Building my own house have you done it?

Question

Hey I have been thinking of building my own house well hiring a crew to build it I mean. I had a couple of questions I rent right now so I am not sure on the whole home owner stuff. Can I take out a loan if I have good enough credit to build one? would $100,000 be enough to build a decent house? If I do all the painting and wallpaper hanging and stuff like that will that save me money. I drew up my own plans can I take those to a contractor or do they need to draw up their own? thanks alot.

Answer 1

You have a lot of homework to do before you build your own house. There are many expensive pitfalls. A Yahoo search for "build your own house" (include the quotation marks) yields 80,000 results. If you do the same search, and are willing to spend some time exploring, there are many good sites with a lot of valuable information.

Good luck with your home building venture.

Answer 2

Theres alot more than you think to building a home. 100000 grand - at least where i live - can get you a stripped down 1300 square foot house with a small lot. Your plans you made up might suffice depending on where you go. If you brought them in to where I work, No. You need plans that you can submit for approval, submit to the electritian, heating guys, plumbers, carpenters, city/town, excavators, and bank. Just to name a few. Pretty much what your wanting to do is become the expeditor for your house which is a full time job. While it may save money, Ive seen two couples get divorced in the eight years of building houses. So to say the least, if you cant stand the heat get your a__ out of the kitchen.

The loan thing shouldnt be a problem as long as your credit is fine and you show progress during the building process. Every now and then the bank will stop by and verify that your actually spending the loaned money on a house and not on hard drugs or what-not.

You know what,,,,,,,this could go on for hours. Email me if you really need guidance. Otherwise, just get in touch with a local homebuilder and tell them what you want to do. Even if they might not make as much money on the house deal, they will still be willing to let you expedite your own house. At least they get some of your buisness.

Answer 3

Wow, you've bitten off quite a bit, haven't you?

And, I ought to know, as I, also, am about to have a new house built!

Starting with your plans: many states require that you have an architect either draw up the plans or certify that yours are suitable. There will be a fee for this, of course.

You'll also need separate plans for the plumbing and electrical system; check your state codes on this.

As to 100K being enough, in some places, it might well be; but, there are so many variables (what kind of climate; what real estate prices are in your area; do you already own the land; what is the square footage of the house; how many stories / bathrooms/ etc) that no one here can even begin to guess.

You might want to spend the money to get a general contractor to help keep you organized, but that is a personal call.

I wish you good luck and happy building!