Welcome to Part 1 of what will become a series of posts on how we built our homestead for $20,000. I'm going to break this up into several posts to make it easier to read and allow me to write the next post as you enjoy this one. Be sure to read This Post to get more information on our backstory and why we did this.
Land
After we sold our house and were renting, we were offered a portion of some family land to build our house on. The terms of being given the land were simple:
No financing, mortgages, or liens could be placed to where the land could be taken away.
While these terms were quite limiting on our options, we embraced them, being fully aware of the amount of money we were saving by not buying the land and not wanting to be put back under the yoke of a mortgage!
We received 1 acre from a larger tract of land and began dreaming...
Our first visit to our new land. Hint: Now you know why we're called Green ACRE Homestead!
Money
Since our savings had been dwindled, we did not have any money of substance to work with.
Wait, didn't you just sell your house?
Good point! Yes, we did just sell our house. However... at a loss. We purchased our home back in 2008 right at the height of the American housing market and just before the roller coaster took a nosedive. It took us 6 years and many renovations and property improvements to almost break even to sell it and get out of our mortgage. In fact, we paid $1,000 to sell our home (bringing that money to closing to finalize our Mortgage). We count ourselves Blessed to have been able to walk away from our home. The yoke had been lifted!
Luckily, our credit was good enough that we were approved for a personal loan through a lender. We had $20,000 to work with, but everything to do... Could we do it?
Actual photo of the money paid to move our home.
Math
With our budget fixed, we set off to researching all the possible costs we could. As we researched, we always took the Do It Yourself option if it was available. Both to save money, but also because we are avid DIYers and love projects and being able to stand back and admire our accomplishments. Our to-do list consisted of the following:
- Grading the Land - House Site, Driveway
- Surfacing of the Driveway
- Permits - Building, Septic, Well, Electrical, Plumbing, Inspections
- Septic System
- Water Well
- Used Mobile Homes
- Costs to Move & Setup the Mobile Home
- Unknown Costs
Thank you so much for reading and following us. We hope you have enjoyed Part 1 of this series, and will join us for the many more to come!
Part 2 is Here!
Part 3 is Here!
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