Building My First House, Need Help

ginther03

Well, Im still a young guy, but eager to get started. I am in the process of getting my first lot. I would like to build a house between 1600 and 2000 sq ft. I have a had a great deal of trouble finding the plan that is right for me. I have gone through about 100 different prints and havent found anything that really caught my eye. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of somewhere else to look. Any advice would be great, thanks for your time.
-Chad

PipeGuy

My $.02
Don't build this jouse like its your dream home. Go for getting the most resale bang for your buck. If you're young you probably won't live in the house, what, 6 years? If you do it right you'll have a good penny when you re-sell the house. Build / live in / sell two or three houses in the next ten to twelve years and you'll probably have a nut big enough to build the dream home that the wifey'll want.
For now - 1st floor living room / dining room combo, small kitchen, 1/2 bath, upgraded kitchen cabinets, DIY deck.
Upstairs two decent bedrooms one smaller bedroom, hall bath, master bath (modest), tile bathroom floors.
Downstairs 3/4 finished walk-out basement 'media room', 3/4 bath (a shower makes it 'guestable').
Mid-line, dependable bathroom fixtures and kitchen appliances. Good luck.
Depending on where you are, maybe a pre-fab fireplace insert downstairs.

ginther03

Thanks for the quick response, that is the first thing that everyone has told me, "Dont get over your head!" (I actually recall my dad saying that about 100 times throughout my life) When I say this, I know I am bound to get some chuckles, but I am going on 20 years old, I am currently a Heating/Cooling Tech and started rubbing concrete when i was 14, so it's safe to say I have gotten my hands dirty for the short time i've been around.

I live in Northwest Indiana and have always dreamed of being a "home builder" and I figure its now or never. Its not that I don't like being employed through someone, I just feel that I am to the point in my life where I am willing to do whatever it takes to make the money that I want, rather than working at my $18 an hour wage for the rest of my life. I have my associattes in Building and Construction Management from Purdue University and I have never been so convinced that this is what I want to do. I am curious to hear some other peoples past struggles that they went through on their first home. Thanks for your time, I look forward to reading your responses.

PipeGuy

You've got a huge leg-up on a lot of knuckleheads like myself who waited way too long to own a house. A great friend of mine did it like this from age 24:
2100 SF, modest builder upgrades, lots of DIY upgrades - built in '85, sold '88
2900 SF -substantial builder upgrades, built in '88, sold '91
4300 SF -customized production home, substantial upgrades, built in '91, sold '96
5500 SF - custom home, high end, built in '96 , doubled in appraised value since then. Go for it dude! :Thumbs:

ginther03

Thanks for the advice, does anyone else want to through anything else out at me, I'm all ears!

teeceo

You are a stud dude. At 20 years old I was wasting time going after women and "Investing" in unreliable cars. I say go all in and have fun at it as life truely does go by fast and you mostly regreat the things you didn't do.

ginther03

O believe me, I have gone through about 6 different cars, have had my fair share of speeding tickets, but luckily I have had the same girl for close to 3 years, someone who kinda keeps my head on straight, plus her daddy owns about 1600 acres of farm land, with A LOT of frontage lots. So besides havin a good lookin one, i have just learned to put up with the rich girl attitude.
On another note, I actually found a print that I am interested in through "Dream Homes" a magazine I was given from a local builder, I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge of them? I really appreciatte the responses, this website really kicks A$$! I have a feeling I am going to become one of those Post-a-holics, (Grumpy) Thanks again guys, any info would be great!!!

PPro

My girlfriends parents built their house from a plan in Dream Homes. They made quite a few changes (he is a carpenter himself with a buttload of experiance), but overall they are very pleased with the house and Dream Homes. They've been living in it for 8 years now, and are starting to design their actual "Dream Home" they plan to build when their youngest kid moves out (hes 17 now). They started just like PipeGuy's friend, and this house was built for 150k, and recently appraised for 500k. With the prospect of some 3/4 million dollar homes going in across the street, it will easily shoot their house to a million +. If you like the plan, go for it.

TimWieneke

Since you live in NW Indiana - you're not too far from Chicago. There's an architectural firm in Tinley Park, Il that is probably a couple hours drive from you and they sell stamped home plans. You just select a home plan and they'll stamp it for submittal for approval.

Tim

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