Seniors: did you build your retirement home?

[rodentraiser]

Land here isn't very consistent either. It can range from $15,000 for an acre all the way up to $50,000 for a half acre. To be fair, there are a lot of things here that can determine the price. How far you have to drive, whether the lot already has water, septic, or electricity (or any combination thereof), whether it has a view, paved roads leading to it, an HOA, house size restrictions, whether and how much it's been cleared, if it's buildable, whether it's located near water, taxes (which are all over the place), or even if you can get to the property (or find it), etc.

The lot I bought had been on the market for 3 years and was originally priced at $80,000 for 1 1/3 acres, but then assessed at $30,000, which is what I bought it for. It already had water and I think the price was fair, considering how expensive wells are to drill and how far down they are in this area.

Septic and electric will cost another $15,000, so I'm budgeting $20 to $25,000 for those. As for a house, I think I'll pick up an old mobile home and fix it up. There are a lot of cheap and free old homes around and some of them are in surprisingly good condition if you can afford to move them. Naturally, when I'm ready to buy one, there won't be any to be found.

I hate to sound ghoulish but when my mom dies, she'll probably leave me a good bit of money and if that's the case, then I'll have something built that is a little more substantial. Of course, everyone in our family lives to be 100, so that may be when I'm ready to go into the old folks' home. I always tell her we'll end up in the same old folks' home sharing a bedroom. She says if that happens, one of us will end up with a pillow over her face. LOL

[dcfas]

I worked in construction when I was a young man. The idea of designing and building a home is a romantic notion. Many do it successfully. That being said I would rather look for and find a home ready to buy. Before moving in adjustments can be made, usually far faster, easier, and less costly.

[mlb]

We have been looking for property to build on for over 5 years.... but were doing it from 700 miles away. We recently purchased a home in the area we want to eventually build in..... finding the right piece of property is taking a lot more time than we anticipated.

It may or may not happen - and I am OK with that.

Spouse wants to build - he helped his dad build at least 3 homes in greater Los Angeles. The variables here are access to water, not being so rural there is no internet connection, finding land that it in an already established "development", HOA fees which are all over the ballpark....

I suspect our plans will evolve and we may even stay where we are. But the desire to build is still strong

We will keep the home on one level. Moving away from a multiple level home was imperative (I recently fractured my ankle so stairs have been seriously problematic). Spouse wants a media room - we do not have one currently.... we'd like a different kitchen - ours now is eat in with no island.... There will need to be two master bedrooms. I learned as my parents aged that having space from one another is important. If this is to be our forever house - we need to consider that if we age in place - that means the possibility that this could be the home one or both of us dies in. Having that space is imperative.

We also need room for visitors as we have family all over the globe and we like visitors. I need to have at least 2000 sq feet to not feel boxed in.

Spouse has contacted home builders already and figured that we could probably build for $200 a square foot.

Whether or not all the pieces fall into place is yet to be seen. And honestly - I could see us buying another property rather than building. Never say never.

[oldgardener]

Originally Posted by dcfas

I worked in construction when I was a young man. The idea of designing and building a home is a romantic notion. Many do it successfully. That being said I would rather look for and find a home ready to buy. Before moving in adjustments can be made, usually far faster, easier, and less costly.

Building your own means you get exactly what you want, on the property you want to live on. Don't know about it being a "romantic notion" at all.

[Submariner]

As a US servicemember I knew years in advance exactly what year I was going to be retiring. When I was stationed on my last boat, one time after I surfaced when I went home I brought with me a roll of graph paper. On the kitchen table, I unrolled about 8 foot of it, we discussed what each of us wanted in a retirement home, and we drew it. Then six months later, after I returned home from another patrol, I pulled that roll out from a closet, covered the kitchen table, and we did it all over again. It was erased and re-drawn many times.

For me, it helped to stay focused on why I was making patrols. I hated that job. I felt that as a father, I was able to keep our children included in our plans. They knew what to expect, and each of them had the chance to express their opinions over what features our home should have.

After five years on that boat, I was transferred to Italy. While living in Italy, twice a year we kept our family tradition going, by covering our kitchen table with plans for a house.

When I went to Kosovo, my family stayed in Italy, so I left the house drawings with them.

After I retired we returned stateside and met up again in Connecticut in an apartment complex that we owned. There we got re-licensed as foster-parents and we were given three adoption-placement children. We introduced our family tradition to those foster-children. When we were finally ready to move to rural Maine, we had gone over those house plans dozens of times.

I found an online steel warehouse manufacturer, whose website allowed me to put our plans into one of their buildings. I bought it, and they delivered the materials onto my property.