Home Sweet Home

Are you considering being an owner builder? Do you want to manage your own construction project to save anywhere from 15% to 35% in costs? If so, then you will need owner builder financing, which will always require an itemized budget of your projected construction costs.

The owner builder construction budgeting process is filled with potentially disastrous pitfalls that leave people in huge financial holes before they ever have a chance to finish their house – if you are not prepared.

On the other hand, by budgeting properly, owner builders will not only have accurate numbers with which to start building, but will have already lined up all of the people to do the actual construction.

Proper budgeting is critical to an owner builder’s success and cannot be underestimated.

If budgeting is so important, why do so many owner builders ignore it or try to breeze through it? Good question.

It is likely a combination of ignorance of how the process should work, as well as a tendency to rush into the actual construction phase.  Read more...

Most new homes in America are built by builders or developers who build the new home with their own money or lines of credit in order to sell the finished home to the new customer. The new buyer simply obtains a regular “purchase money” loan and buys the house.

This is the simplest form of construction financing. Of course, the builder’s borrowing costs are built into the price the new home buyer pays.

Increasingly, however, this form of financing is becoming rarer. Often, builders are becoming more reluctant to use their own funds to build for someone else as their banks are tightening their lines of credit and making it more difficult and expensive for them to get the needed funds.

As builders become less likely to fund your new construction, prospective new home owners who wish to build a custom home are forced to fend for themselves when it comes to construction financing.

Enter the construction to permanent (CTP) loan.

There are a wide variety of construction loan choices out there. And many of them are woefully inadequate for most people – especially if you want to act as your own general contractor (known as owner-builder construction).  Read more...

If you enjoy working around the home and doing various DIY projects, then maybe you’re ready for the Holy Grail of DIY – building your own home as an owner-builder. By eliminating the costs of a general contractor’s overhead, you will save tens of thousands of dollars on your next home. And it’s not as labor intensive as you might think.

Being an owner builder simply means you are overseeing the construction of your home without hiring a licensed builder. By eliminating the builder, you eliminate the builder’s profit, which translates to tens of thousands of dollars you get to keep for yourself.

For many DIY lovers, being an owner builder is a chance to put their skills to good use. When you act as your own general contractor, you can do as much of the work as you wish. There are many examples of owner builders who do the majority of the labor themselves, from framing all the way through to landscaping.

However, many owner builders contract out the bulk of the labor and focus on doing only the projects that they are comfortable with, such as hanging drywall or painting. Every bit of labor that you do yourself becomes extra sweat equity that you build into your home.  Read more...

Owner builder construction can save you 15% to 35% during the construction of your own home by cutting the costs of hiring a general contractor. However, if you don’t take the planning and construction seriously, then you could end up losing a lot of money and your dream home. Therefore, you need to have these four attributes to be a successful owner builder.

1. An owner builder will need to have strong project management skills. Owner builder construction loans are designed to allow you to act as your own general contractor. That means that you are going to hire your own sub-contractors and oversee their work. Therefore, an owner builder must be able to successfully manage the hiring of multiple sub-contractors as well as manage their labor during construction.

Owner builder construction is simply a long project. And, if you have sound project management skills, then you should be able to manage the construction of your new home. For example, you will need to make sure your sub-contractors show up to work on time, stay through a full day’s worth of work, and actually perform quality work during construction.  Read more...

Owner builder construction gives you the chance to build your own home and earn a lot of instant sweat equity in the process. However, the loan process is more involved and time consuming than a simple purchase or refinance loan. If you are considering being an owner builder, understanding these nine basic steps will make the project financing and planning much smoother.

Step One: Owner Builder Pre-qualification

Before you invest too much time and money in planning your construction project, talk to an owner builder construction loan officer about qualifying for financing. Let’s face it – almost none of us can build a house without borrowing money from the bank. So, take a few moments to speak with a lender who specializes in owner builder financing and learn the details about the program that you would qualify for.

Step Two: The Pre-approval

In the first step, you simply got pre-qualified, meaning nobody pulled your credit or examined any application documentation. At the pre-approval stage, you actually apply for the owner builder construction loan and give the lender the right to pull your credit report and review some income/ asset documentation, as well as review any extra details about the project you are considering building.  Read more...

Owner Builder construction is a great way to build instant equity into your new home by eliminating the costs of a general contractor. In fact, cutting the overhead of a licensed general contractor can save an owner builder anywhere from ten to thirty percent on construction costs. That’s tens of thousands of dollars in instant equity for an owner builder.

However, owner builder construction loans are a tricky animal. Not only are the very difficult to find, but they can also be a lot more complicated than the typical purchase or refinance loan. Indeed, owner builder construction loans can be a lot more complicated than even a regular construction loan.

Therefore, if you are considering being an owner builder and managing the construction of your new home, then you need to make sure your owner builder financing has the following three features. These three owner builder construction loan features are imperative to the success of your project.

1. Owner Builder Loan Imperative One: A Line Item Budget with Unlimited Draws

Owner builders don’t sign a contract with a licensed general contractor to build their home for them. Instead, an owner builder must put together a detailed budget of the costs to build their new home.  Read more...