Our Home Building Tips: Recent Episodes
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Interest rates have never been lower in the present era than they are now! Having a lower interest rate can mean the difference of being able to afford a house today and not being able to afford the same house 3 years ago. As the economy continues to return and the housing market begins to slow, rest assured mortgage rates will go up. Enjoy my market tip for the day! ~Jess
The post Thinking of building a new home? appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
Today, Jess and Jason discuss some of the home automation and pre-wiring tips they used in their homes and some of the technologies out there to include in your next build! Is pre-wire worth it, or is using bluetooth better? We discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks to both!
The post Home Automation & Pre-Wire- Episode 6 appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
Today we discuss some of the lessons we learned along the way about new house selections and why we did or did not decide to do them in our new house. There are certainly many things we did not consider when building each house and later realized we wish we would have known before we built them. Also, we discuss some of the budget restraints around making these decisions.
The post Episode 5- 10 Lessons Learned appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
It wasn’t until we wanted to build our first house together that Jason and I decided to get serious about our finances. Neither of us knew truly what a BUDGET was, although we casually threw that term around from time to time. I admit, learning to make a real budget and FOLLOW it was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done! But wow, how great is it to be able to tell your money where to go each month?! We were both tired of the end of the month rolling around and looking at each other asking where all our money went and then often getting irritated about needing to do better with out money. So here are 5 budgeting/ saving tips we used and still use today: EveryDollar App https://www.ramseysolutions.com/ramseyplus/everydollar This was the easiest and most straightforward budget app we could find. We tried a few others but this was simple and very user friendly. We still use this app on daily basis! 2. Fetch App https://fetchrewards.onelink.me/vvv3/referraltext?code=CT1VY This app allows you to scan receipts from just about any store and build-up points to get gift cards. It’s so easy and takes like 10 seconds to do and I mean, who doesn’t like free gift cards?! Use our referral code, CT1VY, and get 2,000 points when you snap your first receipt! 3. Weekly Budget Clap! Yes, Jason and I still do this today. Each week we give each other a big clap for staying on budget as a simple way to encourage each other to keep focus and lighten the mood! If you don’t have a spouse then we suggest you ask a close friend to give you a weekly text of the hand clapping emoji! Nothing is more important than staying positive while telling your money where to go! 4. Monthly Budget Meeting At the conclusion of every month, Jason and I sit down for about 25 minutes and review how well we did the previous month on our budget and optimizing our savings. Then we review the unexpected bills that came up over the last month and decide whether these need to be included in next month’s budget. We then discuss any potential new unexpected bills that may arise over the next month and try to build those expenses into the budget. Then we review all our categories and makes sure nothing needs to be updated (either increased or decreased) and then watch our savings continue to rise!! 5. The 1 Night No-Cooking Rule Per Week Once we began to budget and follow our budget, we noticed that we were spending a lot of our money on eating food outside of our house. It’s crazy how expensive a single meal out can be, especially if you add a beer or two in there! We realized that if we cut down on eating out during the week, we could pay our electric bill and often times water bill for each month with the money we would save by cutting out just 2 meals per month. Is there a budget app or strategy that you have found helpful? Let us know! We would love to share your success with others. ~Jess
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Is your new house going to have a basement? Today we share a handful of tips on what to think about during the design process, extras and upgrades to add, and structural considerations for the basement of your new home!
The post Episode 4- Top Basement Considerations appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
Before building your new dream home there are several costs to consider and keep in mind. Today we share how we approached finances for each house we built and also discuss hidden or unexpected costs associated with the building process!
The post Episode 3- Financial Considerations appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
Today Jess and Jason share their experiences with kitchen upgrades. Lessons learned and tips for what you should upgrade and what you should wait to do after closing.
The post New Home Upgrades- Kitchen Edition (Episode 2) appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
Each time we decided to build a new home, Jason and I sat down and discussed exactly what it was going to take to build a home, financially; and what we needed to do to ensure we were able to afford our current living situation while keeping up with all of the financial responsibilities of building. Here were our consistent top 5 financial considerations before building each of our houses. 1. What is our price range for a new build? Debt to income ratio. 2. What is our budget?-Do we have enough money to afford our current rent or mortgage plus the costs associated with building a new home? 3. What is our timeline for ending rental agreements (lease) or selling a home? 4. How can we save up enough money for our down payment and live independently or do we need to find alternate housing; such as mom and dad’s house (if they will let you! Thankfully, ours did, twice lol.)? 5. How much money do we need left over in the bank after our down payment for the other costs of moving into a new home (e.g., movers, storage facility, curtains, big grocery trip to stock pantry, new appliances (if not included in new home)…? Out of all of these considerations, what we had the most trouble with was having enough money in the bank to afford the cost of securing a lot to build on and securing a home to build, all before selling our house. It costs money, roughly $10,000-$15,000 give or take depending on your building situation, to start the building process and that is before you even sell your current home, if that is your situation. Sure, once you sell a home you have cash for your down payment, but there are many expenses prior to closing which require a good amount of money. If you are lucky enough to have a nice little nest egg, great, but if not, this is a huge consideration and working on a budget in order to build was our most difficult task. What have been your biggest financial considerations before building a home? ~Jess
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Join hosts Jessica and Jason at the podcast, the Savvy Home Builders, as they share their knowledge and experiences about the new home building process. In this episode we discuss things to consider when first beginning to consider where to start when wanting to build a new home- Choosing where to build! Come along with us as we take you on our home building journey and offer insights into this exciting process![powerpress]
The post Considering Building A New Home?- Episode 1 appeared first on Our Home Building Tips.
One of the more exciting parts of building a new home was finding or selecting our lot. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!! Ok, maybe it’s not all about location, but location is often the most important consideration when choosing a lot to build your new home on. Consider this…you can change anything (well almost) that you want about the inside and outside of your home but the one thing you cannot change is the location of your home. Many times there are premiums for certain lots and with good sense, because the location and size of the lot is something that cannot be altered. So, choose wisely and really consider putting money towards making sure you select the lot you really want. Our home building strategy often started with deciding on a general geographical area of where we wanted to build our house. Three big things we considered each time included: 1. Distance from work 2. Distance from family 3. Small community with a good school district, parks and dining choices Other considerations, albeit lower on the list for us, included: -Lot size (this was more important to Jason) although I was more concerned with the lot location; wanting a pond view, no neighbors behind us… -City hook-ups for water and sewer (we weren’t interested in being in an area that required a septic tank, and I use too much toilet paper for that. Hahaha.) -Running/walking trails -The presence of trees nearby (mature ones if possible) but we like to spend a good amount on landscaping and really jazz up our yard. -Relatively flat lot (we both are not fans of hilly yards) An additional consideration was whether we wanted to buy our own lot/land that was not part of a development and have a builder come build the house, or, buy the house/land as one transaction as part of a developing neighborhood. Some people choose to purchase the land and work on paying it off over time and then build the house at a later date. While we considered this option heavily a few times, we ultimately bought the land and house as a package in a developing neighborhood for all of our houses. Many less custom builders often require you buy the house and land together and build right away and you don’t get the option to pay the land down/off before building. There are certainly pros and cons for both of these options, we just found that it was better for us due to build time and financial reasons. We (mostly me) also wanted to be in a neighborhood so that we could meet people and have other kids close by so that our daughters could play with friends. Once we decided on an area and builder, choosing the lot was certainly a lot of fun!! I admit that it was also pretty stressful though to. I mean, how do you know which lot will be the best fit for your family forever or for however long you plan to stay. Also, what about neighbors? I mean we were certainly worried we would build our forever house and end up being next to a not so friendly neighbor. Jason and I both are more outdoors people and enjoy taking care of a yard (Jason mows and I plant flowers) and having space outside to play with the kids. So, finding a yard that had ample room to do those things and have shed were certainly important to us. Also, our second lot had a pond view and we loved it. We loved it so much we made sure to choose a lot for our third house that had a nice pond view for sure! What kinds of things do/did you all consider when deciding on a lot location to build your house? -Jess
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