It's OURS

 As of 11:30 this morning, we are officially land owners! Now the fun begins. 

Take a look!

These pictures are from the real estate listing.  

This is the approach as you come up the road. 

The temporary driveway, seen from near the road.

Part of the future building site. I think this is the end where Sid's workshop will sit. 

The view from the hilltop. 

Isn't it gorgeous! I can't wait to live here!

The Search for Land

 Today I remembered that I had this blog! It's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? It's been a roller coaster of a summer, so buckle up, and I'll see if I can remember all the details in the proper order. 
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Our desired proximity to town was a pretty limited area, so after a long dry spell with nothing good coming on the market, we decided to look a little further out. At the end of April we found a very pretty lake property north of Buffalo, but it already had a pending offer on it, with contingencies. We made an attempt to put in an offer in case their contingencies fell through, but that purchase went through without us. 

Next we started looking south of town, which would give Sid a significantly longer commute due to having to get through town with multiple stop lights, so that wasn't our first choice. On a Wednesday I found a spot about 5 miles south of town. It was open land with a tree line down the west edge, and had a spring and pond on the back portion. We drove out on Saturday to take a look. We both loved what we saw, came home and looked up the listing to get the info to send our realtor, and it was now Sale Pending! Bummer! We also looked at a couple others in that direction, but nothing we really liked. 

In early June, with nothing else coming up for sale (other than lots of farmland, which we DON'T want) we made another stab at the overpriced one from February (previous post). The location was really ideal, though we still had reservations re: the wet spot. We finally came to an agreement on price with the seller- more than we wanted to spend on it, but well under his asking price. We wrote up the offer with a contingency re: an official answer on the wet spot. We couldn't actually get someone out there to check it until we had a signed agreement. Which didn't come. And didn't come. (We're talking days here, not weeks) Checked with the realtor, and the seller was trying to work out some kink re: a lien on the property. So we left that offer sitting open, but I was still watching the listings. 

Mid June I had a trip planned with some girlfriends. Before leaving on that Friday, I glanced at the listings. A new one was up only a couple miles west of town and it looked beautiful! Lake frontage too!  I left town; Sid went and looked at it and liked what he saw. After I got back Saturday evening, we both went back for another look. Loved it! Sunday we contacted the realtor. We could still pull out of the previous deal because the seller had never signed. We asked her to write up an offer on the new one, and cancel the previous offer. First thing Monday morning, she contacted the realtor of the new property, only to be told that the seller had made a private sale and was pulling it off the market! GRRR! Did we still want to cancel the previous offer? No, let it stand. Later that afternoon, she called to say that seller could not work out whatever the problem was with the lien-holder and was pulling the land from the market! Dang! TWO possibilities lost in one day!

Kept watching the listings. Nothing. More Nothing. A couple listings worth looking at, but nothing to get excited about. If we were going to spend that kind of money it should at least be something worth getting excited about!

Three days ago, again on a Friday, a listing that looked good showed up. A little further out from town than I'd like, but definitely do-able. Spotted it in the afternoon, and we drove out after supper. LOVED it! Very good price, too! 

Contacted the realtor that night and she wrote up an offer, which was ready to sign on Saturday morning.  She let us know there were already other offers so we upped our offered price slightly above asking. Saturday evening all the realtors involved were told there were several offers, and the sellers would "review them all on Monday", and did anyone want to sweeten the pot? We upped our offer a bit more, said we could be flexible on closing date as long as we had time to make sure about it being legally build-able, and proceeded to chew fingernails!

I will state here that I officially do NOT like the process of buying land! We have lost out on multiple different places this summer, all for different reasons and none of which involved being outbid. What is the actual meaning of "We're going to review them all on Monday"? They haven't even looked at them yet are are waiting to see if more come in? There is a clear high bid, but they want to yank everyone's chain and see if more money falls out? There is a tie for the highest and they want to see who will raise their offer the most? Why can't they just say what they mean and give people a straight answer so buyers can make informed decisions?

Today I got a text asking if we could close by the 24th. No other info. Just that question. We said yes, with the same contingency. The realtor dealt with her end; I proceeded to track down the info we needed - not an easy task since I was not home and all my links and phone numbers were! My daughter's computer, a few quick searches and several phone calls later and we had a partial answer. 

I tell you, it sure helps to know people!! In short, I needed to be sure that: 1. Can we put a house on this lot (county -  zoning that restricts houses per 40 acres in farming country), and 2. Can we put in a driveway where we need it (township - because they maintain the road, not the county), and 3.  Can we put in a septic system (county -  requires a perc test on the ground). I started with a call to the appropriate department at the county. The answers she gave me were wishy-washy. Like the clerk was afraid she'd get sued if she gave inaccurate info and therefore would not commit to her answers. Maybe it was just her style of speech but it did not lead to a confident feeling on my part. They were the answers I needed, but left me feeling like they were all "maybe" not definite. Next I called a friend whose husband does a lot of real estate business, hoping to get a better answer on exactly WHAT I needed to research in order to get definite answers. He listened to my questions and referred me to a friend from church who works in the office I had already called (but deals with a specific aspect of the office and "clerk" is not his job)  Assured me he always asks for this person directly and gets much better answers. I looked up this person's number, played a brief round of phone tag, and finally got some real answers. Short version- YES, this is a "build-able" lot and is already approved for a house and septic. If we want to build on the bare hill-top (we do) we are good to go! The township question re: the driveway is still unanswered. I called them, but they are only open 3 half-days a week, and I had missed the hours today. Should be no problem as there is already a temp driveway in place, good visibility and no ditches to cross. 

At the end of the day- WE HAVE LAND!! Papers are signed, earnest money has been paid, and we close on Aug 24th. Still have a contingency in place re: all of the above in case something goes wrong re: the driveway, or I learn of some other requirement that I don't know about yet.  Don't know yet how much we can get done this year. The next step is to find a builder. 

Floor Plans

Yes, we got the plans. No, it did not take this long! There are lot's of tweaks we want to make to them, and we just had our second meeting with the architect this week to discuss those changes.

Here's my original drawings. One-level living on the main floor, with a guest room and sewing room lofted above. If you click on them you can see them larger. The garage will connect to the mud room below, not to the sewing room, but this is how it all fit on the paper

These are the first draft from the architect. Quite a few things shifted small amounts, just because I didn't know how much to allow for wall thickness, and stairway length, etc, and we decided to go with 32" doors for future maneuverability when age catches up with us. 

He took out my diagonal doors in the back hall due to space with the wider doorways. I really like diagonal doors for some inexplicable reason, but I'm not going to fight over the issue. 

And here's his plans again, with the changes we requested. 

Downstairs- Going left to right across the top, then the bottom: Making the kitchen island smaller- Sid's request. Removing counter space from the laundry room- I'd rather have that space for an ironing board and somewhere to park the vacuum. Mud room- Dog shower does not need to be as big as he made it, and turning two closet spaces into one. Front entry- removing closet (we'll use hooks for guests) and making a more interesting stairway instead. Tweaking of space under the stairs to suit our intended usage. Bath- just a few tweaks for our own personal preferences.

Upstairs- Adding a bit more space to the sink area and a door, so that space can serve as a changing room for my sewing clients. The area next to the toilet will become built-in shelves for the adjoining room instead of bathroom space. Removal of the unnecessary linen closet and making more space in the guest room. 

If you have a Pinterest account, you can see my preferences for the look of things on my board here: https://www.pinterest.com/wendyww/build-a-house/  Of course these are likely to change along the way. 

Wetland? Really?

Slight Oops from my previous post. The cost estimate for our plans was ready within a few days. The actual plans will take about 7-10 days following our first payment, so about a week from now.

We've been doing some legwork on the land we want. It ticks all our priority boxes and is very close to town. However, it's WAY overpriced. We put in a low-ball offer last fall, which was rejected. Our offer was generous in comparison  with its tax value and other local sales, but way below the asking price. Apparently the owner wants to maximize his profit (don't we all?) Price has since come down by $10K, but is still over priced. While we wait for him/them to come to their senses,  I am looking closer at the details and legalities of MN wetland and building restrictions, in regards to this property in particular, but also for the knowledge in general to apply to any other properties we might consider. 

I learned that the large "puddle" in the woods is marked as a wetland, and a setback from another nearby property affects the possible home locations on this property.  These details together mean the house would have to go further back into the woods than Sid wants, but it's my preferred location. He's the one that has to clear the long driveway, though. On the advice of a friend who has done a lot of land investment, I went over to the local Soil and Water District office today to ask some questions about "wetland mitigation" which is a fancy way of discussing "filling in the low spots". The pertinent person is out sick this week though, so that's on hold for a few days.

Spring is coming, and I SO want to have ducks lined up and ready for a build this summer. I feel like things move slooooowlyy, and I'm impatient.

UPDATE: Short answer- yes it probably counts as a wetland but would have to be checked in person to make sure. No, we can't fill it if it is. In addition, there is a setback from an abandoned building on an adjoining piece of land that also affects the building locations. Really only one good place to build, a site I like and Sid doesn't. So, not pursuing this further at this time, but not totally off the table yet either.

Architect Meeting

Friday we met with our architect. It was an interesting process. I already had the layout drawn out on graph paper. I've been drawing floor plans for fun since Jr.Hi. and have drawn many dream homes through the years. I'm good with the process of a technical drawing, but don't have the knowledge of requirements and needs of the technical aspects of a house- things like linear feet a staircase requires, or floor space needed for the furnace/water heater/etc.

Menard's website has a nifty little feature that allows you to plan out your kitchen online. Incorporating the lines of cabinetry they sell, you can put together a 3D virtual model with the specific cabinet units you choose. I completed this a couple weeks ago, and drew it out to put with my floor plans.

Sitting down with the architect, we started with my kitchen plan, discussed details such as appliance choices, answered his questions about my drawings, explained the quirky details I had planned in, like a broom closet between the studs under the stairs, and an unusual cabinet placement. From there we went around the house room by room. He made notes about details we discussed, explained pros and cons of various options, talked about room sizes and features and details. Along the way, two outside doors became windows, doorways grew a size to allow future wheelchair maneuverability if needed, the bathroom lost a sink, and garage doors got wider to a newer industry standard.

Overall there will be three sets of plans drawn. The first set will be ready this week and will be just a floor plan, incorporating the changes we discussed and little things I can't do on graph paper like the thickness of the actual walls, which slightly changes the room sizes and how they fit together. We'll meet again to go over these, make any necessary changes, and approve the final layout. The second set will be more detailed, giving the info needed to get quotes from builders, including outside elevations, which is the pretty drawings of the finished building showing window styles and roof lines and other such things. The final set will include all the construction details, and also blank layouts for the electric and plumbing contractors to each draw their parts.

This is the main floor.

This is the upstairs. (Garage will be first floor, of course, but this is where it fit on the paper.)

This is the kitchen.

The first set of plans is supposed to be ready this week. Stay tuned!

Beginnings

Dreams of "home" have taken on many shapes through my life. Having grown up as a military kid, and married to a military man, I have lived in 21 (?) homes. Some temporary, some long-term, a couple times as a long-term guest of another family member. Trailers (3), military housing (7), apartments (2), dorms (multiple- military and boarding school), private homes (5). And I'm sure I've miscounted something somewhere, but you get the idea. Through all those changes, my ideas of a "dream home" have certainly changed in accordance with the stage of life, experience in different styles of housing, and geographic location. Our current home definitely fulfilled a dream as it is the first home actually purchased by Sid and I, chosen to suit our needs, in a location of our choosing.

We've been here 20 years next summer, 4 times longer than my second-longest home. Just thinking about staying put so long still seems like a foreign concept, and it does not feel like it's been that long. Growing up in a transient military life, and marrying a military man, there-by "dooming" my first-born to the same life, created a dream of bringing up kids in place where they could put down roots, strong roots where they could draw support and nourishment from a wide base of people who have watched them grow up. Where they could have best friends who were life-long friends, and "second moms" in their best friend's homes. This house has provided that for my second- and third-born. As I watched their experience, and talked to friends who take this as a given, I have come to appreciate the wide exposure to life experience that my own upbringing provided. I also appreciate the wonderful, deep, long friendships I have been able to form here, something I never really experienced before.

Now it's time for another change. With our youngest now an adult and looking to move out soon, we are ready to make the move to our next home. One that will allow for us to grow old without stairs. (Our current home is a 4-level split, which we have seen be a real obstacle to senior family members.) One that can create memories for our grandkids that are similar the memories we cherish of our own grandparent's homes. Land to run on, woods to explore, wildlife to watch.

We are looking for land locally, and what we want is hard to come by. Woods, not farm fields. Big enough for target shooting without danger to others, close enough to town to not have to change churches and all the other regular things of daily life. On paved road to accommodate the motorcycle, but not a busy road. We have looked at and considered several lots, most before we were financially ready to move forward. Presently we are watching a piece that checks all our boxes except for price. Hopefully by spring they will be ready to come down a bit.

We have our floor plans. After years of drawing dream houses, of discussing options and conflicting wishes, we finally agreed on a plan. The architect has been hired, and the first set of blueprints are being produced. It's a 1.5 story, with a gambrel roof. One-level living downstairs, with guest space and a large sewing room upstairs. This blog will follow our progress. News will be sparse at first as there won't be much to write about until we have land,  but I'll keep you informed as I journal our adventure.