Location, Location, Location

The location of a build can impact so many things about the house and your lifestyle. Will there be a commute to work/ school/ sports, can you have a basement, are their covenants, do you have access to desired utilities (I wasn't crazy about having a septic system and natural gas was a must, so that helped narrow down our options) schools, taxes, etc were all questions we had to think about when finding the right location. For us we wanted to be closer to town, a quiet neighborhood where the houses weren't right on top of each other, and somewhere the style of our home wouldn't look out of place.

We bought land. We sold land. It took a few tries to find just the right location to finally break ground. We knew we would build someday, and started saving right after we got married. We also started pouring sweat equity into the homes we were living in, because given our skills, that was the best way that we could make money selling our homes, and reinvest in new projects. In 2012, we had saved enough to put a down payment on a 6 acre lot a new development outside of town, with the intent to use the land value as equity along with cash as the down payment when we built. It was a largely undeveloped area when we bought it, but over the years two things started to change how we felt about the property. First was the distance from town. Our family was growing and thinking about daycare, school, activities, work, etc. we didn't want to live that far out of town. Second, the development started to grow, houses went up and the neighborhood just wasn't what we thought it would be. The house we envisioned as our dream house felt out of place. The property sold quickly and we were on the hunt for the next site.

There was a lot available in a great neighborhood just across the river. The neighbors were mostly already our friends, the view was perfect. We purchased the lot and started working on house plans. While we were in the process of getting bids on the project we noticed a lot just down the road that was larger, didn't have any covenants, with a higher elevation so we could have a basement. Again we were able to sell quickly and we bought the new lot! We scrambled to change up the floor plans, going from a two story to a one story with a full basement. We broke ground in September 2017 and moved in December 2018. Two short years later, in December 2020 we sold the house and were once again on the hunt for a new property (I really hope this is the last one).

We looked at lots in town, we looked at acreage just outside of town, we looked at all kinds of lots, but ultimately we loved our old neighborhood, we loved our old neighbors and we settled on a lot just down the street from our last house. The wooded back yard is our favorite part, with a trail to explore for the kids and privacy knowing there won't be any houses directly behind us its the perfect spot to build next (hopefully the last) house!