My New House & Workshop

[ericbphoto]

Deeper

My comment not printed because we're not in the tailgate.

 

[Roert42]

Deeper

Yes Daddy.

 

[sgtsandman]

Deeper

There is a bannable joke that can be triggered with that one....

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Soooo.... You're trailer trash?


*ducks and takes cover*

You gonna let him get away with that, Jim? I'd ban him for it, personally....

 

[Jim Oaks]

 

[snoranger]

LOL.

Garage on a corner.

For those that don't know, after I divorced in 2016, I've spent the last 4-years living in my camper at an RV park. I should have bought a house, but could never find one with a garage in my budget that I liked.

So I'm (hopefully) buying property with a 40x40 garage.

That either suggests that I'm crazy, or a true gearhead. IDK.

If I actually close on the property, I'll have to find a builder to build me a 1,000 sq-ft house. Hopefully I can find someone that will let me do some work to keep it in budget.

Does everyone know that when they signed up for TRS that they also agreed to help build your house?

 

[Jim Oaks]

I don't think the lender would approve.

 

[snoranger]

I don't think the lender would approve.

What’s the problem?

 

[Ranger850]

@Jim Oaks, My dad lives in a 27' 5th wheel pull behind. As of now it sits next to a power poll on his property in Arkansas. Since he is retired and on a fixed income, it serves him well. He never complains about the cramped living conditions and has adapted to "tiny house living". When he comes to stay with me, he gets confused and misplaces thing, because of so much space. He is used to almost everything being an arms length away. I hope to have him moved onto my property within the next year or so.

 

[19Walt93]

If it's comfortable and you like it why not figure a way to make it more permanent? It's small but not compared to my first apartment and the more space you have, the more space you have to clean, heat, and cool. You don't have snow load to worry about so you won't even have to put a peaked roof on it and you won't need deep footings to get below frost. It takes me about 8 gallons of $40/gallon stain to do my house, you won't have to do that, either.
The best maintained home on my road is an old trailer with an addition on it, he sided it to match the addition and always keeps it looking sharp. The tax assessor is more impressed with mu plywood ranch hose and I don't think of that as a good thing.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I like living in my camper. It's comfortable and is all the space I need. If I had it on my own land, I'd just add some outdoor living space such as a deck, patio, maybe a screen in room somewhere. Texas doesn't have a lot of cold temps, so you can really make use of outdoor living space.

The problem is that it's hard to find some place that would let you do that. All the land I find is either big ranches, city lots, or lots in new developments with HOA's. Can't afford the ranches, and the cities and developments have restrictions on the minimum size, and places with HOA's also dictate things such as the amount of exterior masonry you have to have as well as the type of siding.

Heck I'd buy a lot and put something like this on it if I could:

​

The place I found only requires 1,000 sq-ft. I'd build smaller than I could. They also don't seem to care how it's built as long as it's built on site and meets construction code, or is a factory built modular home that meets constructions codes. No mobile homes that only meet HUD code.

Back to the camper thing, it's amazing how many people live the tiny house lifestyle in a camper. A neighbor of mine was a flight attendant that was only home a couple of days a week. Living in a camper just made more sense. I've seen people come in and out of here with coaches that probably cost $500k. There's a guy in here in a 5th wheel with a nice landscaped lot, nice Super Duty Platinum, and every so often I see him pull in here with his monster rock crawler on a goose neck trailer that has a sleeping quarters in the front. The trailer looks like it was actually built that way, not a home brew. I could probably build my house just with the money he has in his trailer and rock crawler. He just comes home, sleeps, and leaves.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I've spent days trying to find a floor plan that I like. It's difficult to find a plan that's 1,000 sq-ft.

I want:

2-bedrooms that don't share a wall
2-bathrooms (1-off the master)
Covered front porch the spans the width of the house.

Plan #1

This one says it's 1,215 sg-ft, but 33' x 39' measures out to 1,287 sq-ft. If I could trim it down to 30' x 34' it would be 1,020 sq-ft. I'd move the side door in the kitchen by the pantry to the living room side. I like that the bathroom's are next to each other. Maybe this would cut down on some of the plumbing cost. I also like the door off of the bedroom. Maybe I could add a little private deck later.

I like the bedrooms separated by the two baths next to each other. Again, I'd want to trim it down to 30' x 34' or at least 30' x 36'

Plan #3

​

This is an interesting layout. It's only 792 sq-ft, so I'd have to add to it. If I kept the 36' width and increased the depth to 28' it would put me at 1,000 sq-ft. That would add 3' to the bedrooms and instead of having the showers for each bathroom next to each other, I could put a tub in one, and a larger walk in shower in the master.

Plan #4

This one is roughly 782 sq-ft at 34' x 23'. I could either stretch it to 36' x 28' for 1,008 sq-ft or 34' x 30' for 1,020 sq-ft. I like how the bedrooms are on opposite sides of the house.

Plan #5

The bathrooms in this one are separated and I'm not sure if I like having the door to the spare bedroom right off of the family room.

Finding A Builder & Closing Costs:

I've been told that if I buy the lot, then get a construction loan, and then get a mortgage for it all when it's done, I'll end up having to close 3-times.

If I can come up with a builder and design before I finance this piece of property, I might be able to only have to close once.

 

[snoranger]

Plan 3 puts all the bathrooms and kitchen plumbing in the same spot... I like that idea.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Good point. I was looking at the bathrooms and didn't pay attention to the kitchen.

 

[Sharky]

fyi, you can alter any of those plans to suit you, example: swap the kitchen & bedroom in plan 5 & move the door for the bedroom to the short hallway.