I'm not sure if this should go in Real Estate, or Learning, or maybe multiple places, but here's the long story short:
I'm at the point (assuming the sale would go through with Covid issues in place because I don't know how strong the real estate market is in my area) where my wife and I have enough equity in our home to do something with it.
To clarify: Our home is every bit as big as we would need for a family of four. And I don't think we need to move, as this is the first house we bought with the intent of buying just a tad bit bigger to grow our family, BUT we didn't need a McMansion. BUT, the one factor I have been thinking about is as follows: In our region, we live in one of the handful of most priciest zip codes. Didn't mean to do it that way. It's a good school district, and the house was a total reno. It took 3 months to do most of the work, and another year to handle all of the smaller but still important things. We've only been in it for about 3.5 years, so we've made progress.
That's the background, so here's the point I'm looking for help or resources (mainly advice):
If we move even a few miles away (5 to 10), and if we can get relatively close to market value then after realtor and selling costs, with the equity built we would clear enough to buy between 2 and 5 acres (it varies), and probably build a small house. However, my FIL built my wife's house when they were children, and while age is a factor for the labor, his knowledge and technical skill combined with my willingness to do things would probably let us build the right sized house while still allowing the subcontracting for things we can't do, the legal and architectural, and the utility hookups. My concern is that even though I KNOW the amount of work this will entail, and even though I know some of the projects I have yet to do, am I missing something crucial? Is there anything major that I should be aware of?
The current plan is to have a couple of acres so that a) we aren't on top of our neighbors, b) we can enjoy our backyard (right now we I can step through my front door and see in through the front door / window of 8 neighbors, we are on top of each other), and c) I would like to be more green and have room for DIY solar panels, a garden, possibly a greenhouse, rain barrels, etc. It's harder to operate like that in the middle of a subdivision.
Finally, the way we are leaning is doing a pole barn to have a very basic frame, avoiding the basement entirely, and then just finishing the interior. We would probably need to have someone pour the concrete (I might be able to do this but don't want to screw it up), build the barn itself (my cousin does this and would only charge us material plus wages - no markup as they need to pay their guys in this climate), and do the spray foam insulation. I may also have a drywaller come in and do the sheet rock, mud and sanding, as drywalling the walls and ceiling of a 2,000 square foot barn is not something I would look forward to. However, everything else. Framing, electrical, plumbing, trim, windows, HVAC ... I have enough experience doing all of those things in one way or another that I wouldn't be afraid to do it on my own.
And, while this could be a very busy year, my biggest light at the end of the tunnel is mortgage will be paid off, AND we still have the perfect footprint of a house until I die.
I'm just wondering if there are any horror stories, suggestions, resources, tips, etc.
Thanks!
