4. How We Got Here: Part 1

June 2021

The Barndominium idea was planted and my brain took off in an all-out sprint to learn as much as possible about this type of building method. I spent countless hours of COVID isolation in the office dreaming up floorplans and reviewing many build pages and communities on social media. I also started reaching out to metal building suppliers in an effort to feel-out cost for the biggest piece of the puzzle. Note: this is the only item that I requested quotes for in order to develop a budget. All other items on the budget came from reading about other people’s builds on Facebook and Instagram. Most folks who’ve already been down this road are very helpful with general costs for the large buckets (framing, drywall, plumbing, etc.).

Here is the first draft that I created in 3D cad. This was a great way to see layout to scale.

Feasibility Study (can we even do this?)

I knew that we needed to cover a series of bases in order to feel confident that this dream was attainable. Here is the sequence of my feasibility study:

• Research as much as possible to get a thorough understanding of construction methods.

• Financing options – find a bank that will allow “Barndominiums” and owner/builder loans.

• Valuations – contacted several appraisers in my state to see if they could forsee any challenges with valuations of a Barndo since they are almost nonexistent in our area. (see excel file below for notes and findings)

• Rough floorplans to establish square footage and building size.

• Budgetary quotes from steel building companies and pole barn builders to compare. (see excel file below for cost comparisons from 2021)

• Confirm Barndo design is able to be permitted in our area

• Professional floorplans (note: renderings not needed at this point, just floorplan)

• Verify insurability and request quotes

• High-level construction budget to determine loan affordability and land budget (see excel file below for budget)

July 2021

About a month and a half after getting the wild hair, I felt like I had a pretty good idea about what we wanted to build. My crude floorplans were decent, but I needed a set of official plans to talk with lenders about financing and contractors about budgetary costs. We contracted with the amazing team at Back Forty Buildings and paid a 50% deposit (approx. $1600) for Barndo plans to be created.

August 2021

1st draft of floorplans received, it was impressive! Our excitement began to grow even stronger as the vision was pretty clear thanks to detailed elevation drawings. We worked through a couple rounds of revisions and had working copies within 30 days from the start.

Our floorplan created by Back Forty Buildings https://backfortybuildings.com/

“A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there”

By early August I had enough evidence to convince the whole family that this journey was achievable, and we were ready to take the leap. I was projecting a maximum build cost of $400,000 plus an allowance of $300,000 to find a piece of land that was at least 2 acres in size. In August 2021, we were looking at a construction loan interest rate of 3.5% which would have rolled into a conventional mortgage at 3.99% or less. We were trying to stay at a PITI of $2,500 which was a slight jump from where we were at with the first home.

September 2021

We had spent a good portion of the summer tying up loose ends around the house and preparing to list the house for sale. On 9/9/21 our first home was live on the MLS and we were scared to death. I set the price at $575,000 which was slightly higher than the realtor suggested. Ashley and I agreed that we wouldn’t take this leap unless we could get top dollar for our home.

The first week was filled with the most uncomfortable anxiety you could imagine. We only had 2 showings and it was beginning to feel like the dream was dying. Keep in mind that the real estate market was the hottest it has ever been and we thought people would be lined down the street. On day 13 we finally received an offer for $25k below list price. We countered with $10,000 over the buyer’s offer and it was accepted. We might have gotten a little more if we held out, but I was worried about timing since school was starting, we were headed into fall, and the market was starting to cool slightly. By closing, they had whittled another $5k out of us which left us at a final price of $555,000. In 3 years, we had invested about $55,000 in upgrades to the house, so we walked away with a NET of approximately $150,000.

Almost Homeless

I can’t forget to mention that we underestimated how difficult it would be to secure a quality rental house! We submitted at least 4 rental applications and contacted many property management companies trying to set up our temporary housing. Many of the places already had several applications received before ours or they were way too small for our growing family. Not to mention how much your search window is narrowed when you are trying not to move school districts. I even got duped by a craigslist scammer, lost $100 to an online predator! It’s a little funny to look back now and remember when we went to a “scheduled showing” of a rental property and the existing tenants informed us that we were #5 or so that had shown up to see the house they had been renting for years. Oh man, I was livid.

November 2021

We packed up all of our things in a moving truck and headed 20 minutes north to South Salem. I was lucky enough to stumble across a 3rd party website advertisement for a new construction rental home and it turned out to be legitimate! And the owners are the nicest people. It isn’t the cheapest option, but its big, cozy, and walking distance to the middle school. And I don’t have to do yard work 😊.

As you can see, there have already been a lot of bumps and we are just getting started. Let’s hope we can keep it together and solidify the foundation of our family. Big shoutout to Ashley for going through all this stress and anxiety while being 8-9 months pregnant. She has a lot of patience and faith in me, I love her dearly for that. Little Carson was born right after we got settled in the new rental house.