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Chris that is a BEAUTIFUL piece of property! Congratulations and welcome to the next phase of life in WNC. We're in full on building mode but my husband is GC, & we're doing a lot on our own so you'll probably be sitting with your feet up in your new house long before we are!
Thanks all. It's almost embarrassing going back and looking at my initial posts because they seem so naive now, but that's how knowledge is gained. In retrospect, things happened pretty quickly when I think about it. When I initially posted, I didn't even have a job up here yet (or a hint of one); what was I thinking!?
The lot we decided on was not an easy acquisition by any stretch. The sellers were an elderly couple that had no access to technology. We built in protections for ourselves that seemed like common sense (must be able to hit water, must perk for septic etc) but I don't think we had any idea how much time and patience that would all take us. It was also slightly financially dangerous because if we couldn't find water on the lot we were out the money to drill.
Going through the buncombe county permitting process was not fun. It was interesting. I had to pull all the permits and paperwork for septic and well. It took almost 2 months. We had to extend our contract with the sellers twice because of the delays and unforseens.
We thankfully hit water at an acceptable flow at 750 feet. Once all of that was accounted for, we closed and life is good! The lot has a slope, but it is surprisingly workable and we shouldn't have too much trouble building. There are only 3 other houses in the development, although it's not really a development in the traditional sense. It a small development with 2 acre lots, and one owner bought 3 lots so my house will be the 4th and last house in that area. The neighbors are all really nice and are happy to finally have the last lot built on. It's been vacant for 20 years.
The lot is at 3800 feet, so it does freeze up there occasionally. I'm also at the top of the ridge with south and north exposure so we will get blasted with snow and wind at times. It will be an adventure though! hah
The next phase of trying to design a house for this type of lot has been tough for us coming from Florida. We're trying to narrow down design ideas so we have some kind of plan when we take it to a designer or architect. We have some ideas and will continue to work on them.
For now it's back to apartment life and I really don't miss this at all! Thanks again to everyone who helped and guided me while I took this journey!
I'm in the same general area you're from. What do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking? I love Asheville but wages have always been a concern. I like where I'm at now too. But Ill stay put due to the wages up there. Maybe Greenville SC one day, instead.
Chris - just a suggestion, but if you want some excellent, free input with refining your design and an opportunity to learn about building, new technologies, and products etc, join us over at the GW Building a Home forum. It's as good a resource for the home builder as this forum is for interest in WNC and we have several regulars there who are in this general area.
evensen007,
Congrats again on your land and intent to build...Fine photos, too. What do you shoot with/post process with?
I used to be in the shape you are in, sort of, a long time ago.
Take your time with finding the builder, imo. Do lots of looking at work the builders you are considering have done, and try to meet/ask questions of the homeowners.
Your lot seems not too steep or high, so the build should be less problematic than ours was on a very steep 3 1/4 acre ridge at ~5,000 ft.
We were long distance build customers back in 2001, and though not neophytes to building houses, the absence hurt us/slowed down the process/quality, imo.
Fwiw, we did the architect thing initially, but the one we selected simply did not have a similar vision to our wants; we ended up using a Licensed Rez Designer/Draftsman, sort of a step down from an architect, and he did fine...but take your time on your plans & ideas, and be open to your builder(s) ideas, also. Having GC'd a house and had a few built, it is fun but a rigorous project.
GL, mD
I'm in the same general area you're from. What do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking? I love Asheville but wages have always been a concern. I like where I'm at now too. But Ill stay put due to the wages up there. Maybe Greenville SC one day, instead.
I'm in I.T. Surprisingly, the wages were comparative to the company that I left in Orlando, so it was a lateral move in the salary sense, but a huge upgrade overall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DLM2000
Chris - just a suggestion, but if you want some excellent, free input with refining your design and an opportunity to learn about building, new technologies, and products etc, join us over at the GW Building a Home forum. It's as good a resource for the home builder as this forum is for interest in WNC and we have several regulars there who are in this general area.
Deb
Thanks, Deb! You've always been very helpful and nice!
Quote:
Originally Posted by motordavid
evensen007,
Congrats again on your land and intent to build...Fine photos, too. What do you shoot with/post process with?
I used to be in the shape you are in, sort of, a long time ago.
Take your time with finding the builder, imo. Do lots of looking at work the builders you are considering have done, and try to meet/ask questions of the homeowners.
Your lot seems not too steep or high, so the build should be less problematic than ours was on a very steep 3 1/4 acre ridge at ~5,000 ft.
We were long distance build customers back in 2001, and though not neophytes to building houses, the absence hurt us/slowed down the process/quality, imo.
Fwiw, we did the architect thing initially, but the one we selected simply did not have a similar vision to our wants; we ended up using a Licensed Rez Designer/Draftsman, sort of a step down from an architect, and he did fine...but take your time on your plans & ideas, and be open to your builder(s) ideas, also. Having GC'd a house and had a few built, it is fun but a rigorous project.
GL, mD
David,
I have to be honest. I cheat a lot on my photos with post-process. I shoot with an LG G4 camera (which on it's own merits is one of the best phone 'cameras' you can get, but nothing like what you guys are using with your DSLR's. In post process I add sharpening, contrast, a bit of color enhancement (pop), and that's about it. I'll show you a side-by-side from an original some time. The originals are by no means ugly, but post process will have to do for me since I don't have a DSLR.
In all honesty, if we hadn't done as well on our house sale as we did, this probably wouldn't be possible. We got lucky and bought our house at the very rock bottom when the market tanked and got a ridiculous deal. We sold it at its highest point sine the bubble and also had paid a lot of it down so we are very fortunate.
Would you mind Pm'ing me the designer you used? I'm not set on using a full on architect; I'm sure there are plenty of great designers out there that haven't gotten their arch seal yet.
Thanks again everyone. My dream literally has come true just by moving up here. When the house is built, I will be on cloud 9.
Elk Mountain is a beautiful area, especially near the BRP! If you were up here today you would feel you were being blown off the mountain really windy. What is your elevation? We often see snow when Asheville has none if you are at 3,000 ft or above. We know people who lived on Elk Mnt. at 4,000ft and we would laugh at being in an alternative universe. Looks like a beautiful piece of property, prepare to share with the bears, turkeys, coyotes, bobcats and other assorted critters. Mostly no problems and it is a treat to see them. Enjoy and welome to this neck of the mountains!
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