For the past month or so we've been looking into getting a modular house built. Not a very big house. 4 bedroom/2 bath. 1600sqft in total. I say looking into because we're still working on getting the mortgage loan and until that happens, nothing's been built yet. The only thing that's holding the mortgage back is the down payment. We would need about $6,000. But we have nothing saved up. Hard to save when you have bills to pay. But according to the lender, North Carolina has a thing that helps you specifically with the down payment. Only trouble with that is that you have to have a credit score of 640 or higher. Hubby's credit score is almost there so we need something that will push us up just that little bit. So we've got some credit cards we're trying to pay down that have gotten a bit more than 50% full. Seems that under 30% is a lot better place to be. And doing that would cost us a lot less than trying to save $6,000. (I actually wrote this post yesterday but we also applied for a personal loan at our credit union today. They said we should know by tomorrow if we're approved.)
We're really excited but since we don't yet have the mortgage loan, we're still trying to stay realistic that it could possibly fall through. One of the things we're excited about most is that this will be a brand new house. Not something used and abused by somebody else. It will only get abused by us and us alone. It's like buying a used car. You never know how the previous owner treated it or what problems it might have. It's brand new! Even the septic and well will be new.
We have already been back to the dealer's and picked out all the colors and such. I say colors loosely though. We ended up picking out a lot of greys. Light grey siding on the house, black shutters, black roof (more like dark grey). Grey laminate wood flooring in the main rooms, light grey carpet in the bedrooms, beige paint on the walls(this is actually standard but we can always repaint later if we want), dark wood cabinets in the kitchen, beige counter tops and back splash. I think that's pretty much everything. Walls, floors, kitchen, outside.
We actually like the grey and beige combination. But I realized the other day that we may occasionally have difficulty finding cat. The thing I'm holding is a sample of the wood laminate flooring we picked out.
There will also be a fireplace in the den. That's where we'll probably spend most of our time. I love a wood fireplace and have always wanted a house with one. So there we go. We also opted for the kitchen upgrade that gets us all black kitchen appliance. Big fridge, dishwasher, glass top stove, microwave above the stove. I think the standard kitchen was just a basic off white fridge and coil burner stove. Off white appliances wouldn't have gone well with the dark cabinets.
Even though I'm really excited about the house, the cherry on top for me is that we found a 6.32 acre piece of land for a really really good price. I will finally be able to have the mini farm I've wanted for years. I will finally be able to provide healthy, unprocessed food for my family by growing a big garden and raising livestock. We've already been to the property a couple times. Once to make sure we liked it, then with their contractor to discuss placement of the house and such. I didn't want to leave. I think the next time will be after we get the loan and we go look at it again with a property appraiser so he can mark the exact layout of the property and other such things.
The only other possible problem is that our lease is up here at the end of March. So we need to get this loan quick so they can start building the house. They can have the house built in a month. But getting the foundation wall put in and actually placing the house and such could be held up if the weather starts to get bad. Like snow and ice bad. They can't dig a place for the foundation or put in the septic and well if the ground is frozen. So far this winter has been really mild so hopefully that holds out. If all goes to plan, they should have the house placed in plenty of time. But since there are still lots of things that can go awry, we're still nervous.
We've already spoken with the landlords here and they said they would work with us if the house wasn't done on time. The details of 'working with us' aren't ironed out, but at least we know we're not going to be kicked out if we don't renew our lease.
Anyway, that's pretty much it. I'll post again once we know if we got the loan or not. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes for us. Or maybe not. Fingers and toes can get cramped and crossing your eyes isn't supposed to be good for them. Instead, wish us luck and keep us in your prayers.
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