Well, here it is, my first attempt at blogging. I knew that I had to have a specific topic if I wanted to ever write a blog, and I've finally got one! My husband and I have decided to take the plunge and sell our first house, a 1935 bungalow, that we've owned for 11 1/2 years, and custom-build a new home in a newly-redeveloped area in downtown Memphis. Since I've heard other people's horror stories and "things I wish I'd known" in prior building projects, I'll offer this blog to any other families choosing to build a home.
At this point, nothing is certain. The developers have not offered lots for sale or even contract yet, and our current home is not yet on the market. Here's what's happened so far:
mid-April: Called my friend the realtor, and she came to the house to give us some guidance as to how best to prepare the house for the market, and some market information. The meeting went better than R (my husband) or I expected, with higher numbers flying around than we anticipated. (And watching subsequent sales has confirmed those numbers.) She gave us a list of projects; we're about halfway through it now.
mid-April: Made telephone contact with the realtor who works for the developer. She likes us! None of the lots that we want are spoken for...she has our list of 10 lots, one of which will be the site of our new home. She lets us know that they're not yet ready to sell "market value" homes (the redevelopment area will also include rental and "invisible" public housing for qualified recipients). She assures me that we're exactly the kind of people they want to see in this neighborhood, and that the price range on the homes is a fraction lower than what we can qualify for. Hooray!
April-May: Frequent friendly emails and telephone calls with developer's realtor. Still not ready to do anything. Weekly visits to look at the neighborhood....only construction at this time is on two houses (not on any of our preferred lots), 8 models (which we toured and liked) and some multi-family housing. Some trees are planted. Looks great!
Mid-May: My parents come to visit and surprise the heck out of me by LIKING the models and being amazingly positive about the whole thing. (I adore my parents, but they're usually the naysayers in the family...they think I'm too optimistic.) The kids like the model homes too, but are really, really tired of looking at the construction site. I drive over my first bolt and get tire patched. And we discover a neighborhood cafe that we love.
Late May: Receive email invitation to developer's reception for prospective home buyers. Free drinks and food at the cafe we love! And maybe a step closer to groundbreaking!
The timeline I envision is this:
Late May-early June: Work hard on getting 70-year-old house ready for the market. Housing prices in our current neighborhood continue to climb. I'm trying hard not to have dollar signs in my eyes. Watch mortgage rates like a hawk.
June 6...attend developer's kick-off party for prospective buyers.
Sometime in late June or early July: groundbreaking on the new house. Of course, we'll probably sign a contract before that...who knows??
All summer: Get the house ready to sell, start packing non-essentials, and stick them in a storage unit in September.
September: List house in time for our neighborhood's annual neighborhood festival, which brings over 30,000 people into our few blocks of Memphis. Home sales in our area swell in September. Open house the weekend of the festival.
In my perfect world, we'll have an offer sometime in October, and close in November. The new house should be complete in November, and we'll move near Thanksgiving.
We'll see in six months if my timeline works out the way I want it to.