Home buying thread

Gravel · Apr 16, 2026

Intrinsic said:
Signed contract and locked in at the bank. Rates dropped so we're at 6.5% for our loan with the option to drop lower if we move into non-Jumbo at conversion and could still buy points. Will have to run the numbers at closing and see.

Dang, that seemed to come out of nowhere. So if you don't mind me asking, what's the summary? $850k or so at 6.5%? Assuming a construction loan? 1 year? I'm assuming everything as far as blueprints had to be finalized?

Intrinsic · Apr 16, 2026

Gravel said:
Dang, that seemed to come out of nowhere. So if you don't mind me asking, what's the summary? $850k or so at 6.5%? Assuming a construction loan? 1 year? I'm assuming everything as far as blueprints had to be finalized?

No, it is fine, I'll provide whatever if it is helpful to anyone going into or thinking about the process. Yeah, based on 12 month.

Loan Summary:

We're doing 80/20 Loan to Value for the project.

Project Value: $1,118,699
Loan Amount (80% of Value): $894,959.20

To make that 80% we're providing 20% equity ($223,739):

Land Equity (we own this): $115,900
Down Payment (out of pocket): $107,839
Total: $223,739

We have a total closing cost of about $15,000 so will need that also, but that covers close for the construction loan and the permanent loan, so all fees are kind of front loaded. When we convert, we can convert at the 6.5% or float down if rates have fallen as well. Because we're in the jumbo loan territory, they're a little higher or we may have been able to get 6.35%? We'd like to provide enough additional out of pocket during the build process to get us out of jumbo at conversion. That'll be an additional $53k or so.

No stamps or blueprints finalized or anything like that. We're building outside of the City limits so much of the engineering blueprints and stamps are not required. Its still be being put together from the framing company and whatnot, just doesn't need approval.

Gravel · Apr 16, 2026

Appreciate it. Will have to look into the land equity part as I've never seen that. It makes sense, just something never seen mentioned on construction loans. I guess maybe cause most people don't own the land they're building on?

Intrinsic · Apr 16, 2026

Gravel said:
Appreciate it. Will have to look into the land equity part as I've never seen that. It makes sense, just something never seen mentioned on construction loans. I guess maybe cause most people don't own the land they're building on?

Could be, but because the construction loan underwrites against the total project value (land we own and house), the land does a lot of work in the math. I confused a few times last year while trying to map it all out and put our budget together.

The home build is still $1M and we’re technically only brining just over $100k in cash, so it feels like we’re only financing ~90%. But from the banks view of the total project with the land equity it’s closer to the 80%.

Unlike traditional where we’d need $200k cash to get below 80% for PMI. I guess we pre paid part of our down payment early, in essence.

Cad · Apr 16, 2026

Intrinsic said:
Could be, but because the construction loan underwrites against the total project value (land we own and house), the land does a lot of work in the math. I confused a few times last year while trying to map it all out and put our budget together.

The home build is still $1M and we’re technically only brining just over $100k in cash, so it feels like we’re only financing ~90%. But from the banks view of the total project with the land equity it’s closer to the 80%.

Unlike traditional where we’d need $200k cash to get below 80% for PMI. I guess we pre paid part of our down payment early, in essence.

Do you own the land outright or did you also finance it?

Intrinsic · Apr 16, 2026

Cad said:
Do you own the land outright or did you also finance it?

We bought it outright last September in preparation for this. We knew the build process would take 6 - 8 months to get started and that would give us time to rebuild some savings to do the rest of the loan for the construction project. And then we'll use the 10 - 12 months of construction to save a bit more while paying interest on the construction loan. The construction loan interest will average about $3,000 over the course of the project, ramping up at the end because most of the loan will be drawn.

Cad · Apr 16, 2026

Intrinsic said:
We bought it outright last September in preparation for this. We knew the build process would take 6 - 8 months to get started and that would give us time to rebuild some savings to do the rest of the loan for the construction project. And then we'll use the 10 - 12 months of construction to save a bit more while paying interest on the construction loan. The construction loan interest will average about $3,000 over the course of the project, ramping up at the end because most of the loan will be drawn.

Gotcha. So yea it would make sense that they include the land equity in the final deal because when you refinance your construction loan into your regular mortgage, the land will be part of the collateral.

Intrinsic · Apr 16, 2026

Cad said:
Gotcha. So yea it would make sense that they include the land equity in the final deal because when you refinance your construction loan into your regular mortgage, the land will be part of the collateral.

Yeah, it makes sense, it just wasn't intuitive at first last year when I started figuring out our budget and plan last year. Trying to work through and understand the different LTV stuff, then what the home build would cost, then how that plays into what we could be approved for, how much cash we'd need on top of the land equity. Felt like a bunch of moving targets to really structure it out. It wasn't so much a question of qualifying for the loan or affordability, we didn't want to go into it sloppy and without understanding the process. Kind of also why I felt okay hijacking the thread since it is slow right now and gives me a place to type everything out and ramble... like now. Luckily (?) I have to go to New York to testify at this trial so that'll pay for a few doors and windows!

Cad · Apr 16, 2026

Intrinsic said:
Yeah, it makes sense, it just wasn't intuitive at first last year when I started figuring out our budget and plan last year. Trying to work through and understand the different LTV stuff, then what the home build would cost, then how that plays into what we could be approved for, how much cash we'd need on top of the land equity. Felt like a bunch of moving targets to really structure it out. It wasn't so much a question of qualifying for the loan or affordability, we didn't want to go into it sloppy and without understanding the process. Kind of also why I felt okay hijacking the thread since it is slow right now and gives me a place to type everything out and ramble... like now. Luckily (?) I have to go to New York to testify at this trial so that'll pay for a few doors and windows!

Good luck with it. You're an expert witness of some kind?

Intrinsic · Apr 16, 2026

Cad said:
Good luck with it. You're an expert witness of some kind?

Yeeeaahhhh, a legal support company found me on LinkedIn last year b/c of something in my resume that was key to this case and they were like, "Hey, would you like to be an expert witness and interview with this firm for a case? Shouldn't be more than 10 hours or so of work." Naively I said, "Sure that sounds like fun." And the firm interviewed me and hired me and now I've billed who knows how many hours (I mean, I do, but whatever) staying up until 3am writing analyzing data, writing reports, and have to go testify. It has been amazing and I got a job offer out of it, the expectations were just way out of line with reality because it turned into WAY more than 10 hours.

Cad · Apr 16, 2026

Intrinsic said:
Yeeeaahhhh, a legal support company found me on LinkedIn last year b/c of something in my resume that was key to this case and they were like, "Hey, would you like to be an expert witness and interview with this firm for a case? Shouldn't be more than 10 hours or so of work." Naively I said, "Sure that sounds like fun." And the firm interviewed me and hired me and now I've billed who knows how many hours (I mean, I do, but whatever) staying up until 3am writing analyzing data, writing reports, and have to go testify. It has been amazing and I got a job offer out of it, the expectations were just way out of line with reality because it turned into WAY more than 10 hours.

Thats awesome, bill the fuck out of them, we are happy to pay our experts who do great work. And by that I mean I am happy to pay you with the client's money for doing good work.

lurkingdirk · Apr 16, 2026

I did concrete counters in my home. My island is butcher block (4x7, it’s awesome), but the rest is pure white microcrete. Installation was easy and quite affordable. Virtually no sanding for a mirror polish finish. Can put hot pans on it no problem. I had peculiar size and shapes in my counters, so this was a great solution. I have done probably a dozen kitchen counters in various types of concrete, nd every one came out great. Everyone has been 100% happy

Lanx · Friday at 3:01 PM

$500? thats a steal and look at the toilet, theres connections and dryer outlet, you can put a w/d there

Siliconemelons · Friday at 3:34 PM

Lanx said:
$500? thats a steal and look at the toilet, theres connections and dryer outlet, you can put a w/d there

Put some properly sized appliances in there a la tiny home stuff and really, hey for 1 person or even 2... 500$ a month, nowdays - lets go, you got a place to live that is not going to take ALL your money while you try and so something.

Not that this is GOOD mind you, its turrible but, considering a 2/1 home is like 3500$ that is also dumb and not good- but the reality of 2026 is indeed at hand here.

Cad · Friday at 3:38 PM

Lanx said:
$500? thats a steal and look at the toilet, theres connections and dryer outlet, you can put a w/d there

Thats small but how is that not just a studio? I've seen upper west side studios smaller than that.

Also why not put the shower stall or whatever that is in the bathroom... the fridge should be where the shower stall is, the shower stall should be in the bathroom, the stove should be a countertop unit with a cover so you can use the counter space when it's not in use (like in boats/RV's) and the oven can be above the counter mounted to save floor space.

This is small but small isn't the problem, it's just completely retardedly laid out.

Lanx · Friday at 5:27 PM

Cad said:
Thats small but how is that not just a studio? I've seen upper west side studios smaller than that.

Also why not put the shower stall or whatever that is in the bathroom... the fridge should be where the shower stall is, the shower stall should be in the bathroom, the stove should be a countertop unit with a cover so you can use the counter space when it's not in use (like in boats/RV's) and the oven can be above the counter mounted to save floor space.

This is small but small isn't the problem, it's just completely retardedly laid out.

yea, myjersey shower toilet sink was half the size of that bathroom, but again, it must be the provisioning of the w/d

Intrinsic · Saturday at 7:56 AM

I’ve still got my space toilet Toto planned for our bathroom. Heated seat and all.

I did my best with the granite but, of course, she immediately loved the Calacatta Taj Quartz for our kitchen. I’m fine, it’s got colors and not stark white. Looking at it also made us rethink our cabinets from Sherwin Williams Dress Blues on the cabinets to Sherwin Williams Endless Sea and we’ll keep Favorite Jeans on the island to break it up. We had samples there and the Dress Blues is just TOO blue and hard to match. The Endless Sea looked much better against the Taj pretty immediately. So, that’s good.

Calacatta Taj Light 75sqft PrintQuartz 3CM

Quartz countertops add an elegant touch to any kitchen, with their timeless appeal and sophisticated appearance.

ststones.com

We both really liked the Fantasy Brown Marble/Dolomite. It is natural, so the slabs were all super different but we found one we really liked and she’s going to hold it for us. It fits with what we want to do for the master bath, oil rubbed bronze fixtures, dark teal shower tile.

Dolomite Natural Stone Countertop: Fantasy Brown

americanfcg.com

For laundry, kids bath we fkind a builder grade mostly white quartz. She said due to the popularity and shift to Quartz right now their pricing is very similar for Corian and solid surface materials. If it was a budget issue we’d have to go laminate tops to realistically save anything. So we’ve plugged the cheap quartz in for now.

Lanx · Sunday at 12:09 AM

Intrinsic said:
I’ve still got my space toilet Toto planned for our bathroom. Heated seat and all.

I did my best with the granite but, of course, she immediately loved the Calacatta Taj Quartz for our kitchen. I’m fine, it’s got colors and not stark white. Looking at it also made us rethink our cabinets from Sherwin Williams Dress Blues on the cabinets to Sherwin Williams Endless Sea and we’ll keep Favorite Jeans on the island to break it up. We had samples there and the Dress Blues is just TOO blue and hard to match. The Endless Sea looked much better against the Taj pretty immediately. So, that’s good.

Calacatta Taj Light 75sqft PrintQuartz 3CM

Quartz countertops add an elegant touch to any kitchen, with their timeless appeal and sophisticated appearance.

ststones.com

We both really liked the Fantasy Brown Marble/Dolomite. It is natural, so the slabs were all super different but we found one we really liked and she’s going to hold it for us. It fits with what we want to do for the master bath, oil rubbed bronze fixtures, dark teal shower tile.

Dolomite Natural Stone Countertop: Fantasy Brown

americanfcg.com

For laundry, kids bath we fkind a builder grade mostly white quartz. She said due to the popularity and shift to Quartz right now their pricing is very similar for Corian and solid surface materials. If it was a budget issue we’d have to go laminate tops to realistically save anything. So we’ve plugged the cheap quartz in for now.

every product you mention has the gayest fucking name

i'm surprised you didn't choose turbulent waters

Kalaar kururuc · Sunday at 7:11 AM

Intrinsic said:
View attachment 624929

That's pretty much the same colour as our new kitchen, and it looks great when the sun is on it. Our kitchen extension has a pitched roof with two large windows, plus large windows on two of the walls, plus a glass door, so it's nice and bright.

We went with Calacutta quartz as quartz requires us to be far less fussy than 'real' stone, and with two youngish boys in the house, that's an important consideration.

On the subject of handles, I was shocked by how expensive cabinet hardware is, and when you're buying 30+ of them, it adds up. I went with some from Amazon that were around £3 ($3.50 ish) each. They're plated aluminium, so are a kind of brushed gold colour, and they seem just as good as the £20 each ones from the cabinet supplier.

Intrinsic · Sunday at 7:16 AM

Kalaar kururuc said:
That's pretty much the same colour as our new kitchen, and it looks great when the sun is on it. Our kitchen extension has a pitched roof with two large windows, plus large windows on two of the walls, plus a glass door, so it's nice and bright.

We went with Calacutta quartz as quartz requires us to be far less fussy than 'real' stone, and with two youngish boys in the house, that's an important consideration.

On the subject of handles, I was shocked by how expensive cabinet hardware is, and when you're buying 30+ of them, it adds up. I went with some from Amazon that were around £3 ($3.50 ish) each. They're plated aluminium, so are a kind of brushed gold colour, and they seem just as good as the £20 each ones from the cabinet supplier.

Oh that’s great to know! The floors look good too. Have the counters held up? We have 3 young boys so that’s definitely part of what we’re considering.

The Amerock (I think it’s the company, going blind on the names) are from $5 - $70 or something for the 12” pulls. It is crazy when considering the whole house.

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