Planning a Log Home – Hurdles You May Run into Since the Housing Decline
Okay, you have worked hard on planning a log home and have done all your homework. You have talked to several log home builders and suppliers, lurked around all the log home forums you could find and asked a bunch of questions.
Now you think you have the money and the resources all lined up in order to build your dream home. You figure you can have your log home completed in a just a couple of months and after that its smooth sailing – right?
Don’t raise the flag and declare yourself a winner just yet…
Because despite the best intentions and the most careful planning, there are still some challenges to building a log home vs. a traditional stick-built house in a slow economy. Here are some hidden obstacles you might stumble over while planning your log home.
Double-check Your Log Home Financing
Many people do research as to their credit rating and might even call their bank or mortgage service company to find out what kind of rates and amounts they pre-quality for.
But once you are almost ready to go – boom! Your lender pulls the rug out from under you and tells you that they may have some ‘minor problems’ working with you on a new log home package.
There could be several reasons for this:
The bank or mortgage company could be sitting on a huge list of foreclosed properties and they are under tremendous pressure to sell down their own listings BEFORE they start handing out loans for new home construction.
They may even offer you much better rates and terms if you buy a log home off their backlog of foreclosures than build one of your own!
Another reason might be that in the past, that particular company (or that specific loan officer) was burned by mortgages issued on bad log homes and are leery of doing so again.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s poorly constructed milled log home kits about destroyed the log home industry and has left a bad taste in the mouths of many loan officers.
Check the Values of Log Homes in Your Area
While most log home values go up after several years, in some case, especially during this current housing crisis, valuations for some log homes in specific regions could have gone down.
Many analysts say that the average log home value has kept up with inflation over the last few decades, you really haven’t lost or gained that much. This is something you have to take into account when planning a log home. Now this is fine if your log home is used as an investment and/or vacation property.
But if it is your primary home, and your job or career requires that you relocate quickly, then you should understand that it will be harder for you to sell your log home as fast as you might want.
Double-check to See if Your Log Home Builder/Supplier has a Maintenance Contract
One thing that many people forget is that a log home is a type of specialty construction. While most repairs, upgrades and decorating can done by traditional service professionals, almost all major remodels and renovations should to be done by a log home builder.
Due to cost considerations, many builders and/or suppliers don’t offer maintenance contracts to their clients. Should there be any major problems with the house, you can’t call just any contractor. You will have to find a log home specialist to come by figure out what is wrong in order to fix it.
And if your supplier or builder lives in another state, this could become expensive and time-consuming. But remember if you signed a warranty with your log home builder, any problems should be taken care of by them without any additional charges.
These are just a few of the problems and hurdles you should take into consideration while planning your log home. If you have any questions, comments or feedback about this article, we invite you to contact our log home builder, Richard Jenkins.