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The Joys and Hardships of Building
When it came time to find our own family home, we became aware fast of how difficult it can be to find homeownership in Summit County, Colorado. I always knew it would be, I do this for a living! But I didn’t realize just the emotional toll it can take to find a home in a vacation paradise.
We spent about a year looking and getting outbid until we found a piece of land in the perfect neighborhood. It was exactly what we wanted, where we wanted, but we had to put a lot more work and time into this project we were about to embark on than we initially anticipated.
I’m extremely blessed my husband is a builder and has done ground-up construction in Summit and Denver County. So we knew what it would take, exactly, but how would we execute? I’m sure if you’ve stumbled on this blog, you’re probably wondering the same things.
Money
The first question is always how we paid for the construction. Let me tell you how we did it: we paid for the land in cash, then got a construction loan through a bank.
We purchased our land for $400,000 and got a construction loan for $800,000. It was a 5-year at 4.9%. After 5 years we can either refinance or purchase the remaining loan. The bank needs a ton of information before giving us the loan to make sure we qualify.
Time
Here’s another big question we always get; how much time did it take and where did you live in the meantime? It took a year and a half to build a 4,000 square foot home (4 bed/4.5 bath) from closing on the land to moving in.
One factor many don’t anticipate is the permits. Applying for and attaining the many permits you need to build is very time-consuming and tricky. This is where an experienced and quality General Contractor (GC) can help you out. Please hire one for your project! Email me if you need any references.
During that time, we still had to work and on the days off we used to manage the project. That was difficult! Plus, add having two children under two years old and you’ve got some serious time management issues. That’s what we did and we knew that it was only for a short moment but it felt like forever.
We lived in my mother-in-law’s house in Evergreen during construction. Yes... that was another fun part too.
Was it worth it?
All in all, we are extremely happy to live in a house we built. We got to design what we wanted and needed in a location that can’t be beat. Building a house isn’t for everyone. It tested our strength and endurance.
I will say though, We put in $1.2 million into a house that could easily sell for $2.6 million. So yeah, I’d say that was definitely worth it.
Got any more questions about building in Summit County? Write me an email at [email protected]
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