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EastCoastBubbleBoy
2012 May 30, 4:37am
EastCoastBubbleBoy
2012 May 30, 4:37am
Make sure its buidable before you buy it.
Check the local zoning regulations to see what the off sets are. If you’re surrounded by lots that already have improvements on them, it may be tough to fit the well and/or septic while maintaining the needed off set requirements. If you run into trouble there’s always a variance, but those aren’t guaranteed
Check with a local suveying company to make sure that the soil will allow for a septic (unless of course you have municapal sewer)
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I'm sure this question has cropped up on Patrick.net from time to time, but a cursory search through the archives just now shed little light on the subject for me. I've done some research both locally and online, but wanted to tap the veritable brain trust here on Patrick.net for some input/advice/abuse, etc.
I never thought I would consider building, and only decided to look into this option after two years of picking over the fancifully priced inventory here in central Austin (thanks, California!). Housing stock here consists of either former grad student flops, 2/1 granny shacks with tottering carports or overgrown, hyper-average 70's suburban SFHs in either as-is condition or with that cheap Ikea neo-modern Madmen treatment I can't stand. Flipping is also red hot here, so I'm competing with that crowd as well, which makes buying a lot and building (either now or in a year or two) more attractive. What's more, most of these homes are outfitted in various ways that are totally superfluous to any of my basic needs, so I'd be paying a premium for fixtures I'd only end up ripping out. I need a rectilinear box with space for my tools and my collections. I don't even want a dishwasher. I work from home, so I require a place that is conducive to the workspace/live space dynamic, but without the fabulousness of LOFT style living.
I recently found a half acre lot for sale, centrally located at a not-insane and very-nearly-decent price, along with a builder with excellent references and decent prices ($70-100 sq ft). For the price of the lot and the ballpark figure the builder furnished me with, a finished home (minus permits/soil tests/land clearing/grading) would come in well under, or, worst case, right AT what a comparative existing structure in the same area would cost me to buy. The only snag is that it's a sloping lot and whatever I might choose to build there would be hanging off a bluff.
Anyway, I would especially appreciate commentary from anyone who's built a place in the last five - seven years; what sorts of stumbling blocks did you encounter? Anything from the loan process to dealing with a contractor who goes over budget to the travails of clearing a scraggly, sloping lot.
#housing