Hello Everyone

[damon]

Hey everyone. My name is Damon and I'm extremely glad I found this place. My wife (Erin) and I have been talking about building a log house for the past year or so (been married 3 months) and we're both ready to start making some progress. Naturally, we first started looking into kit homes. I wanted to get a baseline on where to start so I asked for a quote from one of the builders on a 1700 sq/ft house and when he came back with $251,000 as the turn-key solution and just laughed.

Our situation is this. My parent's live on 48 acres of wooded land and they are giving us 5 acres to build on. My dad was a part owner of a family construction company so I have a very good person to help me build my home. I helped them build their house so hopefully my dad will be willing to help us out. My parents actually looked at building a log home but gave up with the ridiculous prices. After showing my wife some of the houses your students have built she was very supportive of me possibly going to the class and doing things on our own. I have lots of research to do though.

I still have to check out the type of timber on the land and want to possibly use it to build my home. I would like some suggestions from you guys if any of you have used the timber cleared from your land to build with.

Anyway...just wanted to introduce us and get ready to learn.

-Damon and Erin

[KeithMN]

1. Welcome to the boards!

2. Congratulations honeymooners!

3. You're in the perfect set-up to build your own log home!

4. Bring your dad and wife with you to one of the classes! :wink:

5. Free logs are the best logs!

I'm taking the class next month so I don't have a 100% sure answer yet, but I know there are a lot of people that have used the logs from their own land to build with. As to what kind of logs they are and what shape the need to be in, I can't advise on, but I can definitely tell you this: You came to the right place for friendly people with great advice!

[Travis R]

The class is very informative. I know that I was very surprised with how much I learned in two days. In the class they will cover which type of timber is best and give you some ideas for harvesting the timber from your property; considering it is extremely dangerous to the weekend warrior and professional alike. I put off taking the class for a year and now I feel like I'm a year behind on my goal. The class is a must for anyone considering a log home (kit or not).

Thanks,

Travis Rawlings
Riverside, CA
Class of Oct 7-8, 2006

[dvb]

My first advice is TO TAKE THE CLASS!! You will learn an amazing amount of information in a short amount of time.

They and I will advise you to hire someone to cut your logs unless you are experienced in this activity. I am cutting my own logs and it will add another year to my building schedule. Money is more important than time to me and I only have weekends and a couple of weeks during the summer to work. (May to October) When thinking about the time to cut trees don't forget you will have to clean all of the branches off of the tree, skid or transport the log to the building site, and then clean up all of the branches you cut off. This is in addition to peeling the logs, you will have to peel them whether you buy them or cut them. Remember a few years of work beats a 30 year mortgage!!
Good Luck!!

[damon]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking the class and wish I could convince my dad to come with me. I can't make it to the December class so I'm anxious to find out when the next one is going to be.

The main concern I have right now is financing. We are a fairly young couple (i'm 29 and she's 24) and both have great careers. Naturally, we have some debt to pay off from being young and dumb (mainly me). We own about a 1000 sq/ft house right now and we don't have the excess cash right now to start doing anything major. I would like to spend the next year or two getting our finances in better form and start clearing the land and preparing during that time. My wife is ready for it to have been done yesterday and I am going to have to convince her that it's going to take time.

About the financing....I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to finance some of the materials but not sure how I'm going to do that. I think that I'll get laughed at by a bank if I walk in and tell them my plans and ask for a large chunk of money. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I will most likely have many more questions but the big thing that scares me right now is the money thing.....

[dvb]

That is the best thing about this class and method of building. They will teach you how to build without financing. If you have a few hundred dollars each month that you want to put towards your house, you can do it! You already have the most expensive part - The Land.
We plan on building our house with only the money we can scrape up and save. It will take a couple more years but I am sure I won't owe anybody anything when we get done.
If you really want to do this you can!!!!

[Travis R]

Yeah, we are in the same spot. I'm 26 and my wife is 29; and we both have careers (I had to drag her to the class) but she is glad she went. But take warning life is short and tomorrow is not promised. I had four colleges die yesterday and one is near death with 90% burns to his body. I'm sure that they weren't planning for that when they woke up in the morning. So the point is don't let life get in the way of living. For the loan there are plenty of companies which specialize in construction loans, if you need a name of a company send me an email and I can get it for you.

Travis R.
Riverside, CA
Class of Oct 7-8, 2006

[dvb]

Travis R,

Sorry to hear about your colleagues. Terrible things happen every day to good people. I absolutely agree with you when you said, "Don't let life get in the way of living."
Our plan/goal is to not owe anyone when we get done. We already have a house where we raised our kids. The challenge is to see if we can do it without borrowing, part of the game for us.

[Klapton]

Hello all!

I found this thread using the Search function, and decided to bump this instead of starting a new thread.

So, I just got off the phone with someone from a company that specializes in playing the part of the "site supervisor" for people who are going to be builder-owners (being their own General Contractor). They charge a fee based on a percentage of the amount of the project etc. Well, she was well into her schpiel, giving me the hard sell until I mention building a Log Home. I could hear the cartoon bongo sounds of her backpedaling (you know, that noise a cartoon character's feet made made while they spun in the air, just before they PAZZZING!!! sped away like a bullet?)

She pretty much wished me good luck at that point, and said that NO ONE is going to give me a construction loan for a log home. And not because the construction is or isn't sound. But basically because the bank won't REALLY know what it will be worth. (Banks stay in business, of course, by ensuring that they always have a sure thing -- kinda like "the house" in a Las Vegas Casino.)

Now, I know, there's lots of folks here who don't like mortgages (who does), and might want to tell us just to do it without a loan. That all sounds very nice. But we the property we are going to buy will likely suck up much of the equity we have built up in our current home, and we will want to borrow more to build this thing. (I don't mind having a mortgage. I have one now, and I sleep well at night, hehe. I certainly won't mind having one after I'm done building my dream log home either.)

So, can anyone recommend a lender who is known to finance owner-builders doing LHBA Log Homes? This lady also meantioned Appraisers being an issue. She said that most of them won't stick their necks out for any non-traditional building styles either.

[GammaRae]

Hmmm - interesting. We went through Buildmax and used Indymac bank without any hitches. I don't know if it was any extra work for our rep. or loan officer, but if it was they never said a thing or complained about it. The appraiser they used did an outstanding job, too.

It may be you just have a lazy agent or they have had actual bad experiences to dwell of off. You'll get the same thing from some insurance agents who represent companies that do insure log homes reasonably, but just don't want to do any work or are ignorant.

I do know, however, that things have become VERY tight in the construction loan field in the last 2 months. Qualifying is far more stringent than it was 6-months ago because of the current mortgage climate.

Here is my email address. Let me know who the person was and what company they worked for. If it's different than the one we used I'll forward you on our rep's contatct info. With that said, however, it's not something I would jump into before taking the class. Inquire, yes. Initiate, no.

Gamma_Rae@hotmail.com

[Klapton]

It was a rep from buildmax, and I managed to get her to mention indymac (I have looked at indymac on indymac's website too). I forget the name of the rep, because she said she was going to send me her info anyway, in case I changed my mind and decided to go stickbuilt or something. (She tried to show me some website with half-log siding ... ugh. She did NOT get it...)

Anyway... no, we haven't initiated anything, and most certainly won't until WELL after we take the class in October. (We will be looking at property while we are out in WA too... we want to build in the Skykomish valley, just upstream from Skip's ranch!) I will indeed send you an email, if you don't mind filling me in with your agent's info. I really didn't like the way the person I talked to used the word "Can't". I'm simply not a big fan of that word. I find that much more often the word "won't" applies better, or "can't be bothered" is more often the case!

[kyle]

Klapton,

We've discussed financing at length in the member's section. There really is no reason to use Buildmax if you have building experience or have a family member or friend who you can hire as a "Site Supervisor" which is what Indymac requires. There is no requirement for the Site Supervisor to be on site during construction. Just like with any lender there can be pros and cons with dealing with IndyMac when building a log home. Since you are located in the pacific northwest and log homes are more common than here I imagine your ability to get approved by Indymac for a log home would minimal if any problems at all as far as the property or value.

[pinecone pam]

Well, I got a construction loan and have friends that have gotten one since I have. Never heard of a "site supervisor". And we used our local banks and got a great rate. Our lenders were in Snohomish County. Theres always a way. Put together a solid package before you go in to your banker!

[kyle]

In the members section I did recommend trying with a local bank or loan officer before trying a national company. I'm in the mortgage business and always recommend working with someone in your hometown rather than over the phone or internet.