Omphaloskeptic
Well-known member
Congratulations on the financing! Looks like it will be a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
The Concrete Underground
- Thread starter ConCretin
- Start date
SiGmA_X
Well-known member
Good to hear LL! I can't wait to see the progress! Happy new year sir 
Yeah, because the traditional system worked out so well...
vette66bob
Well-known member
I will be looking forward to the completion of your project. I have enjoyed following your efforts. Happy Holidays, It is nice that you have a positive start and hopefully a completion of your dream this upcoming year.
bazzateer
Well-known member
I see you got a visit from Dr Who!
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Dr. Who is going to be pretty upset when he finds out what people have been doing inside his Tardis.
jimmie jam
Well-known member
[QUOTEThe appraiser was out the other day. Needless to say he's got his work cut out for him. There aren't many houses like this around so establishing value tends to be more subjective and banks are obviously more conservative that they used to be. They never let on what they are thinking but I feel like it was positive. /QUOTE]
Having had a Real Estate/Appraisal practice for nearly 30 years I might shed some light on the process. I specialized in "ultra custom" luxury homes much like yours and have done a couple thousand "similar" to your build "subject to completion per plans and specs", just like he did. Appraising, as you know, is an "art" and not a "science". We did have alot of "subjective" ability before the mortgage/housing disaster of 2006+ which, for the most part, was benificial to jumbo lending practices. Since that time, the focus is to protect the investor/lender from as much exposure as possible. "Reasonable" is not a word heard much now. Appraiser's are held to a much higher standard than in prior times due to the past decade of greed. It is extremely unprofesssional to comment on the subject property, especially at the time of the physical inspection so he was acting properly. It's very difficult to prove/support added value when "over kill" construction/engineering is utilized. I don't mean "over kill" in a negative way - it's just superior to code and/or the typical method of residential building. We have to be able to defend the value conclusion to the lender by prior sale data which is seldom perfect in these custom builds as "cost" does not always "equal" value. I'm glad that everything worked out so that you are funded to completion of this outstanding "work of art" that will become your home. I'm looking forward to the interior finishing details. This is a great thread!
Having had a Real Estate/Appraisal practice for nearly 30 years I might shed some light on the process. I specialized in "ultra custom" luxury homes much like yours and have done a couple thousand "similar" to your build "subject to completion per plans and specs", just like he did. Appraising, as you know, is an "art" and not a "science". We did have alot of "subjective" ability before the mortgage/housing disaster of 2006+ which, for the most part, was benificial to jumbo lending practices. Since that time, the focus is to protect the investor/lender from as much exposure as possible. "Reasonable" is not a word heard much now. Appraiser's are held to a much higher standard than in prior times due to the past decade of greed. It is extremely unprofesssional to comment on the subject property, especially at the time of the physical inspection so he was acting properly. It's very difficult to prove/support added value when "over kill" construction/engineering is utilized. I don't mean "over kill" in a negative way - it's just superior to code and/or the typical method of residential building. We have to be able to defend the value conclusion to the lender by prior sale data which is seldom perfect in these custom builds as "cost" does not always "equal" value. I'm glad that everything worked out so that you are funded to completion of this outstanding "work of art" that will become your home. I'm looking forward to the interior finishing details. This is a great thread!
Tobymonster
Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2010
- Messages
- 13
Great news and something to look forward too for 2013.
Already a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you (and us as well!)
You've just made a long time lurker make his first post as well! Happy Holidays..
Already a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you (and us as well!)You've just made a long time lurker make his first post as well! Happy Holidays..
Dr. Who is going to be pretty upset when he finds out what people have been doing inside his Tardis.
that'd be a "Turdis" wouldn't it?
I'll chime in and wish you all a very merry as well, congrats on getting the opportunity to follow through with a dream LL
Thank you for a very informative post jimmie jam. This will be great information for anyone trying to finance a new home especially if it is unusual or high end.
We knew going in it would be challenging for some of the reasons you laid out. The concrete construction IS over kill. You could build the same house using traditional methods for much less money. Don't even ask what I'd charge to build this thing for someone else. There are many other aspects to this build such as the geothermal that are costly but don't necessarily add commensurate value to a bank appraisal
I'm pretty sure the market would value the property significantly higher than the appraisal but I'm confident that the appraiser did his job correctly and we're happy with the result.
Thanks Tobymonster. I'm honored to have your first post on this thread.
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pwschuh
Well-known member
Let me just add my congratulations to everyone else's. Really looking forward to seeing this move forward in the Spring.
Justanoldguy
Well-known member
Glad it's only your opinion.
I have both and neither is better than the other
but they are different to each other.
Oggy
Well-known member
All I have to say is, I'm a selfish *******.
Explanation:
My first thought wasn't "Cool this guy gets to build his dream house," it was "Sweet I get to see more posts on how this house gets built."
I've seen the light though, and the important thing is that you get to build your dream house lol.
Congratulations on the financing, and on the upside of the appraisal coming in at the lower end of where you wanted it - you aren't borrowing as much money to build this, and your mortgage payment will be lower as a result. You also will be a little more thoughtful on what your options are for the home. But then again I'm a selfish "Glass is half full" kind of guy.
Explanation:
My first thought wasn't "Cool this guy gets to build his dream house," it was "Sweet I get to see more posts on how this house gets built."
I've seen the light though, and the important thing is that you get to build your dream house lol.
Congratulations on the financing, and on the upside of the appraisal coming in at the lower end of where you wanted it - you aren't borrowing as much money to build this, and your mortgage payment will be lower as a result. You also will be a little more thoughtful on what your options are for the home. But then again I'm a selfish "Glass is half full" kind of guy.
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Chucktown
Well-known member
We just went through the appraisal deal in the middle of November. We are renovating an historic home in SC, and as part of our construction loan we had to get 2 appraisals. They came back $200k apart. We went back to the first appraiser and asked him to use more up to date comps, and it changed the value $100k in our favor. It hit the number that the bank needed to approve the loan. I won't even attempt to understand the process, but in the end we closed on the loan in the middle of December and started demo 2 weeks ago.
ReneJK
Active member
fantastic thread and great to read
thanks for posting and I am looking fwd to updates
thanks for posting and I am looking fwd to updates
SiGmA_X
Well-known member
We've discussed appraisals a lot in my accounting courses, and the consensus from the CPA/PHD professors is that the whole appraisal industry is a joke.
SiGmA_X
Well-known member
Where is your thread, it sounds cool if its like LL's
Link?
OK, I bared my soul to my fellow garage fans. Link: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2831550&posted=1#post2831550
Hi just come across this and i have had to read it from start to finish, impressive work and really nice design.
I like the contemporary look similar to a project I am busy with at the moment.
There was a mention of trying to get a time lapse video of your project, if you have not addressed that yet I can recommend this Brinno TLC200 I have used it on my project and its really easy to use and HD video.
The unit can be set to take pictures from 1 sec up to 24 hour intervals and automatically makes them into a video file.
I like the contemporary look similar to a project I am busy with at the moment.
There was a mention of trying to get a time lapse video of your project, if you have not addressed that yet I can recommend this Brinno TLC200 I have used it on my project and its really easy to use and HD video.
The unit can be set to take pictures from 1 sec up to 24 hour intervals and automatically makes them into a video file.
FRENCHBLUE72
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 30
Congrats on getting the cash to finish the house .I had thought I spent two days reading the thread only to find out it was not gonna get completed.. Cant wait to see the rest of it..
Jimbo..
Well-known member
This is such a cool project. Just finished reading the entire thread in one afternoon and evening. Every. Single. Post.... Wow.
The final product is going to be soooo cool. I love the design and the location. This is right in my dream-home sweet spot, for sure, with the modern look. I am jealous, but in the best possible way.
Thanks so much for spending all the time to document the process. It is a wonderful learning experience for me, someone not in the business. Reading through, following the process, reading all the concrete techniques and lingo that I have zero experience with has been quite an education. A side note... I used to work on the 26th floor of an office building and got to watch them build the building across the street using these same sorts of forms, with the shoring, and the helicopter finishing things that a guy could ride on. It was amazing how quickly they could do a floor and then move on up to the next. This thread gives me some context to that. It's amazing to watch these things take place.
Anyway, my hat is off to you LL. Best of luck on your project. I am subscribed and will be checking in regularly.
Jimbo
The final product is going to be soooo cool. I love the design and the location. This is right in my dream-home sweet spot, for sure, with the modern look. I am jealous, but in the best possible way.
Thanks so much for spending all the time to document the process. It is a wonderful learning experience for me, someone not in the business. Reading through, following the process, reading all the concrete techniques and lingo that I have zero experience with has been quite an education. A side note... I used to work on the 26th floor of an office building and got to watch them build the building across the street using these same sorts of forms, with the shoring, and the helicopter finishing things that a guy could ride on. It was amazing how quickly they could do a floor and then move on up to the next. This thread gives me some context to that. It's amazing to watch these things take place.
Anyway, my hat is off to you LL. Best of luck on your project. I am subscribed and will be checking in regularly.
Jimbo
Alright, I'm ready for Spring. . .. .
Well, you won't have to wait til spring, Nutts. If everything comes together, I'm planning to re-commence operations MONDAY.
We close on the new mortgage Friday and I've been working to get everything lined up. We've designed our forms and done a mock up on the architectural concrete (I'll put up some pics shortly). I've also ordered the ICF's, Thermomass (the insulation that we're putting inside the exposed concrete) and rebar.
I spent the entire day today reviewing structural steel shop drawings and coordinating design details with the superstructure concrete. It will probably take a month to fabricate and deliver the steel so I need to get it moving now.
Still lots to do but it's coming together. As much as anything, I'm looking forward to renewing the conversation with all of you
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HOTFR8
Banned
How is it going living on site ? Or do you have to move back to living on site ?
HOTFR8
Banned
Ah, OK.
jriltex
Member
Congrats on getting started back up again. Now we'll have something to look forward to each day. We all are living vicariously through you on this project and are enjoying the craftsmanship and your alternative approach to stick building. I seem to learn a little more each time you post. Keep it up!
Sham
Well-known member
This is a fantastic build, I'll keep my fingers cross for you guys! 
Wow, I've spent most of the past 3 hours reading the 48 pages of this thread, it's now 4AM and I'm heading to bed... I reckon I'm gonna get some angry words from the girlfriend! 
Wow, I've spent most of the past 3 hours reading the 48 pages of this thread, it's now 4AM and I'm heading to bed... I reckon I'm gonna get some angry words from the girlfriend!
Omphaloskeptic
Well-known member
Yea - The Concrete Underground is going above ground! Looking forward to more great pics and posts on a grand project. One thing you've got going for you right now is you won't have to battle the 'Spring thaw' mud and muck. lol