GET ER DONE!

Sooooo close to being done with the whole house search. We are finally at the point where we have picked a plan (fucking awesome plan at that) and have finished moving things around here and there to fit our needs. We have gotten a quote back and it, though a little higher than we wanted, fits into our budget. It is a tight fit, but none the less it fits. Can't believe that we can build a house for under $300,000 and it will be worth over $400,000 the day we move into it! That's just the way the market is though. Our final house plan has been approved by the developer and we are now at the stage of signing the final contract and finishing the bank work up. Stressful yet exciting at the same time I guess. P.S. We are building with Gilroy Homes and will be in our new home within 18 months....a long wait, but plenty of time to save up some more money.

Through the whole process we have really discovered the difference between needs and wants. We wanted a lot of upgrades but finally came to the realization that we needed to spend money on the needs (structure/windows/furnace/basement) and give on the wants (hardwood/tile/granite). We can always change the flooring or counter tops but it would be hard to re-build the foundation in the future.

There have been a huge number of things we have come to learn about building a new home that we had never thought of before. The biggest one being sure we know what our soil conditions are like and where the water table sits. Great info. to know when deciding on type of foundation supports needed such as piles or support footings and the need for a sump pump!

When we bought our lot 2 weeks ago there we over half the lots still available. We heard last night that there are only 2 lots left...they went fast once the word got out there. We were very lucky to be above the game on this one. The average lot in Regina costs approx. $90,000 which gives you a 50 x 60 foot lot. We paid $52,000 for a 60 x 130 ft lot. We will have a ton of grass to cut...lol, or a huge dirt pile for the first bit. Our dog will no longer be white!

Anyways, we are close to closing off on the first chapter of our home building book and starting on the second which will be choosing everything we want in it right from exterior colours to counter tops, fixtures, lighting, etc. Should be a good time!

What the F!

Well what can I say.....still trying to get a contract signed for our house. Builders seem to be the busiest people around. Argg.....

Progress on our House Plans

Progress on our house plans...when did that happen.......lets see NEVER! It is a crazy world out there right now when your talking about the real-estate market. We decided a few weeks ago that the way for us to "hopefully" capture some of Saskatchewan's booming economy is to build a home. Right now the prices are fairly similar when you look at buying a 1960's 1300 sq foot home in Regina and building a brand new 1300 sq foot home. The only difference is with buying you most likely have to put even more money into renovating it, but you have to wait FOREVER to move in. We are currently looking at approx. 18 months from date of signing to date of possession but for us we are OK with that. We are guaranteeing ourselves an affordable house now but saving up for 18 months too.

We bought our land in White City.....18.3 meters wide and 40 meters deep (HUGE!!!) and now we are down to finding a builder...well a builder and a final floor plan. We spent Sunday touring show homes and talking to builders and wow......there are a lot of decisions. Now we knew that going into it, but with builders being so busy we have to hopefully find a builder who will put effort into our house and not just throw it together like all the other cookie-cutter houses out there. We have a busy week ahead of us with meeting builders every day after work and hopefully by next week we will have a contract signed and be on our way to getting our new home.

A new house!

Well, lets just say the last week has been one hell of a stressful one. We went in a complete 360 in our ideas about what we are going to do in regards to our housing situation. After attending a recent home buyers seminar it seems that building is the way to go. So, as you can guess, we are actually looking into building a new home now. We have started getting all of our ducks into a nice little row in order for this new idea to get going. We have looked into the area we want, found a house plan that we fell in lover with, went to see our mortgage advisor and got our finances in place. Now, we plan to meet with the real estate guy, purchase our land then start shopping around for a builder to begin on our house. I am sure this process will take forever and we will not be in our house for a year or so but at least we are getting the ball rolling and hopefully be able to secure ourselves a house at today's current market value.

Basically the market is crazy right now and we have decided that we had better get on the roller coaster before it speeds off and leaves us behind. Here is hoping that everything works out. I will be posting more info. as we move along in this process and who knows in 6 months I may be able to start posting pictures of our house being built. For now all I can post is a picture of the house we hope to build.