Now that you know what you can spend, do you buy or build?
Once you have an idea of your budget and make the decision to become a log home owner, you face your first possible dilemma. If you haven’t already made up your mind, will you buy an existing home or build a new one? Up until now, I’ve made the assumption that you’ll probably build. You probably will, for several reasons we’ll cover, but there are pros and cons with both options and I feel we should examine at least some of them.
The one big advantage of purchasing an existing log home is that you know exactly what the cost is going to be. You simply agree on a price, as you would with any home, add in closing, escrows, commissions, taxes, whatever other extras and the costs are fixed. You know just how broke you’re going to be when you move in! Some other advantages are any settling the house is going to do and major cracking or checking of logs is probably finished, so what you see is pretty much what you’ll get. The landscaping is usually complete and you don’t have to make a thousand decisions about contractors, woods, floor plans, fixtures, room sizes and so forth. Neither will you be having any shootouts with the town about building codes, easements, subdivisions or variances. It’s a ‘cleaner’, easier, faster way to go and you know precisely when you’ll be moving in. “Gee, just a straight real estate deal…where do I sign,” right? Not so fast.
Try to find one! Most log home owners tend to hold onto their pride and joy with both hands! If they do let go, it’s most often at a premium price. Log cabin homes hold or increase their value better than conventional homes. They are the smallest segment of the real estate market but, in recent years, have become the fastest growing segment. Do your homework well because you might just find the price of buying an existing home is nearly as much as the cost of building a new one. There are, of course, the other benefits to ‘ready-made’ I mentioned and some I probably didn’t…things you may discover that are important, specifically, to you.
It should come as no surprise to find most of the points which can be listed as advantages of buying turn out to be disadvantages when building and vice-versa. It’s like following two nearly opposite roads to arrive at the same destination. To me, the greatest (and scariest) drawback to building is the uncertainty of costs. No matter how well you calculate them, there will always be surprises (remember Fred’s First Law). Fred’s Second Law states, “Building is like playing the old shell game. Just when you think you know where the pea is, it shows up under a different shell.” There’s a lot to keep track of and endless decisions to make. You’ll, probably, wrestle with the town, your builder, subcontractors, even the log company and not be certain until the very end exactly when to call the movers. However, I believe for those truly immersed in the spirit of log home living, many of the challenges that make the ‘average bear’ shudder are many of the reasons they want this very special kind of home in the first place.
I’ve often found that things you don’t have to do are also things you can’t do. When you build, you are able to select or design your own floor plan. Inside and out you get exactly what you want with few compromises. The colors, textures and materials are yours. The land and where you place the house, the attention to detail, the fit and the finish are yours. You become involved with the birth of the house and get to nurture it into a lasting home. We discovered that many of the battles we fought to breathe life into our log home actually made it more a part of us and are some of our most lasting memories. Even sanding and staining to the hum of bullet heaters during sub-zero temperatures, in vinyl enclosures beneath the sub-floor, still feeds our sense of accomplishment. The smell of the wood and occasional gunshot-snap of a new check being born are parts of our home’s character and its personality. As to the cost overrun, ours was excessive but there are some things you just deal with. The adventure Vigi and I shared for those many months falls squarely into that Mastercard commercial category of “priceless”.
It’s kind of a shell game all right but when all is said and done, whether buying or building, you put the game away and life is good…in your log cabin home. To sum it up, buying an existing home is more predictable, less hassle, may be less expensive and is faster. Building a new log home is more work, usually costs more, offers greater uncertainty but greater flexibility as well as the opportunity for more personal expression. What’s important to you?
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