The End

After talking with a lot of banks over the last few weeks, we've come to the end of the road. No more tiny house. At least not now. Unless we win the lottery. Or know someone who wins the lottery who wants to give us a personal loan.

The short version is this. After the housing collapse, banks were no longer allowed to give in-house loans for mortgages unless they (they bank) were grandfathered in. Those that were grandfathered in still have to adhere to much more strict policies (we're talking 30+% down). 

Our house doesn't qualify under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As we all know, the banking industry (along with most things that are regulated by the government) are a little out of touch with reality so they don't see our house as having any resale value, which is what is required to sell a mortgage on the "secondary market" so to speak (more on that in the last post). 

Which leaves us in a tough spot. Either way pay more money to the architect in hopes that he can make the house more "traditional" (which isn't what we want) or cut costs significantly so that we can take a loan out on my mom's paid for town house. Both seem like highly unlikely options. 

So for now we'll focus on cleaning up the title (read: spend more money and pay more fees to the government that screwed us over in the first place by not transferring said title to us). We'll hire someone to plow for us this winter. Maybe tear down the fence next spring. And hope that we can sell the lot and recoup at least some of our money. 

In the meantime, we'll start looking at condos or other small houses (both options that have a lot of problems and neither of us really like). However, staying any longer at our terrible apartment complex isn't an option (never rent from a property managed by Village Green!). 

What we've learned is that the things we want aren't the American Way. In a place where bigger is better it should come as no surprise that the systems that are in place aren't designed to help us live in a life of having less. And unfortunately we don't have the financial resources to fight the system to make changes.

It's a sad day. We thank you for hanging in there with us over the last couple years. Sorry there isn't fun news at the end of this road. 

And More Bad News

Well the tiny house dreams seem to be going up in flames.

First, on the title front. We have hired a real estate lawyer. He's working on it. The good news is, the person with the contract we have to get voided is NOT a murdered. He just happens to have the same name as a murderer. However, he is deceased. So you know, there's that. At least we aren't suing a murdered.

However, even when we get the title cleaned up, we are back to square one because the bank is refusing to fund our project because of the "uniqueness" of the property and the "undesirable" location (near train tracks and a busy street). I'm not sure where we will go from here. I suspect once we get the title cleaned up, we will have to look to local banks or programs affiliated with the revitalization of the city in hopes of getting funding. The house appraises over what we want to borrow. Our credit is stellar. But we can't get funding. Two hard-working, employed people who pay their taxes and have excellent credit can't get funding to build a house when people are defaulting on mortgages constantly? It's mind-boggling really.

Please send us your positive vibes. We need them.

On Hold. Indefinitely.

Well, my friends. We have nothing but more bad news. The title wasn't processed correctly when we bought it from the county. We can partially fix it, but apparently to 100% fix it we have to hire a real estate lawyer and go through a not so easy process of removing the previous owner from the title (not to mention the expense). How can Hennepin County sell us a piece of land without actually doing this first? I have no idea.

But I basically feel like someone pulled a fast one on us, and we were dumb enough to trust the system.

So, as much as it pains me to say this (and it does), the official "hold" button is being pushed. We'll pay the remaining bill to the architect and surveyor. And just hope for the best when we get this all straightened out.

I wish a miracle could take place, but I think we've used them all up. Perhaps there will be a tiny house coming in 2016. But for now, we will work on this title mess and then re-start our savings to hopefully build this house down the road.

Until then...

Still Waiting

I wish I had good news. But we're still waiting on the loan. The end of June came and went. Every deadline they gave us has come and gone without progress but plenty of problems. Last Thursday was supposed to be the day we could set our close date. No call Thursday... or Friday. Today we finally hear and there's a problem with the title. How is that possible since we bought the property from the county? I have no idea.

I am ready to walk and away. Maybe try again this year. My heart is just over it right now. I said this kind of build wasn't for the faint of heart, but it's been even more difficult than I ever could have imagined and we have nothing to show for it. Clearly we should have enlisted the help of a team who has experience with non-traditional builds because right now we are constantly nagging people for information and it is painful. Apparently there's confusion about who the paying customer is.

Brent still thinks it'll all be fine.

If he's right, the soonest we'll be breaking ground now is late August.

Sign and Date

Last night we had another meeting with the lender and signed a whole heap of documents. The short version is they have to approve the construction loan and end loan at the same time since one rolls into the other, which means they have to do appraisals based on the specs of what the finished property will look like, etc. Since there are so many unknowns about our house, I'm a little nervous about how this is going to play out in terms of value.

Regardless, the person we met with last night thought that we should be able to close on the construction loan portion by the end of June, which would be great! Any time that we can "make up" is fantastic.

That's sort of all the news for now. Next step is to work with our contractor to find out what he needs to come out of the first draw from the construction loan, and we'll go from there.

Fingers crossed!

Rollercoaster

Let me tell you, this project is not for the lazy or weak. There are a lot of ups and downs.

First, let's start with the highlight of the week. Wednesday I had the pleasure of going to speak to some staff at Walden University about our tiny house. My good friend and college roommate was part of their Green Week committee and asked if I would be willing to come in over lunch one day to do a little Q&A about our house and the process. The good news is, they caught me on a good day. It seemed to me that the stars were finally aligning. The final documents needed for the loan had been notarized on Monday. I thought we were all set to meet with the loan guy next Tuesday. I was a little nervous no one would come out to hear about our tiny house. However, I'd say we had about 15 people been the Minneapolis campus and the folks who joined via webinar (which I consider a major win!). Of course, I'm not a tiny house expert, and I know very little about building - so there was only so much to learn about me. But going back through the journey was a welcome reminder of why we've been attempting to jump through all these hoops for the last ten months (and counting).

Of course, the tiny house high could only last so long. By the time I got home from work that evening, Brent had gotten all sorts of frustrating news from our bank lender (who is impossible to track down, by the way - it's as if he doesn't understand who the client is in this equation). First, "sweat equity" is not allowed in construction loans so we will not be able to participate in the building of our tiny house without being subcontracted through someone else. Secondly (and most importantly), even if we sign the paperwork on Tuesday for the loan, we won't be able to "close" on it for 30-45 days, which means we likely won't have access to the funds until mid-July. This was a big one. Since according to the time line our architect drafted, we were supposed to be applying for permits in March/April so we could break ground in June. Now we won't be applying for permits until mid-July.

Luckily, our general contractor and the Dunwoody team seem to think they can still work with this schedule and still be done by December. We'll have more details on Tuesday after the meeting, but the way it stands currently, it sounds like we've averted the crisis.

Hopefully we'll have more good news coming next week! (A girl can dream...) In the meantime, everyone have a wonderful holiday weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Another Box - Check!

We have good news! (Seriously!). We met with our contractor last week and signed our contract with him - the last step before we go for financing. In the end, the team ended up exactly as it was originally.

The rooftop deck is back in the plan. We still have a lot to get through between now and move in date, but we are definitely not too far from "on track" in terms of the original time line.

Hopefully by next week we'll have all the documents we need for financing, then we can sign our lives away to the construction loan, and then we can apply for permits. Once we do that, maybe this will start to feel real.

It's a lot. And each step feels like we've done so much, and yet we've barely taken any steps. But the best things in life don't come easy, which we all know. This blog is a reminder to me of all that we've accomplished so far, and I know that at the end of this road, our tiny house dreams will have come true.

I apologize for the negativity in the last few posts. Those last few hurdles were tough. I'll do better - I promise! Thanks for being on this journey with us.

Back on Track

I apologize for the delay in updating. Things have been... overwhelming to say the very least.

The good news is we are almost back on track. (insert very loud screams of excitement here!)

After our last post we pushed the pause button. We talked to some outsiders, got some other opinions, which was both really reassuring and a lot to take in all at the same time. Josh from Tikun Collective and his partner Hans both gave us a lot to think about, and we so appreciate them taking the time to do so.

Brent continued to meet with our team and made some headway. We got the costs closer to where we wanted them to be and were able to add the roof deck back in, which was sort of the whole point of the design we chose.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks we'll have everything we need to move forward with financing, which means we can then start applying for process. I know there will be more hurdles. We both do, but I feel like everyone remembers now what we're trying to accomplish here and why they wanted to work on this project in the first place.

If we can all keep that in mind, I know we really can build the tiny house we've been dreaming of.

Thank you for being on this journey with us and for sending us your positive energy and wishful thoughts. Really. Thank you.

Tiny Dream Woes

The good news is we got the tax assessment on our property from last year and it was valued at double what we paid for it.

The bad news is our “team” doesn’t seem to understand our vision. My fears are coming true and the builder is trying to squish a regular house into our 500 square feet of livable space. The bid came in almost double our ideal budget and doesn’t include the temperature controlled garage, the finishing, the labor of the students… the list goes on.

It is like all the ideas and vision boards we have brought to the table were 100% forgotten or ignored. I cannot even explain my frustration.

I see countless stories of people building 300 square foot tiny houses for under $40k – you’re telling me you can’t build a house that isn’t even double the square footage for more than double the budget?! When you have student labor involved?

I’m sorry. I don’t buy it.

The problem is, I’m not a builder. I don’t have the knowledge to be able to push them. I don’t know the questions to ask. I don’t know where we should cut corners and where we should not. I don’t know what “cutting corners” looks like while still having a presentable house that we like, that is energy efficient and can be comfortable in all the extreme seasons that Minnesota offers us.

Mostly I just feel sad. Like the odds of us getting the house that we actually want are slim to none. And then it’s like, well, what’s the point? 

Here's to the next update being a positive one...

Decisions, Decisions

The thing about building your own house is that you get to decide every last thing.

The thing about building your own house is that you have to decide every last thing.

It's a lot of decisions. Things that should be inconsequential. But as a result, we decided to get ahead of the curve. Start making decisions before they start piling up and there's a time crunch.

Brent's dad has a tile store in Ft. Myers, Alpha Tile & Stone, and they have a sister company, Kate-Lo Tile & Stone in Plymouth. So we stopped out a couple weekends ago to have a look around. We had a pretty good idea what we wanted: natural. I don't think we were aware of how many options would fall under that umbrella.

Here's a sampling of what we liked. (A lot of the pictures were just of labels, so that does you zero good).

Tiny Steps

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just don't have a lot to report. We're making tiny steps of progress, but it's the dead of winter here in Minnesota so there aren't a lot of big monumental things happening.

We had another meeting with our architect, John, last night. He drew up plans about where he thought we should put the original design on our new lot. I'm really excited about what he came up with. He moved the windows around too, as a result of the placement, to maximize views of downtown and the big trees that exist in the yard and minimize views of the neighboring houses.

The lot is also in the process of getting surveyed by Mr. Kelly Ness, also of Dunwoody College. Hopefully that'll be done in the next week or so, then we can get the site plan finished. We'll have another meeting with John and the general contractor, Andrew, to discuss budget/costs, and then hopefully we'll have everything ready to get the construction loan in place.

From there we can do some soil testing to make sure the ground is stable enough to support the house. There was previously a house and garage on the property, so we have to see if they went through the process of repacking the soil. Or at least the area that we plan to build on.

We can also begin the process of applying for the building permits so that everything is ready to rock and roll once the snow melts and the ground thaws.

Tiny, but exciting, steps!