The Lot

We've known for a while now that we wanted to build our next house. I've always thought it would be a lot of fun plus you can concentrate on some of the details you find important that you wouldn't find if you just bought an existing home. The one thing we didn't know was when and where. I occasionally go out and take a look at real estate just to see where things are, so last year, with a lot of prices down, I thought I'd take a look at lots in the area to see if there were any good deals. I knew that we wanted to be either on the east or southeast side of Springfield, but surprisingly enough I couldn't find a whole lot in that area. There were a few good neighborhoods, but nothing that either just really wowed us or that was within the price range I was hoping to stay within.

A little discouraged, I decided to spread out the search area a little and include Nixa as well. I didn't want something that would add a lot of drive time to my daily commute, but if I could find somewhere with quick access to 65 I thought I would be fine. So when I found some lots in our price range in a neighborhood called the Villages of Wicklow we thought we'd drive through and take a look.

As soon as we entered the neighborhood we fell in love. The houses were all nice and very unique. The architecture was different than everything else we had seen and it looked like everything was very well taken care of. Best of all we found the perfect lot. The lot is about half an acre, which is about the same size as our current home, but rather that wide like we currently have it's narrow and goes way back. In the picture above the big mound of dirt and weeds (some fill dirt we were given) is almost the back of the property. Plus, as you can see, there's a view of the neighborhood pond and fountain that we'll definitely be keeping in mind when designing the house. Lastly it's perfect for a walkout basement which is something we really wanted for the next house. All in all it was exactly what we were looking for in a great neighborhood.

Welcome to Our New Home

Well, it's not so much a home as it is a bunch of dirt and grass, but about a year ago Becca and I purchased a lot in the neighborhood The Villages at Wicklow in Nixa. The plan is to hopefully start building our next house on this lot starting in the spring and there's a lot of work to do between now and move in day. From fixing up our current home, selling it, planning the new home, and then the construction and all the details of our next house it's going to be a busy year. So we thought it would be fun to share our experience with our friends and family and hopefully provide some useful information to others who might be building new, looking to buy existing, or just want to do some do-it-yourself projects around the home. We're by no means experts, but maybe someone can learn from our mistakes. I hope everyone enjoys and we always welcome comments and questions.