It’s been 27 years since we’ve built a house, so this process is completely new for us. For those of you that might build in the future, I will describe the pre-build process of building a rental cabin. (1) You get prequalified from the bank for a certain amount (2) You work with a designer to finalize the floorplan (3) You choose your finishes (4) The contractor generates a line-item budget based on your wish list (5) The budget is adjusted to bring it line with your prequalification amount (6) You apply for a construction loan (7) The bank does a pre-build appraisal. They look at your floorplans and lot and determine what the cabin will be worth WHEN IT’S FINISHED. If your pre-build appraisal comes out 20% higher than your loan amount, you may not have to bring any money to closing. If the pre-build appraisal comes in less than 20% higher than your loan amount, you will have to make up the difference with cash at closing. (8) The bank starts sending draws to the contractor and construction begins.
As for us…We are currently on number 2. We are working with the designer to finalize our floor plan. Due to rising construction costs, we are considering just building one dormer and having a half-basement. The cabin would still have the 3 bedrooms and 3 full baths we wanted plus plenty of room for more beds and a pool table in the walk-out basement. Here is the latest graphic…
As you can see, we are still on the fence as to which side the cabin’s screened-in porch will be. There are lots of pros and cons to each side.
My Townsend Cabin 