Is it financially possible?

[phorvath]

It's been awhile since I was here last. I've been doing a lot of thinking. Here I am aged 67 and planning on retirement at 70. I just don't know if I will be physically up to building by myself. I actually went off and looked at companies that sell pre-assembled homes that they knock down and then reassemble at your building site. These are not kits in that they send a crew to that spends 3 days reassembling the cabin on site.
Their log cabin prices looked good. For example, one sold for around $27,000 and was under 1000 square feet. But then a three man crew is needed plus a crane and an operator. God know what that would cost. I learned that construction costs are $150 - $300 per square foot. So add that to the price for the cabin and the land and the total is out of sight.
So is it really possible to get help after I take the class? I know people are interested in gaining experience. I would reciprocate and travel to their building site. Is it possible to get it all done in about 3 months?
I like what I see in Idaho. Anybody else building there? It would be great to hear from you. My nightmare at this point is me peeling logs all by my lonesome somewhere out in the wilderness and eventually giving up.
My other alternative would be to fix up an existing home (preferably log). In my case, I will need a land/construction loan but can, I think, put about 20% down.
Still trying to keep the dream alive.
Phil:cool:

[rckclmbr428]

Cheap, fast, or good. You only get to pick two.

[project]

I don't think doing it in 3 months is a realistic goal. I'm not saying it couldn't be done but you would definitely have to hire some experienced help. Getting other members to help you with some portions of it is possible and happens quite often but most of the work would be done by you unless you hire help. I'm not trying to discourage you by any means, just being honest.

[loghousenut]

I'm only 61 and lazy. Mine is well over half done and I think I'd have an apoplexy if someone suddenly said I only had 3 months to get it done. Phil, you and I are getting to that stage in life where we oughta be capitalizing on doing things we really want to do. If you really want to build a log home in 3 months I suppose you oughta go at it, but it sure sounds like torture to me.

The only way I can get my old bones to do the things that get a house built, is to love the process and not care when (if ever) it gets done. There is help out there and it can really be a boost, but we are all just like you... people with lives and distance to travel. I wish you could be on the member's side so you could read about our recent 1 week roof work party. Got a ton done and boosted the Boss and I into 61 year old overdrive. That's not the kind of thing that builds the house. It builds relationships and it gets a person through a tight spot in the build but there will always be so much more that need to be done. Trust me, you couldn't afford to have one work party every month, even if you could find the volunteers.

If you want to build your own log home with your own hands, this is the most foolproof way to do it. If you want to get into that retirement Vila before the grim reaper take notice of your raspy cough, well I don't know.

You wouldn't know it by reading this, but I am inclined to want to inspire you, not dump sewage on the birthday cake.

If the question is whether to have a kit home built, I'd always poopoo that one. If you really hanker for a kit house, go after the secondary market. There are plenty of them out there and they are ready for repair right now... no waiting.





That last line was meant to be kinda funny but I really mean that if there are problems with a certain design, you might be able to pick them out and plan for it if the house was already a few years old. If you build a kit home from scratch, you will learn gradually about any design flaws.

[rreidnauer]

3 months to peel your logs? Yea, that is probably about right. Sounds like you should be talking to Rckclmbr.

[rawson]

My other alternative would be to fix up an existing home (preferably log). In my case, I will need a land/construction loan but can, I think, put about 20% down.
Still trying to keep the dream alive.
Phil:cool:[/QUOTE]

There is a member built log home for sale in the Curlew, WA area. WA seems to have better appeal for retirees than ID.

[allen84]

I believe people who are successful at ANYTHING set a lofty goal first... Falling short of the goal doesn't have to result in failure. You can fall short and still succeed in the end.

Some of my favorite quotes...
"If you put your mind to it you can do anything."
"Don't talk about it, be about it."
"If at first you don't succeed. Try, try again."
"If it was easy, everyone would do it."


So... Can it be done? I'm sure it could. Can you do it? That's up to you and your determination.

One other thing... From a man that's tired of "fixing" EVERYTHING HE OWNS, It's hard to beat something nice and new that's made right. ;)

[Steve Vaughan]

I am 56 and in decent shape for a guy with a bunch of replacement parts. I have two artificial shoulders. Sixteen months ago I started building two 30x30's at once. I have one totally done. It is pretty cool. Mine is about 75%. My question to you is how bad do you want it? Bad enough to rent a telehandler, hire a few young backs, spend some money on tools that will multiply your power, yeah if you want it that bad, it can happen.

[Plumb Level]

Well said Steve.

At the start of my cabin, I was going with cheap and good. I'm transitioning to fast and good.

[LaurenW]

What are people doing to acquire land? Cash purchases? I'm pretty sure it says that it is covered in the course, which I have yet to attend.. but I'm out in eastern PA, and being able to even get our hands on a decent sized piece of land about seems just about impossible with no one willing to lend to a 24 year old girl who is crazy enough to build a log cabin any money. Thoughts?

[Tracyblott]

You can look for owner finance property on criagslist it's how I found mine.

[allen84]

Owner financing narrows the search and removes the bank as a middle man. That's what we did. We were able to get 0% financing and settled the debt early for a lesser amount than we owed... Paid it off way faster than we could have paid a new car loan. Go to the class, worth every penny. Tho they don't go into great detail about how to buy land you will probably come away with a different prospective on things.

O-ya, we bought land before I even knew of LHBA. I've seen a lot of folks say take the class first. That's up to you.

[rreidnauer]

Cash is king, but do what you got to do. I found it next to impossible to get a bank loan for raw land, even despite having 75% down money and excellent credit. I finally just put my nose to the grindstone, and got the rest of the cash before closing date.

I lived most my life in eastern Pennsylvania, (Quakertown) but couldn't find land there that I could afford or keep. (taxes) I'm in central Pennsylvania now, and I like the area much better, which is icing on the cake to the much more affordable land.

[LaurenW]

Yeah looking at financing it, the principle payment was less than 100 per month, but with taxes and interest added in, it jacks it up to like almost a thousand bucks a month! It's so disheartening... With our jobs, and this point in our career, we really can't afford to move too far away from the Philadelphia area (currently living in King of Prussia, looking in Pottstown-ish), but seems like we can't afford that either. We aren't the cookie cutter house type of people that this area builds for, so got really excited when we heard about LHBA.

In regards to the owner financing, how is that set up/approached? We're looking at an 11 acre plot of land that an older man had used for hunting, and said that "it's time" to sell. Maybe he would be open to the idea of helping a young couple looking for a place to build their log cabin and hunt on amidst all the suburbanites? Did you work that out person to person, or with a real estate agent and contracts? Maybe a bit of both?

Thanks for all your input guys! =)



Cash is king, but do what you got to do. I found it next to impossible to get a bank loan for raw land, even despite having 75% down money and excellent credit. I finally just put my nose to the grindstone, and got the rest of the cash before closing date.

I lived most my life in eastern Pennsylvania, (Quakertown) but couldn't find land there that I could afford or keep. (taxes) I'm in central Pennsylvania now, and I like the area much better, which is icing on the cake to the much more affordable land.

[rreidnauer]

I don't want to say that you shouldn't let your jobs tie you to where you are, but you should keep an open mind. I now make considerably more as a service tech based out of the Altoona area, than I did as a facilities manager in the Philly area.

Now, it took a lot of planning and time, and some stars to align, but I managed to do what I originally thought wasn't possible. Just trying to say, don't rule out any options, and think outside the box.

[LaurenW]

Thanks, Rod. We are definitely open to any and all possibilities! Its looking like it might have to wait until grad school is done, but I know once I'm done we will be more than ready to get started on our log home!! After seeing everything that members have built, I just can't see myself living in anything else long term. I can't wait to take the course next time it rolls around. :o


I don't want to say that you shouldn't let your jobs tie you to where you are, but you should keep an open mind. I now make considerably more as a service tech based out of the Altoona area, than I did as a facilities manager in the Philly area.

Now, it took a lot of planning and time, and some stars to align, but I managed to do what I originally thought wasn't possible. Just trying to say, don't rule out any options, and think outside the box.

[project]

I can't get over the taxes in some areas!! I bought 60 acres in the Ozark Mountains and my taxes were only $58 last year. My land in Tx is still only $1400 or so for 90 acres but is mostly ag exempt. Here in the south, financing acreage only is very easy to do and we don't have to jump through as many hoops as other parts of the country.

[rreidnauer]

Thanks, Rod. We are definitely open to any and all possibilities! Its looking like it might have to wait until grad school is done, but I know once I'm done we will be more than ready to get started on our log home!! After seeing everything that members have built, I just can't see myself living in anything else long term. I can't wait to take the course next time it rolls around. :o
For the record, I'm 10-1/2 years into my project. Time makes for good life decision plans. Instant gratification isn't all that it is cracked up to be. [emoji4]

[allen84]

LaurenW, I dealt face to face with the owner and all paperwork was done by a title company first go round. When we paid it in full we bought more from him and closed with an attorney. I do know some people who did owner financing thru a real estate company, I'm sure the real estate folks get a good cut.

[allen84]

Also, if you are negotiating with someone face to face and come to terms... don't shake a hand, hand them a pen and paper right then and have the person put their name to it. Tell them what to write and sign to. That almost cost me $10k, guy wanted to renegotiate with me the next day, we went round and round before I nearly slung the pen at him. It worked out in the end, almost 4 years later. Be patient. Some old folk selling land really enjoy the negotiation and many don't have to sell. Hang with them. If I was starting over I would seek out something that already had septic, water and electric. You'll be lucky to find that. My property has electric and a well but I wouldn't drink the water. I plan to have the spring water tested, It may be ok after purification.

[allen84]

Had I done some more homework back then, I might have figured out the guy owed $5k in back taxes and needed the money after taking a quit claim deed. My down payment was basically a check to the government.

[pinecone pam]

I don't think peeling the logs should scare you…….that's the easy part!!!! Building anything, with anything, is all about drive and determination. It's just a series of small projects all put together. Do something everyday and it happens!!!!

[BoFuller]

I don't think peeling the logs should scare you…….that's the easy part!!!! Building anything, with anything, is all about drive and determination. It's just a series of small projects all put together. Do something everyday and it happens!!!!

Exactly. A series of small projects.

[LaurenW]

Before finding LHBA, we had an offer in on 2.6 acres... taxes were almost 6,000 per year. I wish we could convince our family to head down south!!!


I can't get over the taxes in some areas!! I bought 60 acres in the Ozark Mountains and my taxes were only $58 last year. My land in Tx is still only $1400 or so for 90 acres but is mostly ag exempt. Here in the south, financing acreage only is very easy to do and we don't have to jump through as many hoops as other parts of the country.

[LaurenW]

One of the good things around here is that we are potentially looking at buying a tear down property so it will already have septic, electric and a well set up. That could save us a lot of money, if we can find a deal. But in terms of negotiation, thats definitely good to know. Luckily we do have some time to be patient, its just a matter of (me) emotionally being able to wait for my dream home!


Also, if you are negotiating with someone face to face and come to terms... don't shake a hand, hand them a pen and paper right then and have the person put their name to it. Tell them what to write and sign to. That almost cost me $10k, guy wanted to renegotiate with me the next day, we went round and round before I nearly slung the pen at him. It worked out in the end, almost 4 years later. Be patient. Some old folk selling land really enjoy the negotiation and many don't have to sell. Hang with them. If I was starting over I would seek out something that already had septic, water and electric. You'll be lucky to find that. My property has electric and a well but I wouldn't drink the water. I plan to have the spring water tested, It may be ok after purification.

[Arrowman]

Before finding LHBA, we had an offer in on 2.6 acres... taxes were almost 6,000 per year. I wish we could convince our family to head down south!!!

If you don't mind the commute, further out from big cities the better. Prop taxes are usually lower. We live near Charlotte, and I will have to be almost an hour out from the city to save on the taxes. But I have a good gas mileage car, and the tax savings can buy a lot of gas and maintenance every year. Now if you drive a Suburban, your outlook may be different.

The other thing you need to consider is that prop taxes are usually (not always) tied with school districts. It isn't a direct correlation, but there is usually a high correlation in suburban areas between prop taxes and quality of school. (It's not a causation, so don't let this comment derail the thread). If you and yours plan on having children or already do have children, this could be a big consideration for you in just a few years. My wife homeschools our children, so we can afford to ignore the quality of the local school district in our search for land for our dream home.