Foundations Before Foundations: House Building Preparations

Sure, choosing the materials and employing experts in preparation to build a house might seem tedious and exhausting, but the real trouble, as you’ll find, should you opt for actually building your own lair, lies within the financial planning and getting yourself familiarized with zoning laws and potential legal issues that might throw the rest of your efforts right into the bin and force you to start from scratch, perhaps even give up this difficult, yet rewarding process.

Financial Headache

Probably the hardest part of any process, whether it’s DIY or otherwise, the monetary part of house building preparations almost never fails to make you backtrack and consider why you’ve gotten yourself into this mess in the first place. Fear not, for if you stick to some relatively simple guidelines, you stand a chance of perhaps not even feeling the breeze of what this otherwise painful process is.

• Start by reviewing your eligibility, as this is one of the prerequisites for construction-to-permanent loan. Your future home must be either a primary residence (set to be occupied by you, as an owner), or a second residence.
• Get your mortgage settled – Get in touch with a BB&T expert, who will help you tackle various issues like loan options and terms and interest rates involved.
• Home loan application – these are fairly self-explanatory, but you’ll want to consult your hired professionals, just to be safe.
• Keep in mind that you might need more money than you had in mind. It’s always a good idea to leave some wiggle room for potential extra expense. This way, not only will your disappointment be mellower, but you’ll avoid shifting finance from one part of your plan, here.
• Plan to set some money aside for paying for home inspections and expect at least six inspector visits during construction.

Legal Stuff

Sure, it seems that everyone but the lawyers themselves dread at the mention of this issue, but it is absolutely unavoidable. As you did with the financial experts, expect having to hire legal expertise. Start with the zoning restrictions – if you intend on building in an urban area, be sure that there’s a colorful map somewhere with precisely defined and predesignated areas for building. Local authorities are usually quite strict about where and what you can build – everything matters, from the height and width of your future residence, to the proximity of surrounding structures and landscaping.

You will probably have to transfer the legal title of property from one person to another (perhaps yourself?), so make sure that, in addition to other legal stuff, you’ve also covered conveyancing, just to be safe.

Other stuff

Just a friendly advice – no matter how much you love it, want to keep it and live in it, always build your home with resale in mind. You never know how much it will really be worth in the end, and you don’t want to regret some decisions you’ve made.

Always think green – not only does this save the planet, but can turn out to be a huge money saver in the future. Think simple – opt for south-facing windows if possible, and squeeze out every ounce of light from sunsets. Not only will this save you money on the electrical bill in terms of light, but even more importantly, it will make your home just a tad more warm and cozy during those late evenings. Plus, sunsets are beautiful, everyone knows that.

Now you can start with the rest of your planning, legally safe and financially covered. Just keep in mind that the hired experts are always there for you, so don’t refrain from contacting them even regarding the most trivial questions and perplexities.