No longer a midlife crisis blog.

Mid life crisis came and went and now am into Post Menopause Musings as if you couldn't tell.

I have nowhere to put down my dreams and wishes and hopes and fears except here so it's going to be quite the random collection of what goes through my head with very little filter. Because that's what menopause does and that's why I was fired from two very good jobs.

Anyway, back to the dream house. I googled 'cost of building a house in Washington State' and after skimming through three different articles finally found one that (after going through the various things you have to consider in the cost) gave a bottom line of $485,125 for a 2800 sq ft home. So my initial estimate that was changed three times of $800k was not bad. Since I'm not going to want a 2800 sf house the cost can be dropped down a bit. Also, that article was published in 2019 and we know how much the cost of lumber and supplies has gone up since then. So I'm still rather spot on for cost including land and fees and permits and such. 

Would we be able to afford a loan for that much? Hell no. As I said, this is my daydream and just running with it to work it out in my head and make it feel like it actually will happen.

After looking at some lots for sale on Zillow a 253 acre lot was selling for over $10 million with ocean view. Wow. Obviously looking for condo, hotel, new development..what have you. Other one that I looked at was $35k for 0.4 of an acre and yeah that sounds about right but it was also near a railroad and had an obvious drainage area on one side of the property. Listing said 'level land' I saw a definite rise though not much.  

So I found a listing I saw a while ago for a level, graded and serviced plot that is part of a total of twelve different lots in a development. It's still for sale and is $55k. 

912 Water St #8, South Bend, WA

South Bend is a bit south and very west of Olympia. Almost directly west of Chehalis and Centralia. Weather is reasonable, as well as it gets for Washington. From the view it's mostly level land with a lovely view of the Willapa River. So no gas available but electric and water are 'at the street'. After watching This Old House for so many years I have an idea of what is involved. Also the google maps photo is older (2013 they really need to update their photos!) as it doesn't show the two houses that are already built. This listing has been up for 99 days on Zillow, that's quite a long time. 

Now, how much does South Bend charge for fees/permits and such, what county is it in and all that stuff? Well their chart is a lot easier than the last one I looked at. Taking the house plan that I previously posted that is 1,446 sf I need to get a valuation of the construction for the permits and fees. Valuation is separate for garage so did the math at $84.86 per sf and we get a valuation of $123,878. Yuppers. But guess what? That was about my in my ball park for buying a pre built used house!

That's as far as I'm going with this tonight. Fee breakdown and all that will be next time. Also have to check if this is in USDA loan territory for building and all that.

Keep checking in for the fictional account of me getting a house built!