I thought it would be fun to start documenting this crazy adventure of building a home. I want to say custom home, but use the term loosely....I'm sure that's not
quite the term, but either way...here we go!!!!!
I talked to our mortgage people yesterday and should have at least one if not two pre-approval letters in my hot little hand today. We have been working with two separate companies up to this point, just shopping rates and etc. I know some people say do at least three, but I'm ok with just these two. :) Once I receive the letter I can go drop it off along with a big fat earnest money check! Once that is done, the builder will start pulling permits and sourcing materials. Hopefully all this little stuff on our end is done by Friday and they can start the actual process on their end next week.
The builder we chose to work with already has the basic floor plan you can choose from and then a list of possible structural changes you
may make. Good side: the list was expansive and had basically 99% of all the changes we wanted to make as an option. Bad side: if you wanted to make a structural change that was not on the list of possibilities- it was a no go. However, the only thing we really did NOT get to add was a second shower head in the master shower, so it was not an issue really.
Our builder is not local to Idaho, they are actually out of Portland if I'm not mistaken, but build homes in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho and Nevada I believe. We have a couple mass builders here in Idaho, that while not necessarily
bad, we just wanted to steer clear of. Which seems like an easy task, BUT when the market is as bad as it is, and you have 2 builders (CBH and Hubble) flooding your local market with huge monstrosity of houses that are just boxes of nothing more than wood and air but are ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE like (2700-3200 sq ft) it's hard to find something you are happy with. Then it was a question of location- Boise, Meridian, Eagle? All have good and bad things to consider.
I was getting discouraged. While I was finding houses that I liked, there was always
something. Maybe just a small thing- not enough electrical plugs in the kitchen, no pantry in the kitchen, too many windows (yes, that IS a thing.....), not enough windows. To big things- too big, too small, hated the kitchen, hated the location but loved the house, loved the location not crazy about the house. In a market like this it's easy to have a 'beggars can't be choosers attitude.' However, when you are spending a large amount of money on something- whether it be a home or a vehicle, I feel that is a horrible attitude to have- regardless of the market. Setting realistic expectations, however, is the tricky part.
Anyways, back to the fun stuff- we found a floor plan we loved and talked to the builder, chose the homesite and bada bing bada boom, here we are. So here are the specs....
Main Info-
2046 sq feet, all one level (!)
4 bedrooms
2 baths
Structural Upgrades we chose:
*4 foot garage ext.
*15x15 or 20x20 covered patio (I can't remember which he told me!)
*fireplace in living room- I chose a flat wall above vs alcove
*upgraded the 4th bedroom into a Den
*added a glass door from the master bedroom on to the patio, there is already one on the opposite side of the patio from the living room
*added a 4x4 textured window above the master tub
*added a 2x3 textured window in the second bath
*having them pour an extra 10x10 pad of concrete on the side of the garage. Louis plans on putting a little man shed back there for some of his production work.
Interior Upgrades we chose:
*upgraded tile shower and fiber glass pan
*wood wrapped windows
*oil rubbed bronze package
*ceiling fan pre-wires in the bedrooms and living room.
*enhanced dining room fixture
*upgraded maple cabinets throughout the house
*cabinet door handles vs knobs
*wall cabinetry in the laundry room
*slab granite in the kitchen
*subway tiling backsplash in kitchen and bathrooms
*I upgraded the fireplace surround tiling
*hand-scraped dark hickory flooring in kitchen and dining room
*12x14 tile entry
*upgraded chef kitchen appliances (!!!) including a 5 burner gas range, awesome fridge and I guess the microwave and dishwasher are pretty awesome too, but far down the list of things I was super excited about. ;)
