First step - Finding a lot

My husband and I were pretty sure we wanted to build, and not buy, a house so we set out looking for the perfect lot. This may be the most important step in the entire house-building process, because as much as you may like your house, if you don't like where it is, or the land it's on, you're not going to be happy.

The hard economic times we are in are actually to the house-hunter's advantage these days. Once we knew we were going to build, we decided to look for a foreclosed house to tear down. My brother had done this years before, well-no, it wasn't foreclosed, but he bought an old house, tore it down, and built a new one in its place. Sadly, there isn't a shortage of foreclosures in Michigan.

Next we thought about location. We quickly decided on this small picturesque city, with small streets, historic landmarks, and good schools. That narrowed our options a lot, since it's a very little town.

We were in the hospital having our first child when my husband told me about the house he had found online. He had went to see it earlier with my brother and was feeling really good about it. After the anaesthesiologist had given me my epidural, we sat there talking about this house... that would one day become ours.

Since it's old and abandoned (for over two years), my husband had to do some extra homework. He went to the city hall and asked about the house, got the public records, inquired about the sewer and well (it's not city water). It's also a good idea to have a surveyor come out to survey the land to determine where the house can and can't be built. Our builder recommended a surveyor whom we met with on site. The lot is not completely leveled, and having the surveyor discuss our options with us really helped.

In the end, my husband put an offer that was accepted :-) Set on a street, and not a neighborhood, surrounded by trees, private and serene, it was our dream house. Except that it was rundown, broken, and in shambles! But that only made it more exciting.

I wish now that I had taken a picture of it before it was gone. But this picture from afar will have to do. You can kinda see the red brick walls... Now that you have a lot, you need to choose a builder!