to Denver about a year ago and was looking to buy a house but found the home prices out here to be very high compared to what I was used to in Texas and for houses that were 60 years old. Ive came across this site and browsed it many times but just thought it would be something I could do in the future but the more I look at pre owned homes the more I want to build my own. I currently rent with a lease up in May and am trying to figure out how I can pull this off. I would need to get a construction loan to buy the land and materials and would also have to have a place to live while building my home (which means paying a construction loan and rent, this scares me a bit), So, this is kinda all a jumbled mess in my head right now so Im going to list out some of my questions and then go from there.

1. Can you get a builders loan to build a cabin and buy land? I have very good credit and was preapproved to buy a house around 230k a year ago. Ive been promoted since then and should be a little more "trustworthy" financially. Note: I DO NOT want a 200k loan haha, Im thinking more around 130k for land and building.

2. Since I will have to live somewhere else while building is there an early stage I can move in before the home is actually "complete"? Estimate on time getting to this point for a guy working a 9-5?

3. Are there a lot of other builders in the Denver area that could give me a little know how if I need it so I dont end up stuck with a half finished pile of logs?

4. Am I stupid for even considering this?:)

Anyways, glad to be here and I am very appreciative of any and all feedback and answers.

[Timberwolf]

Please, please. If you take away nothing else from this site.

DON'T take a loan. Just don't. Right now I'm living a story you DO NOT want to live.

You CAN own land, you CAN build a log home.

You CAN ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY do it without a loan.

SINCERELY as I can possibly be.

Jason.

[yakyakgoose]

I would love to do that, and if it was just the building I could do that with my monthly savings...paying as I go. However, land out here is expensive and will probably increase in price faster than I can save. I've seen a lot of listings going up 20% in January. My ideal situation would be to sell the first home I build and use the profits to build a second to live in. Thus, not having a mortgage.

[BenB]

I don't see any issues with floating paper to do the dream at all. You are here and in good health and spirits today with the ability to earn money.
If you want it down now, without the uncertainties of land prices and costs in future it makes sense.
Some prefer the other way and pay as one goes and buy land that fits >insert< the plans they want to aoid a mortgage. That is really slick and cool but gonna put a lot of time ahead too. Whatever makes it work for you the way you desire is my personal belief.

Lands costs are going up indeed, and listing prices getting goofy again - but not sure how many are actually getting listing price? Here it's maybe 4% over last year so far but spring will maybe drive that up.

[rreidnauer]

Count me in too, against getting a bank loan. (if you could even get one for such an endeavor) You're going to need to start thinking outside the box, a path away from the mainstream way of thinking.

Sounds like you currently have zero assets. So you need to find money.
First step is simply cut spending. Surely you have some luxuries you can part with.
Next, some upfront money. Any relatives willing to float you the cash? How well do you get along with your boss?
Then, take some time. Usually it trades up nicely with cash. (the faster you do things, the more it costs)
Finally, if and at all possible, live on the land you're building on. I can't stress this enough. A few years in a trailer will pay off in spades! Two year's rent can buy an awful lot of materials. If you have a new, small family; (and everyone is gung ho for the build) it will have an added benefit of making you a closer knit family. What can possibly compare to a whole family building their own home!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

[blane]

I would reiterate Timbers admonishment. Do not presume upon tomorrow. Be patient. You are not stupid for considering this at all. The class will teach you how to do this without a loan but it takes time, forethought and perseverance. So, I would say take the class now and learn how to plan for the future.

[BenB]

blane ---- that's exactly why I have no issue with using a loan. I do not in any sense presume anything upon tomorrow.

Today is the day I am here and alive and want to enjoy life as best I can.
Some do it spiritually. Some do it through their work or time donated. Some likely do it thru a haze of substance use.
I try to do it my way which is in the immediate presence I am in.

We are all very different in our beliefs and life pursuits so I fret to admonish anyone for doing what they feel is right for them.
He came looking for thoughts and indeed he is getting them!
I am looking at it from the other side but suspect many others have too. The mortgage industry exists for a reason eh!

That said - might be tough to get a traditional construction loan without owning the land first

[marvlus]

You might want to try a loan company that specializes in farm land and agricultural based loans, etc. Out here in the south, there is a company called AgSouth Farm Credit. I don't know if there is anything like that in your neck of the woods, but a realtor that specializes in land sales should be able to help you.

[Blondie]

Yakyakgoose,
As an association, we support the practice of NOT having a mortgage. We encourage folks to live on site in a trailer if need be and building their homes as they have the funds. None of us, except a very few, live with full pockets. We build without a contractor for the most part and gather skills as we build. We prefer to purchase land directly from thw owner and carry that purchase but that is all.

You are going to hear this alot.....Please take the class. Please don't take it wrong. If you want more info please PM me.

Blondie

[thoner7]

What about buying land with a mortgage? Does the note restrict what you can build in any way? Could the bank not let me build because Im not a licensed builder? (not like that would stop me lol)

I wouldn't have the funds to pay cash for both the land and house.....

[rocklock]

1. Can you get a builders loan to build a cabin and buy land?
2. Since I will have to live somewhere else while building is there an early stage I can move in before the home is actually "complete"?
3. Are there a lot of other builders in the Denver
4. Am I stupid for even considering this?
1.Probably not. Besides it is just a very bad Idea to get a loan which call for a time line. Rule number one in log home building, everything takes twice as long.
2. Yes you can, besides you can get a travel trailer to start.
3. I don't have a clue.
4. If you like hard work, extreme problem solving, making your own stuff, be able to withstand frustration at stuff you can't do anything about, and a wonderful supportive family then you should consider building a log home..

[loghousenut]

Mr. Goose,

I say no loan UNLESS it is a cheap loan on a cheap chunk of ground that will give you a head start in your long range goal. A property with an existing distressed, or ugly, house or trailer can be a headstart. Make the place comfortable enough to live in and then save money while you pay the place off while not renting. When it's time to build you'll have a big headstart if you don't have to commute to your site. Septic, domestic water, and electric service will already be mostly figured out.

An ugly trailer can be a beautiful thing. More about this in class.

[LogLover]

What most new folk with questions don't quite grasp is this is part about doing the build and part about changing ones mental thought process. Do I have that right?! I believe so after all the time I have been around here. Stay with me now ____

Now imagine you, like quite a few who have stumbled across this site, want to build your own BnP but want to do it your way. Maybe a loan, maybe a bit different in this or that way. You ask questions "outside" the "normal" LBHA way. The replies you get are truly well intended, heartfelt, honest and all that great stuff but you get answers that are so foreign or against the "how" of what you want to "get" answer to. Hang on now please ____

You want to build this place. Your dream place. Mostly with your own hands, mostly with maybe borrowed money, you don't fear debt or have that Titanic sized bank account or maybe an inheritance a coming even ..... who knows. What you don't really subscribe to is you don't wnat to live there on site, you don't want to miss the hair stylist or whatever, you don't want to say hire Rod or someone but you truly do want to do most of it.

So your questions are off base with the normal thought process...you sometimes get freaked out by responses or become afraid to ask that question in the way you need to, just enough that you no longer want to ask questions as you are the "odd" duck and ..... you end up getting totally frustrated and maybe hang it up before you really understand the people here.
And some are doing their best (wisdom from where they specifically coming from) to advise and maybe convince us that your/my way is not right at all and by a certain way of logic I suppose it may not be.
All this may sound "out there" to you members but some of us non-members may never share the whole process of adopting it all 100%
Sheesh - I am long winded and sure as he!! mean no offense to anyone as you are wonderful people and offer a great deal of help and advice and wisdom. So read this in the spirit it's being typed - you are the forum's blood line.

The above all said I suspect many may realize I am talking about myself too. I want to be in and I will build. It will be a hybrid project as I will not do Vegas and so no class sadly will be taken. I will borrow as that is me - time is time is time and short. You all mostly know this. And you have provided me with a super support structure, often off forum and on the phone with some. I am forever grateful.

So back to this OP ..... do it whatever way is your way. These folk will help regardless I trust. If you can take the class and if some things said somewhat upset or turn you off (speaking in general and not specific to this thread !!) remember that there is no 100% law that says you have to do anything any way but your own. In the end that is all that counts. Your way, your manner and your time frame.

[loghousenut]

And bear in mind that all of the advice is coming from folks who were once right in the middle of where you are now. My thoughts on how to get er done changed completely with LHBA class. It's about more than nuts and bolts. It's about possibilities and different avenues to success. There's lotsa ways to do it and LHBA members seem to go at it from many angles, but that simple logic that is the LHBA system is proven over and over again. The advice is mostly from folks who are doing it right now and if there is a common theme to their advice it is mostly, I think, because they have found a way to make it work. I know it's working for me.

[AkChas]

Ya know.....There are as many ways to "do this", as there are Members (and non-Members alike). One theme in the class was -- "Whatever works". LogLover assumes correctly that it is more of 'Change in Mentality', not a "my way or the highway". But there are so many common sense as well as whoda-thunk-it things that you learn in class that get's you on a path to realization of a dream (for most of us). When a specific question is asked here, you may get suggestions of all sorts from folks that had done that thing a slightly -- or greatly -- different way from the next Guy/Gal. Other questions simply can't be answered accurately (like, "how much does it cost, start-to-finish?" or, "how long does it take?"). WAY too many variables there to answer accurately.

I've said it before many times (even today in another thread)...... Having taken the class from LHBA was probably The BEST thing I'd done for myself, in a very long time. And gained me knowledge and a "mind-set", that I will carry for the rest of my days. It ain't for everyone. Some won't even be able to wrap their heads around some of it (very, very few would not get it, I would think).

P.S. to LogLover -- Not ALL classes are given in Vegas. They still give them every now-and-then, outside of Everett WA. :)

[blane]

OK, here is why I hate debt. I am 47 years old and 10 years ago I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired of worrying myself to death over wether or not I was going to be able to pay my debts every month. I have 6 children that I love dearly and want to be able to leave something behind for them besides bank notes when I die. I try to look beyond the here and now and know that there is a tomorrow that will bring enough problems of there own without me bringing todays with me. If I had had this mindset early on in my life I would be in a different place today "not that I am complaining" because I love my life now but things could be a little easier if I had saved instead of borrowed. I have learned my lesson and I certainly am not trying to steal lessons from others but I think listening to others who have done debt and learning from them might be a better way than learning your own lessons.

Where I live now you can go into certain developments that have 70% of homes vacant with foreclosed signs on the door because people lost their jobs and subsequently lost their homes. I would hate to see that happen to anyone. So I am not judging anyone who chooses to borrow money but I would warn that any job security you think you might have today is about as solid as thin ice.

My joy is not bound up in the place I live now nor in the place I will be living soon enough but in whom I am living with. My family.
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/243425_128818360611310_1908653077_o.jpg

[LogLover]

.

P.S. to LogLover -- Not ALL classes are given in Vegas. They still give them every now-and-then, outside of Everett WA. :)

That's what I heard but been a waiting so long now that my hairs all gone, teeth nearly so and I have purchased my urn. So barring a suggen miracul;ous about face in the whole program ..... it'll be to late.
I'll git her done .... exactly how and the manner yet to be finalized.

Happy Valentine Day at ya all !!!! :):):)

[edkemper]

I would like to add two things;

> So back to this OP ..... do it whatever way is your way. These folk will help regardless I trust.

What hasn't been said is there are two huge reasons to take the class.

1) You get the how and whys. You hear about all the tricks on more than just how to build.

And the MOST important thing you get with the class;

2) You get unlimited access to the members, the member's only side of this site and gain access to and being included in other member's builds to help and learn.

There are just over 20,000 posts on the public side. If you've read much, you know there is limited specific details on building a B&P home on the public side.

There are just over 55,000 posts on the Member's Only side. That is where EVERYTHING important is. Anything you don't know how to do on your build is detailed there or will be once you are a member and ask. As families go, we also get into the same things any family does. From friendly picking on each other to sharing personal challenges. The Member's Only side is worth the price of the class alone.

We lean toward doing this debt free but help you anyway we can even offering help on getting a loan.

[Cruiser]

OK, here is why I hate debt. I am 47 years old and 10 years ago I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired of worrying myself to death over wether or not I was going to be able to pay my debts every month. I have 6 children that I love dearly and want to be able to leave something behind for them besides bank notes when I die. I try to look beyond the here and now and know that there is a tomorrow that will bring enough problems of there own without me bringing todays with me. If I had had this mindset early on in my life I would be in a different place today "not that I am complaining" because I love my life now but things could be a little easier if I had saved instead of borrowed. I have learned my lesson and I certainly am not trying to steal lessons from others but I think listening to others who have done debt and learning from them might be a better way than learning your own lessons.

Where I live now you can go into certain developments that have 70% of homes vacant with foreclosed signs on the door because people lost their jobs and subsequently lost their homes. I would hate to see that happen to anyone. So I am not judging anyone who chooses to borrow money but I would warn that any job security you think you might have today is about as solid as thin ice.

My joy is not bound up in the place I live now nor in the place I will be living soon enough but in whom I am living with. My family.
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/243425_128818360611310_1908653077_o.jpg

Blane,
That was beautifully stated...and from a man with a beautiful family and priorities in the right places.

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

[LogHomeFeverDan]

OK, here is why I hate debt. I am 47 years old and 10 years ago I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired of worrying myself to death over wether or not I was going to be able to pay my debts every month. I have 6 children that I love dearly and want to be able to leave something behind for them besides bank notes when I die. I try to look beyond the here and now and know that there is a tomorrow that will bring enough problems of there own without me bringing todays with me. If I had had this mindset early on in my life I would be in a different place today "not that I am complaining" because I love my life now but things could be a little easier if I had saved instead of borrowed. I have learned my lesson and I certainly am not trying to steal lessons from others but I think listening to others who have done debt and learning from them might be a better way than learning your own lessons.

Where I live now you can go into certain developments that have 70% of homes vacant with foreclosed signs on the door because people lost their jobs and subsequently lost their homes. I would hate to see that happen to anyone. So I am not judging anyone who chooses to borrow money but I would warn that any job security you think you might have today is about as solid as thin ice.

My joy is not bound up in the place I live now nor in the place I will be living soon enough but in whom I am living with. My family.
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/243425_128818360611310_1908653077_o.jpg

Sometimes the only thing to say is........................ AMEN!

PS. - That picture is probably the best "HOME" possible.

[Basil]

I got a loan to purchase my land, luckily it had a nice trailer home on it. I lived in it while building, then sold the trailer and had it moved to pay for the finish of the build. Then, when I got the house done, I converted my farm loan into a mortgage on the house. Cheaper interest. Still owe about $100k for 70 acres and a 3000 sq foot home, but dind't have to do it on a bank timeline thank God-it took over three years to get built.