Our Green Home
We are planning to build a new home. Building green is important to us, both from an environmental and long-term cost standpoint.
It is our determination to build a home that is energy-efficient, water-efficient, reduced waste and more. Not only do we see ourselves saving money in the future. We own almost 2 acres in Loris – surrounded by close friends, who might as well be considered family. Our investment in our land gets us closer to building and everyone is telling us that NOW is the time to build, if you are going to do it.
Our home will be built according to the Environments for Living program that will make it a Certified Green Home.I will be blogging our experiences as we build our green home. Check out the archive of Green Home posts or head to the Home page to read the blog posts.
Our Green Home Timeline
July 2, 2010 - We plan to close on the construction loan.
July 29, 2010 - Perimeter of the house was staked out, inspection box was added to the lot and the builder’s sign was added in front.
July 21, 2010 - Trees were cleared from our land and the lot was prepared to begin the build.
June 14, 2010 - Went to the land to make sure the corners of the house were set where we wanted. Tagged trees to be cut down to make room for the house and yard.
June 8-11, 2010 – Received the appraisal through Conway National Bank which sets us up for our construction loan. Loan docs prepared and sent to our lawyer. Should close on construction loan within two weeks.
May 18, 2010 – Meeting with Conway National Bank for construction loan – preliminary approval received during the same meeting as he went over my financials. He will be verifying my information, pulling credit and if all is well sending out for an appraisal.
May 2010 – Talked to multiple banks. Applied at a second bank (will remain nameless). Bank did not feel we had enough cash reserves and wanted 30% down which was not workable for us. The mortgage broker really tried to make it work, but in the end was over-ruled.
April 28, 2010 - Received appraisal – bad news – appraised $25,000 less than the cost to build the house!! HCSB financing fell through because of the appraisal.
April 13, 2010 - We received credit approval from Horry County State Bank – they have ordered the appraisal.
April 7, 2010 – Final plans received and we are proceeding to financing. We have our contract in hand to send to the bank.
February – March 2010 - Received the house plans! They look great — it is currently one and a half stories with 4 bedrooms. Met and talked with Bruce a-lot. We finalized plans for the one and half story and sent for pricing. After pricing, we began making alterations to get things down into our budget better. We cut the garage, square footage upstairs and made several alterations. After cutting the garage for cost, we decided to eliminate the second level and move those two bedrooms to first floor.
January 28, 2010 – Met with Bruce at Sterling Homes to get back on track with the house plan. Made some changes and will be getting another plan soon.
January 11-18, 2010 – Sterling Homes is building the house for Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Ty Pennington, Paige Hemmis, Ed Sanders and John Littlefield are this week’s designers. Everything about the build can be found online at Extreme Horry.
December 2009 – Learned that our potential builder, Sterling Homes, will be building the Extreme Makeover house in January. All our plans will be on hold, but its for a good cause and we plan to be involved with the Extreme build!
November 2009 – Moved into our rental house. Met with potential builders — trying to find the best fit and someone who can talk Green-building. Also House Hunting (just in case). Waiting for a design from a potential builder we picked.
October 2009 - Sold our house in Quail Creek, second time on the market.
September 2008 – Purchased almost 2 acres of land in Loris.
