March 6 2010 Shopping for "New Stuff" and Paperwork

Barb - On Wednesday, we headed to Des Moines to look at various components required for the house. We did some browsing for furniture (just to see what's in style now - we haven't purchased anything for awhile!), area rugs, and fireplaces. In preparing our current home for sale, we've been moving some furniture around to achieve some different areas of living space. It seems that the best tips are "declutter" and "stage". We know what declutter means! We're working on the staging gradually - if not just learning about it.


Ed - We now have the paperwork from the lawyer on the home site and everything appears to be in order. We are just waiting for the developer to get home from south Texas so we can complete the deal and give him the check. Two days ago we met the ICF builder from Cedar Rapids at the site and walked it with him. The snow was still 12" deep so we could not see much. However, he was happy the site slopes to the northwest and the shape of the property will allow the house to face mostly southwest. After a 2 hour meeting and lunch, he still is thinking the cost will be in the $150 dollar per square foot range. Later that day I contacted the second ICF builder in Johnston and discussed the plans he is working on also. His prelimianry estimate is between $125 and $150 dollars per square foot - which is better. I also contacted the Amwood builder and he is still working on the costs also. I then sent an e-mail note to the builder in Altoona to see what has happened since our meeting 2 weeks ago. I have not had any response from him since our 2+ hour meeting in Altoona. He has the floor plan we like the most and we hope he can be a bit more competitive in pricing. If not I have a couple additional names of local home builders I can talk with. The problem is that these folks build a home at a time and will not have any purchasing power to speak of.

March 3 Early Plans and Thoughts

Barb -We have lived in our home in the country for nearly 23 years. Our home is a passive solar envelope style set among shagbark hickory trees. We have enjoyed the country setting at our spacious unique home, but the struggle to keep the downhill gravel drive plowed in winter and and all the summer mowing and upkeep is just that. Also, we don't need to be in a "midpoint" location for commuting to our jobs since we are now both retired.

After looking for already built homes for sale in three different areas in Central Iowa, we decided to purchase a lot in Marshalltown at Cross Country Estates. The lot will still allow us to have open areas bordering our home while also being in town.

We are working with a house plan that is a mix of two different layouts.

Ed - We have lived in this home for 23 years and tried to keep it up and nice. However, it takes 4 hours or more to mow and the driveway is 400 or more feet long. In the winter, the drive can take hours to clean. We have to do tree limb duty everytime we have a storm. We planted 6 apple trees and 2 cherry trees and now we need to do canning and freezing duty every fall. We used to have a 50' by 50' garden until that became too much to handle. Finally, we need to drive 40 miles round trip just to get groceries or go out to dinner. We are retired and want to move to town. Therefore, we have purchased a .75 acre lot in Marshalltown. The paperwork is in the hands of the lawyers right now and should be concluded in a couple of weeks. We have already contacted two banks for 9 month construction loans and are just waiting for cost estimates from the contractors so we can finalize the loan amounts.