If you're struggling with the idea to build vs buying then you are in a similar situation that we were in. With the housing marking being as high as it is and then putting bidding wars on top of that. It has become nearly impossible to find your dream home. You soon find yourself settling on the most important things you wanted in a home, because you're getting caught up in the time crunch after losing 10+ houses. Trust me when I say, you're not alone.
We went through the same thing. David and I spent 2 years virtually trying to buy a home. It was very hard to buy a home in another state but we knew we wanted to move to South Carolina. We started out right off the bat finding our dream home virtually. We wrote a letter to the sellers but found ourselves outbid by another buyer. The seller wrote back to us and said they also were originally from Massachusetts and really wanted to sell us their house but needed us to bid higher. At the time we were very naive and said no, because we figured we would just find another house we loved more.
A year later we finally admitted we probably should have bid more on the original house. We found ourselves comparing every single home to that one house. Nothing came close to the feeling we felt with the original house. In September of 2022 we found a house virtually and decided to buy it. We got a good deal and were going to do improvements. Right before we were about to close we flew down to finally see the house. Only for me to refuse to get out of the car because I absolutely hated the neighborhood. As if that wasn't bad enough, the inside ended up needing so much more work than we had intended. David and I both agreed we needed to have that difficult conversation with our realtors that this just wasn't the house.
We then spent another year being outbid again and again on houses we loved. Finally we both agreed we just needed to get down to South Carolina and rent until we could find something in person. We listed our Condo and within an hour sold it. It was the perfect storm and everything was falling into place.
Closing day finally came and it was time to say goodbye. After a lot of tears. 17 hours in a cramped car with 3 cats. We finally arrived to our 3 bedroom rental home in Greenville SC.


Our realtors talked to us about the thought of building. With the cost of the houses right now and how quickly they were flying off the market, the idea of building just seemed like it would be a perfect fit. We looked at lots and found a builder that we really liked a lot. Unfortunately the lots we wanted weren't available yet and there was a large list of people who wanted the same lots as us. So we started the process and created our dream home. We walked the model home and instantly fell in love. It was called the Carrington. Unfortunately to create the Carrington it was going to be way out of our price range. However they offered other floor plans that were very similar with less square footage that would be just as nice. David really wanted the Carrington though and we found ourselves settling once again for something that wasn't the "dream home"
The idea of building our dream home was such a exciting and humble feeling and we really wanted it to be everything we wanted and more. We picked out everything from flooring to the cute bay window and wrap around porch that we always dreamed of. The only problem now was we had no idea when these lots would be released by the town and if we would even be lucky enough to get one.
The next few weeks went by and I got a notification on my phone. I realized I never had the house listings shut off. I pulled up the listing only to see the Carrington home for sale. Built last year on over a half acre of land in a small town that we had never heard of before. My heart immediately dropped. Could we actually be lucky enough to get this home? Would we even be able to afford this home? It's everything we wanted and more and right there at our fingertips. We had never seen this town before and so many questions were running through my mind.
We decided to drive out to the neighborhood to see what it was like. We instantly fell in love with the home, the neighborhood and the town. The next day we decided to ask our realtors if we could at least see it. So we booked a showing and almost immediately it was declined. I thought, well it just wasn't meant to be. Our realtors then called us and let us know that there is no offers on the home and that they need an earlier time. I hardly got any sleep that night with excitement and nerves of falling in love with another house just to lose it yet again. We traveled about 45 minutes from our current home to the showing. Immediately after walking the house David and I decided the yard wasn't exactly what we wanted and for the price they wanted for the house it just wasn't worth it.
We went home and then discussed with our lender options that might be possible since there was no other offers yet. We both thought that the yard is an easy enough fix and we really didn't want to give up the Carrington home. It really was so beautiful. Our lender explained to us that right now many buyers are doing a 2 to 1 buy down and getting the seller to buy down their rates. Suddenly everything became less scary and we realized this house could actually be ours for a lot less than we realized. So we decided to take a leap of faith and put in an offer. Sure enough, 11:30PM that night we get a text that says "Hey Ya'll you're under contract congratulations"
and just like that we bought our dream home! It still doesn't feel real that we are going to be living in the house we originally wanted to build that we just couldn't afford. So if you're debating on buying vs building and you're struggling with the market. Just know you're not alone. You have options and even when you think you don't have options and the house is just too much. Think outside of the box! Because you might just find it's really not what it seems. Or maybe you will decide to build your dream home. Either way, do not settle for a house that is just okay because you are afraid you won't find anything else. You will find the one. You will love it and it will all work out exactly how it is supposed to!


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