In the beginning...

It seems a little daunting that I'm finally at a point to start documenting the project that I've been steeping in my head for over a year. It all started when a good friend of mine bought this newly built modern home, and that was how I made the initial phone call to the developer, Scott, and asked if he has any more of the similar projects on the horizon. He told me that he just got a lot between Central and Wyandotte in midtown, and he's going to build a multiple unit condos, each of them comes with a one car garage. I immediately scratched out the possiblity because part of my requirements is to have a 2-car garage if I'm going to live in the urban area.

A few months later, I met up with Scott, and he'd told me that he only got approval from the city to build a duplex instead and therefore there's enough space to build a 2-car garage for each unit. With that, I'm back into the picture. However, the waiting game began. At first, I was told that sometime in late summer the project would be completed. In mid July, 2006, I finally received an electronic copy of the plan which was designed by g3 Collaborative LLC. It was good enough as a starting point and price was right, so that is a big step closer to just talking about it, but now the deadline moved back to late fall.

Then, the waiting continued. Meantime, I took the files I had and modified the plans to better suit my program. A couple of times. Maybe four. The right around the New Year of 2007, Scott informed me that he's desolving his company and moving East. He offered me to purchase the lot and take over the project. And I accepted.

I immediately contacted Paul, a good friend of mine, the owner of Urban Prairie, to see if he's interested in becoming my partner in this business venture. We would build a duplex, and I will take one unit and we would sell the other. It didn't take him long to say he's in.

After seeking more advice from Paul's attorney, we found out that building two units on a single lot (which is too small for the city to split into two,) is going to complicate things and may cost more in legal fee to ensure the co-ownership of the lot is a smooth one, and perhaps lowering the value of the homes. Further more, it will delay the project even longer. After much consideration, we've come to the conclusion to just build a single family home. I think in the end, it is more sound investement. I signed a contract with Scott a couple of weeks ago and the closing date on the lot is scheduled to be at the end of May.

Paul will still be the architect for the project, and I'll just have to make sure to get a loan for this project. Of course, we will hire a contractor to build the house. As for right now, we're in the design process. With a drawing, I can then take it to the bank. Frankly, this is not my favorite part of the process. I'm a designer and I'd much rather picking out the finishing of a faucet and then talking to the loan officer. However, we can't do anything without any money. It will be a steep learning curve for me because the current home that I'm living in is my first home.

So without really going any long on this first chapter of the Genesis, here's in a nutshell, of how the project began. There's a long unknown future ahead of me, and some of it promissing, but others, I need a lot of luck. Therefore, I'm diving in with much faith. Hopefully a year from now, this blog will be conluded, and Eric and I will be living in our new home on Central.