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Truth Seeker |
I wish my current property taxes were that much! I currently pay over $7K a year on just my current home. We have indeed factored in the new property tax cost of our new home. NRA Benefactor Life Member | |||
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| Truth Seeker |
LOL. We are now beginning the selections on appliances and plumbing fixtures while we are waiting for the appraisal of our home to be finished for the construction loan. It is possible they could break ground in a few weeks. NRA Benefactor Life Member | |||
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| Member |
We went with deep drawers under the counters in the kitchen instead of the usual open cabinets. No more reaching in to get pots and pans. | |||
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| The Ice Cream Man |
Good windows, and lots of insulation. Solid doors, at least to bedrooms and bathrooms. Wire it for heated floors, even if you can’t afford them now. Drains, and sloped floors in bathrooms and laundry room - you want to set it so that a pipe leak will be channeled into the drain rather than spread through the house. Top quality cut off valves on all water cut offs. Adds minimal cost, and a mess when they cheap junk doesn’t work Wire it for ac in the garage, along with a large air compressor, and vacuum. (I’d consider a whole house vacuum as well, with the bin outside.) Rather than gutters, do larger overhangs and French drains. (Pretty normal in central TX) | |||
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| The Ice Cream Man |
And no air handlers by bedrooms/no compressors by bedrooms. If you can, getting a roof over an ac unit will lower the wear, if you can avoid heat stacking | |||
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semi-reformed sailor |
Normin, just re-visited this thread, did you have the slab reenforced with tensioned cabling? I ask cause I’m in Temple and the ground is clay and expands and contracts. When we moved here I asked the builder what the wires were in the slab and he explained it to me. Concrete will always crack, but the tensioned wires keep the slab together if cracks become large...also I keep the foundation sprinkled around the house regardless of weather, so that the dirt doesn’t contract. We have a friend who lives in the county and her home was built thirty years ago and does not have the tensioned cables in her foundation. Her husband has prevented damage to the foundation by sprinkling during the summer to prevent drying. "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein “You may beat me, but you will never win.” sigmonkey-2020 “A single round of buckshot to the torso almost always results in an immediate change of behavior.” Chris Baker | |||
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thin skin can't win |
Look at Minka-Aire. Recommended by others here, I've use a couple as replacements and they rock! You only have integrity once. - imprezaguy02 | |||
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| Truth Seeker |
Ugh, getting worried about this whole financing thing. We are approved and can afford the cost of the construction loan amount. Problem is the banks say they will lend the cost of construction or the estimated appraised value, whichever is lower. Our house is being built with high quality construction and not like a normal home. The appraiser is not taking that into consideration and is just using local comp sales so the bank is only willing to lend half the cost of the actual construction so we are trying a different bank now with a different appraiser. To answer some comments and recommendations: we will have pex plumbing, framing is 2x6, lots of good insulation and sound proofing, all doors are solid doors, exterior doors and bedroom door will be re-enforced, all rooms wired for ceiling fans, a/c in my workshop attached to garage, and high quality windows. I don’t know yet about the foundation, but is says steel reinforced per engineering. My current home has the tensioned wires as we are on clay soil; out there is is a very sandy soil. We can’t get started until we get this construction loan. I will be pissed if for some reason we can’t get a loan for the full amount as we have already dropped almost $25K into the planning of this home so far. Even if we eliminated a metal roof and rain collection system that would only reduce the cost by about $80K. NRA Benefactor Life Member | |||
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blame canada |
This is very preventable with a good architect and builder who specialize in really doing custom houses (not just calling a builder grade house a "custom" house), and who know their trade. The other key is...no changes. Once the design and materials are sourced, get it built and make as few changes as possible. Builders have 30-50% profit added on top of labor and material markups...there is no reason for an over-budget home unless you made changes after the plan was quoted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.rikrlandvs.com | |||
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| blame canada |
Get your own appraisal. Demand an AI designated SRA or MAI. The difference between a barely certified residential appraiser and one who is designated by the Appraisal institute is literally the difference between a CNA and an MD. Designated appraisers do not work for the cheap fees that crappy appraisal management companies (AMC's) pay. A quality lender knows who the good appraisers are who specialize in your type of construction. Cheaping out on a cheap appraiser....can cost you a LOT of money in the long run. We (I own an appraisal company) do this type of work all the time, in fact we just valued a custom proposed home being built in Homer, Alaska. We charged $5,000 for the appraisal, and the bank chose the 8 week turn time (to save money). You will pay more for a qualified appraiser, but not nearly as much as it appears to be costing you by not having a qualified appraiser the first time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The trouble with our Liberal friends...is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." Ronald Reagan, 1964 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Arguing with some people is like playing chess with a pigeon. It doesn't matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon will just take a shit on the board, strut around knocking over all the pieces and act like it won.. and in some cases it will insult you at the same time." DevlDogs55, 2014 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.rikrlandvs.com | |||
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Go Vols! |
In extreme rural Michigan, internet can be had via wireless (like Verizon) using tall antenna towers. Consider running conduit to such structure if that works. Far better than satellite. Almost cable-like internet speeds. Something I wish I had was additional electrical junction boxes in the attic against the outside walls. I have found it can be quire a pain to connect something like a new outside light when I wanted to add a couple with cameras. I do not have a 220v outlet in the garage - wish I did. My current breaker box has one spot open for a 110 circuit. Otherwise it is full. A larger box would have been nice. | |||
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