We've started escrow on a one-acre parcel of land about ten miles east of the city of Paso Robles. It is sited in an area that is surrounded by one- and two-acre homes. Escrow is scheduled to close on 7/31, although we are pushing to get it done before then. After escrow closes, we will start in earnest to get all of the utilities onsite and will have a manufactured home installed on the lot.
How did we get here? When we arrived here in Paso, we had sort of targeted buying "something" in the one-acre size. We wanted to be able to stretch out a little bit - obviously! Cathy wants to put in a big garden. We both want to put in some fruit trees, and a big outdoor space, and a garage and, ideally, a separate shop building for me to hang out in.
We looked at a few homes that we thought might be suitable. In all cases, they were just above what we wanted to pay; furthermore, most of them needed some serious upgrading, usually to the kitchens and bathrooms - the two most expensive places in a house to remodel.
We were open to either buying an existing house or having a manufactured home put on a piece of raw land. My brother Brian just did that; he and a buddy bought a big piece of land fronting the Colorado River across from Needles, CA. They each put a manufactured home on the land. Listening to Brian talk about it, he saved a lot of money by going the manufactured home route.
So, we dug into the whole manufactured home thing a little bit more. Fortuitously, there's a manufactured home dealer right here in Paso. Also fortuitously, they had a model home on their lot that checked ALL the boxes for us. The size, layout and cost were all very impressive. The house we settled on is just under 1800 square feet, three bedrooms and a den (which can be used as a fourth bedroom), two bathrooms and we're going to have a two-car attached garage built onsite. We looked at the manufacturing specs on this thing, and they were equally impressive. This home has 2 x 6 exterior walls, excellent insulation in the attic and walls, etc. They have some flexibility on options - but not as much as you might imagine. Here's a link to what we're talking about:
(NOTE: We're actually buying a slightly larger version of this basic plan. Ours is 27' x 66'; the plan in the link is 24' x 62'. The basic floorplan is the same, however.)
We started looking in earnest at buying a lot of land and having a manufacturing home put on it. We quickly learned three things: 1) we can save a lot of money over buying an existing home; 2) it's complicated to put all of the infrastructure into a piece of bare dirt to get it ready to occupy; 3) all of this takes a lot of time.
Depending on exactly how one defines a complete project, we think we can save somewhere between $75K and $100K and have a brand-new house. That, of course, has its own set of pluses and minuses.
How complicated is all of this? Quite a bit, if you've never done this before. We have to have a well drilled and a septic tank installed. Both of these require testing and permits up front. The house itself needs a permit, of course. Part of the house permitting includes complying with fire department regulations regarding access; our proposed house site is some 150 feet back from the road, up a 13° slope. Electricity needs to be brought onsite. we need to arrange for a propane tank to be installed. Lastly, and we haven't even begun to figure this out, we need to do something about internet access.
Here's a photo taken from the top of the lot, which is relatively flat, looking toward the street. The left-hand property line is where the white post is just off the street. The right-hand property line is on the same line as the white fence line across the street. The lot is 100' wide.
All in all, there are a lot of moving pieces here. For us, right now, the challenge is in simply getting started. These are basic project management kind of questions: What has to happen first? What's the longest lead time items? Fortunately, the manufactured home people both know most of this and have access to local contractors and contacts to ensure all of this can happen.
How long will all this take? We were told to expect this to take 4-6 months. About half of that is time for permitting and half of that to have the house built, delivered and set up onsite.
Although at times this seems a little overwhelming, we are excited to begin this next chapter in our lives. Now that things are just starting to happen, we are already looking ahead to getting in the place and starting to turn it into our next home!
Stay tuned for updates!
