Our family has lived in the same home for the last 15 years. Before that we moved every 3 years for work out of state raising our kids. Living 20 feet apart from other homes for so long, I mostly feel antsy to look for other options and find our dream home for our pre-retirement and retirement years. I have been an experienced real estate broker since 2006 so when I made up my mind to find our dream home I thought shoot, I can find a great deal, this won't be hard or take long…Ha! How wrong I was.
The market in SW Washington has low inventory, very high values and prices plus high interest rates with a higher inflation economy. I still keep tabs daily on the market for clients and ourselves diligently for the last couple years searching for the right property and scouring for hints of motivated sellers. I was not sure with these higher home prices if we should buy a land lot and build or an existing home which would be easier so I kept my eye out for both options.
I have worked with an investor which also became a friend for many many years and still help him currently with real estate investments. He went from engineer to an investor to a builder then to owning his own fleet of equipment for development of land both residential and commercial along with a full team and crew. When I started thinking about building, the first person that came to mind was someone I trust, who treats us fairly, does quality work and has experience building with spec, multifamily, luxury custom homes which is what we wanted. Choosing a builder can be daunting because as a consumer, you just don’t know reputation, quality of work, tradesman availability, meeting deadlines and total price quote to build which can be scary when everything is added up. We have all heard about nightmare scenarios of building homes from others. It is a no-brainer for us to use someone with experience I know and trust to help us. From all my many years of experience, if there is one thing I tell my clients during the building process to protect them most is to get an inspection right before completion! Best advice and worth every penny spent because builders have many employees, tradesmen, timeline crunches plus budget restrictions and many items get missed on that final punch list prior to closing day. I will definitely be taking my own advice so we have peace of mind no matter what builder we choose.
As long as we use a reputable experienced architect to help us draw up the build plans that incorporate current local building codes and HOA design approval of what we want, all any builder has to do is follow this plan.
Things still were not that easy….
All the homes on the market were not that great of selection for what you could get for the price so this is what took so long to find something. I also could not find a selection of custom homes with some acreage for a backyard in anything other than craftsman designs. I just want to scream with the monopoly here. I finally expanded the boundaries in the MLS looking rural north and further away from the Vancouver WA city where we originally wanted to be for convenience, close to the airport, freeway, shopping and territory for my husband’s work. This was the absolute ticket!! Heading a few small towns north of us which is a 45 minute drive from our current home, I found a land listing in a gated community with 2+ acre sloped lots and beautiful expansive homes throughout the subdivision, not to mention views galore of the Columbia River! I met my husband at the lot and we loved it! Started doing my research and found it was red flagged on the county site as a very hazardous landslide area with steep roads. So we kept looking but fell in love with the area even though it meant a longer work commute. The cost difference in this rural area for view lots vs. closer to Vancouver/Portland was 4+ times less not that far away. That is a HUGE savings! We found a 2nd 2+ acre lot in the gated subdivision next to the last lot. I actually cried the minute I got out of the car. So excited with emotions and visions of our dream lot with views. We then returned again to the 2nd lot bringing with us my friend the investor builder and an architect our friend actually used. We all did our research after that and talked with the previous geo technical engineer who created a report given to the current owner who shared it with us. In addition to the cost of the land lot, it would have been $300k additional due to pin piles needed where steel rods are drilled 30+ feet into the side of the hill to stabilize the foundation footings so the house wont slide. Ugh! That was a terrifying thought worrying about our family, future hazards and our life investment. Emotions were whirling with many sleepless nights and financial strain in sight so we came to the right decision to cancel the purchase and sale contract. Our household is not just the 2 of us but a multi-generational family to accommodate and consider.
I continued to keep my eye out in this particular neighborhood and happened to park on the road by a lot for sale on the lower part of the neighborhood. The view from this lot was not as great but I am keeping an open mind of what’s available. All of a sudden a huge truck pulled behind me with a construction trailer. I greeted him and it was a neighbor who lived just up the street. We had a very informative and positive discussion and he shared with me that another neighbor tried selling a couple lots he owns and may put them again on the market soon and I should check them out. He referred me to his realtor and I reached out. My hubby and I visited the lot and it was over grown with high blackberry bushes and brush everywhere. It was the largest lot in the development. It was hard to see the terrain layout. Surprise surprise it was raining pretty hard and cold when we viewed it. I was emotionally exhausted at this point looking at our 4th lot. I couldn’t visually see much due to the bad weather, overgrown brush and assumed the slope was steep and was ready to get back in the car and give up. Luckily my hubby had the notion to say “hold up” and walked down the slope a bit. He told me to come and walk with him because it wasn’t that steep and could be a great option for us. I followed and soon agreed with elation and hope. The views were beyond spectacular with 180 degree views of the Columbia River along with a glimpse of the Portland OR skyline even though we were probably an hour away from downtown Portland. Soon as we got home I shot off an off-market offer, tried negotiating of course and was accepted about $50k under previous asking price. We did our buyer due diligence. I called all utility companies to make sure this location has all services available. Inquired with HOA. We hired a septic design engineer and geo tech engineer to ensure the land can support the proposed construction. We needed to make sure expensive pin piles were not needed like the previous lot did. This was a make or break on our decision to move forward due to our long term budget. All reports came back clear with no red flags which allowed us to proceed. We closed on our dream land lot a month later which we feel is such a blessing to get a great price for the largest lot in the development with the best views possible.
As soon as the lot closed we took the family there to experience and visit it for the first time as owners. Our neighbor that told us about this lot met us there and brought other nearby owners for us to meet. I have honestly always believed that I wish I could market properties AND their great neighbors as a package deal. Great neighbors bring so very much happiness, companionship, quality of life with support and lifelong friendship that I value and appreciate so much. These new neighbors did not disappoint and we cannot wait to move there because they all made us feel so welcomed and wanted from day 1. Some have boats and want to go on fishing trips, family BBQ’s, offers of heavy equipment to keep our lot trimmed, vendor referrals of services in the area, HOA information and insights plus a landscape design trail idea linking our yards so the kids can visit each other. Ha! The next day after this visit, this neighbor that referred us to our lot had taken their drone and created video and photos for us in addition to a full colored home and landscape design sent to us including pond water feature and foliage trees along the border to decrease freeway noise. WOW! Absolutely blown away!!
The architect we were hoping to use ended up not being transparent with their fees and wanted to over charge us short and long term for services. Specifically a high commission percentage for the cost of our overall total build budget plus open ended fees adding trip, site visit and communications fees in addition. The costs ended up to be unreasonable and the trust was then broken so we ended ties and in search of a new architect. I feel whoever you hire for a job or service needs to align with your goals, ethics and values because it is a long process of working together and it is crucial to find the right supportive trusting partners and professionals in this highly emotional and life altering project.
Realistically we will not be able to build for about 2 years or so when we feel financially ready as we want to pay off the land lot and all of the build cost or close to it to be “mortgage free” in retirement years is our goal. Lenders currently in this more difficult market, have many creative strategies for buyers that offset the issues of higher interest rates and higher unaffordable mortgage payments. You just have to do research, interview many lenders and ask many questions so you as a buyer are aware of the options available to help you. The property taxes alone that never end and only go up are enough worry when you have a fixed income as a senior in retirement. We also have to pay close attention to the HOA building requirements with board approval for all we hope to do including design, location on the lot, square footage, landscape, plants/trees, materials and aesthetics.
We have heard that this process alone is not easy for approvals in this neighborhood at least. Our builder is very busy now with multiple businesses he is starting up so he is relieved that the start of the project is farther away for planning purposes. He voiced that he doesn’t want to be so busy building this home right now because when he commits to building our home, he wants to be on site for a couple hours at least a day watching and making sure it is “perfect” with quality control. We are very happy and appreciative of that gesture.
Right now our hearts are full thinking about all the possibilities of creating our perfect lifestyle for our family that makes us happy and fulfilled. We look forward to sunny warmer days when we can plan a “date” together and take our lounge folding chairs that I bought for us on our anniversary, to take to our lot and watch the sunset while cheering glasses with our favorite beverage and enjoying the majestic views that are now ours to enjoy.
Even if we build our dream home on this lot, it may not be our absolute forever home but we have confidence and peace of mind that it will grow in equity exponentially and provide our family with the financial legacy for generations to come.
So excited for the next part of this life adventure!
Stay tuned...
Hugs,
Shaunna
