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11-21-2012, 01:33 PM
Zehnteam

Current home

Hi again all! I would firstly like to thank anyone who responded to my last thread. My husband is leaning towards at least attending the class with me now! (YAY!) New question though. We just put our house on the market about 2 months ago, when we first decided we wanted to move. Should we take it off the market until we attend a class? What do they recommend for living arrangements at the class while you are building your home? Just don't want to sell the one we're in now and regret it later....
11-21-2012, 01:46 PM
Blondie

Hi Z's,

I guess I will wade in again. In my humble opinion, sell the house now if you can. The class suggests that you live on site in a "free" trailer if you can manage it. Where do you want to build?

Blondie
11-21-2012, 02:21 PM
AkChas

Tricky question (many unknown variables). Probably would have fit just fine in the "Too good to be true?" thread.
Do you have a place to live if/when the house sells, that doesn't involve another MORTgage? (You'll get the emphasis on "mort" during class. Hint: it's french).
Do you already have land, that you want to build on?
Are you desperate to sell?
If selling can wait, you might consider Taking the Class. LOT's of "ah-ha" moments.
But like I said.....too many unknown variables, to give a truly good answer.
One SOLID piece of advice I can give is....... keep your eye on new class openings (subscribe to the email announcment, but check often anyway). When a class is announced SIGN UP, RIGHT AWAY! They fill up / sell out faaaast! (I had to wait 2 or 3 cycles before I could get in).

Good Luck. And.......

Cheers!
11-21-2012, 02:29 PM
Zehnteam

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blondie

Hi Z's,

I guess I will wade in again. In my humble opinion, sell the house now if you can. The class suggests that you live on site in a "free" trailer if you can manage it. Where do you want to build?

Blondie

We live in northeast Indiana, and that 's where we're planning to stay. That does open up another question then.....I realize I'll probably learn this in class, but I'll ask you too. Are we supposed to find property with wooded acreage and cut down the trees in that property for our home?? Just something my husband wanted to know.
11-21-2012, 02:47 PM
Zehnteam

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkChas

Tricky question (many unknown variables). Probably would have fit just fine in the "Too good to be true?" thread.
Do you have a place to live if/when the house sells, that doesn't involve another MORTgage? (You'll get the emphasis on "mort" during class. Hint: it's french).
Do you already have land, that you want to build on?
Are you desperate to sell?
If selling can wait, you might consider Taking the Class. LOT's of "ah-ha" moments.
But like I said.....too many unknown variables, to give a truly good answer.
One SOLID piece of advice I can give is....... keep your eye on new class openings (subscribe to the email announcment, but check often anyway). When a class is announced SIGN UP, RIGHT AWAY! They fill up / sell out faaaast! (I had to wait 2 or 3 cycles before I could get in).

Good Luck. And.......

Cheers!

Akchas,

We aren't necessarily desperate to sell. We can afford this property just fine...just not this mortgage AND another. We do not have land yet. I guess that's where we were looking for a little direction. Should we stay where we are and buy / pay off some land before we sell our house? And if we do that, should the land be wooded? Like I told Blondie, I realize that these questions will probably be answered at the class, but not sure we can wait that long since our house is on the market now. (has been for about 2 months) Thanks for any help!
11-21-2012, 02:47 PM
rreidnauer

Purchasing land which has usable timber on it would definitely be a major plus, but is by no means a mandate. Plenty of folks building out Midwest where there are no usable trees to be found. For that matter, I have no usable timber myself. I will simply be using tips and tricks taught in class, to acquire the logs I'll need.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2
11-21-2012, 03:20 PM
AkChas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zehnteam

Are we supposed to find property with wooded acreage and cut down the trees in that property for our home?? Just something my husband wanted to know.

Just leave the tree cutting to professional tree "fellers" :)

(Seriously)!
11-21-2012, 06:01 PM
Blondie

Hi Z's,

Here I go again. It is a basis concept of this group to build without a mortgage. Most of us sell our current stick homes, move into a trailer or another home close to the property to build. It is easier that way if you can arrange it. Most log cabins are built with the tall/slender tree form such as pine or spruce. You may need to bring those trees in to your property. The "class" will give you ideas on where to get logs. Since transporting 40ft+ long logs around a small lot quite difficult most of us build on larger lots, most out of town a way.

Blondie
11-21-2012, 06:05 PM
Bmetz34

Is there a reason you couldn't stay in your house while you build? If you're staying nearby, that might be a convenient option. Unless you want to move into something smaller or cheaper of course. Being able to use trees on your property is a great bonus but not a necessity. Most of the trees on our property are young and not large enough to use, but I am trying to figure out a way to use some of our mountain laurel decoratively!
11-21-2012, 07:29 PM
Blondie

GOSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE STAY IN YOUR HOME IF YOU CAN ARRANGE IT!!!!!!!!

Blondie
11-21-2012, 08:26 PM
DanS
There's no truly wrong answer.

I can tell you that my wife and I are currently renting a ridiculously cramped, inefficient mobile home about 20 minutes away from our property. We are hustling to get the utilities in so that we can haul up a trailer (cheap/free if possible, but even new trailers cost less than our rent, so we'll go that way if we have to) and get to living on the property as soon as humanly possible. Couple of reasons for this:
- We bought the land because it's awesome. Living on it is the goal, even if it's in a mobile home while we build.
- Even living 20 minutes away, it is a pretty big time committment to go up to the land to work on it. I generally need half a day to make it worth my while to go up there.
- We have yet to involve a bank (but have a loan from my parents for about half of the land--and have saved enough to nearly pay them back, or build the house first and then pay them back), so building with cash is mostly a function of how fast we can make that cash, and how much of the work we can do ourselves--which is largely dependent upon our ability to get hours in on the project.
- Once the house starts going up, there's a lot of smaller jobs that will be easy enough to get done before breakfast, after dinner, etc… If it's a 150 foot walk away, I tend to get a lot more done.
- Once the house is built, we will probably build a guest cabin. The trailer will provide a lot of things that will go into the cabin (like a small heater, stove, etc…) if we want to part it out, or we can sell it to fund the cabin depending on how much we could get for it.
- It's REALLY nice to get my firewood without the need for a truck ride to retrieve it. ;)
That's the thought process we used. If we owned a place 20 minutes from our property, we'd probably stay in it and build with cash. That way, you avoid paying rent, and can get some equity back when you sell the house eventually. Building with cash can be slower to get the house up, but you'll pay it off faster.

Like you are likely figuring out from the other answers, there's no right or wrong answer. The right answer is the one that gets you into a house without the burden of a massive mortgage.

Dan
11-21-2012, 09:43 PM
Blondie

Guys,

I am building a 36ft in diameter yurt to live in while I build. Trailers give me clostrophobia. The yurt will be 1000+ sq ft.

Blondie
11-22-2012, 12:20 AM
edkemper

I bought property 6 hours away, before taking the class. It sits and grows with no forward progress, until now. We bought a 1993 modular home 45 minutes away from our property. No financing because it was so cheap. It's also 2 miles away from the community college for my daughter. As soon as we get moved and settled, we will finally be able to start working on getting a 14x14 shed built and then be able to start our house. Now that we have a local address with enough room to secure all my equipment, I will be able to stop dreaming and start getting in shape. Being so far from our property has been very hard on us.
11-22-2012, 02:06 AM
loghousenut

I agree with everyone else. If it was me I'd put the property up for sale for top dollar but be careful that you don't end up with "that place that has been for sale for years".

When you two decide to go to class, it'll probably change the way you think you think about everything you think about. Keep reading and looking at kit homes til you can't stand it and you finally make that trip to Vegas for class. Then you'll finally start aiming toward your future. There's time... You're still young.
11-22-2012, 02:08 AM
ivanshayka

I live in Northwestern Michigan, Traverse City. My wife and I bought property outside of town, 5 acres with pine on it. I am planning on using that pine, cutting it myself, and building 2200 sf log home. It is doable with or without trees on the property. Good luck. You will love the class.
11-22-2012, 08:13 AM
BoFuller

Quote:

Originally Posted by edkemper

I bought property 6 hours away, before taking the class. It sits and grows with no forward progress, until now. We bought a 1993 modular home 45 minutes away from our property. No financing because it was so cheap. It's also 2 miles away from the community college for my daughter. As soon as we get moved and settled, we will finally be able to start working on getting a 14x14 shed built and then be able to start our house. Now that we have a local address with enough room to secure all my equipment, I will be able to stop dreaming and start getting in shape. Being so far from our property has been very hard on us.

Awesome news Ed! Sounds like you're close to getting started.

We bought our land before class because we loved it and it was a great deal. It is covered with trees but nothing useable for building. Great for firewood though. The land is 200 miles from where we live and work, so it's pretty much a whole day for traveling each way for us ( loading the truck, driving, stopping to fill a dozen diesel cans, driving, and then unloading everything). That's why we try to make it for a week at a time. We bought a 25 foot travel trailer to live in while we are here.

Like the previous comments stated, too many variables to give you a good recommendation. Maybe look for a trailer but stay in the home until you get a good price.

Try to hold off on major decisions until you go to class!!!! Check out local building codes! If I knew how hard this permit process was going to be, we would have looked in the neighboring county.
11-22-2012, 08:55 AM
Zehnteam

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I think our game plan for now (while we're waiting for the next class to be announced) is to keep the house on the market, and if it sells before the next class we'll find somewhere to rent until we're able to take the class. We're all for the idea of living in a trailer on the land we want to build on....but we don't want to purchase the land until we have the classes advice on what kind of land to get. (And where...) Thanks again for all your help!
11-22-2012, 08:59 AM
loghousenut

Go Team! Your heads are in the right spot. Happy Thanksgiving.
11-22-2012, 09:50 AM
AkChas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zehnteam

....but we don't want to purchase the land until we have the classes advice on what kind of land to get. (And where...) Thanks again for all your help!

Right On! You got it! Bottom line -- Take the Class. In the mean-time -- read all you can here; research owner/builder permitting in the areas you're thinking of building; check zoning; talk to builders; Read all you can here; Take the Class (oh, sorry, I already said that.....didn't WE : )

Happy / Safe / and Blessed Thanksgiving to All here!