RCynic
Member
- Location
- New Market, Md
So, my wife and I have a very nice home but it is too large for us now and we also still owe on the mortgage. We both recently retired (both our jobs went away when we turned 65...odd thing that). But we were both fee up with "corporate America" by that point so we just made it permanent.
A few years ago though we paid cash for 5 acres, wooded with stream, and small 1/4 acre of pasture, with the thought of building in the future. It's a pretty piece of property, nice neighbors, backs up to parkland, already has a well.......
Anyway, now that we've started looking to sell and build something there, we realize we don't know how to do it. We thought that we'd build a small garage/apartment, sell our current home and then build our smaller home, keeping the apartment for a live in caretaker for some years down the road. We got a rude awakening on the cost of building in Maryland, so we can't do that. We don't want to move twice, I.E. sell our home, move out, rent while new home is being built then move again. We've moved twice in about 35 years. We both hate it.
Some of the costs in Maryland:
To build a house (this is not any kind of permit), $18,500 impact fee.
All new construction must have fire sprinkler system, minimum 5$/square foot
As of 01-01-13, all new septic systems must be Best Available Technology (BAT) and purchased from one of 6 state approved vendors...cost of septic system went from $6,000-$9,000 to $22,000-$27,000
insulation, minimum of R49 in ceilings and wall insulation has increased to the point that that much insualaton will not fit in a 2x4 wall, so minimum wall thickness now requires 2x6.
Ad naseum
So have any of you here faced a similar dilemma? We are not so sure what we're doing now. Sell everything and leave the state? But then we have multiple moves again. We're both 66, not a lot of energy for that type of thing. We wanted to do this once but it seems just ridiculous to us that a 1,900 sq ft house is going to cost us as much to build as we can sell our 23 year old, 3,800 sq ft all brick house. I hate this state.
A few years ago though we paid cash for 5 acres, wooded with stream, and small 1/4 acre of pasture, with the thought of building in the future. It's a pretty piece of property, nice neighbors, backs up to parkland, already has a well.......
Anyway, now that we've started looking to sell and build something there, we realize we don't know how to do it. We thought that we'd build a small garage/apartment, sell our current home and then build our smaller home, keeping the apartment for a live in caretaker for some years down the road. We got a rude awakening on the cost of building in Maryland, so we can't do that. We don't want to move twice, I.E. sell our home, move out, rent while new home is being built then move again. We've moved twice in about 35 years. We both hate it.
Some of the costs in Maryland:
To build a house (this is not any kind of permit), $18,500 impact fee.
All new construction must have fire sprinkler system, minimum 5$/square foot
As of 01-01-13, all new septic systems must be Best Available Technology (BAT) and purchased from one of 6 state approved vendors...cost of septic system went from $6,000-$9,000 to $22,000-$27,000
insulation, minimum of R49 in ceilings and wall insulation has increased to the point that that much insualaton will not fit in a 2x4 wall, so minimum wall thickness now requires 2x6.
Ad naseum
So have any of you here faced a similar dilemma? We are not so sure what we're doing now. Sell everything and leave the state? But then we have multiple moves again. We're both 66, not a lot of energy for that type of thing. We wanted to do this once but it seems just ridiculous to us that a 1,900 sq ft house is going to cost us as much to build as we can sell our 23 year old, 3,800 sq ft all brick house. I hate this state.
