Our Bastrop Modern Farmhouse: The Early Stages

 Hello there! If you're reading this, it means we've finally shared the good news with y'all....WE BOUGHT LAND AND ARE BUILDING OUR FOREVER HOME! 

....but in all actuality, I'm starting this blog at a time where we haven't even purchased the land yet. We decided very early on that we wanted to share this journey with y'all and that means that I'm blogging every step of the way so we can be completely open and transparent along this path to building. 

THE EARLY STAGES:

End of July/Beginning of August: We started discussing the idea of moving. At this point, we didn't really expect to build so we weren't really looking at land but more so homes WITH land. Also note, we had not met with a realtor yet. We were just casually browsing Zillow!

August 6th: We decided it was time to reach out to our realtor and get the home search going for real. Again, still kind of eyeballing homes with land/new constructions already complete.  

August 10th: Kind of decided, after looking at the homes on the market, we should at least consider building. We knew we needed to talk to our lender and see what the loan process looked like during construction. This is where things get confusing. Construction loans are wayyyyy different and there's tons of different types. We will touch base on all this in a completely separate blog post later on. We added property searches (land only!) to our relator search and started looking at specific areas we knew we liked.

August 16th: We think we maybe found THE property. We've looked at a handful of others but none seem to have the potential (AND VIEWS!) that this piece of land has. Glad we brought our boots though because whew! It was a climb full of brush/trees to make it to the top! Goodness gracious though, I wanna be on the front porch in a rocking chair already!

August 18th: REALLY started trying to narrow down the builder search. One thing we learned very early on, when building a custom home, there are A TON of moving parts during each step. So while looking for land, trying to find house plans/drawing up ideas we had for a completely custom build, walking properties in the area to see potential, and working with the realtor on selling our current house, we were also trying to research builders in the area. 

August 20th: Walked the property with our realtor. She helped make sure we were looking at the correct stakes and to see the overall terrain. Next steps: continue the search for builders and grab all the early info from there to see if it's a good fit. This will included sending them sample photos of the style of home we are looking to build, floor layout ideas, square footage wants, etc. 

August 24th: Met with one of the potential builders today at the property to see what he could tell us about the overall terrain, if the land was "buildable", if our plans would fit the lot size, and an estimate on how much it would cost to clear the land in it's current state. 

August 28th: Met with another builder to walk the property. The key is to meet with several people who are familiar with building in the area and get their info. Then compare all the info you get from each builder to land on an overall consensus. 

August 31st: Met with our third builder today to walk the lot. Looking to put in our offer for the property soon!

September 3rd: Walked the property one last time just the two of us with Loretta. We snapped some pictures and made the decision to move forward. We are submitting our offer today! Saying all the prayers we get it!

September 4th: They countered our offer. We went into it with a number in our head of where we hoped to end up. Their counter was actually better than we anticipated so we are looking to move forward. 

September 9th: OFFER ACCEPTED! We are officially under contract!

September 14th: Got up at 5am to catch a sunrise on the property! This was mostly just for fun, but also to help us decide about window placement/porches/etc!

September 16th: In case you thought we were done meeting builders....we aren't. We are meeting with one new builder today that came after several recommendations + meeting with the sons of a previous builder we met with. Hopefully we will be wrapping up this process soon and choosing the right person to build our home! 

September 17th: We picked our builders! We are so excited to work with Juarez Custom Homes! We know that Rick, Shawn, and Jonathan will be able to bring our vision to life!

....stay tuned for the design process!