^Because I gave up on the idea before I met Eduardo lol. I'm still somewhat surprised the topic never came up though lol.

Yeah I'd love to see it come to fruition too. I'm really stoked about it. I emailed my realtor a few days ago to see if she also sold vacant land and she said she did and had a few properties. So we'll see what happens I guess.

I was buying a new toaster today and I actually thought "will this toaster go well in the new house?" LOL. I'm not even close to building, and that's even if it does happen, much less knowing what my kitchen will look like lol. I do kinda want to do stainless appliances though.

Since my Mom came out last week we've been driving around all over trying to find some property to buy, but everything with a good view of the mountains is pretty expensive, go figure. I knew it would be pricy, but I didn't know it would be this bad.

We found a piece on the north end of town, just off Old Ranch road, PERFECT vew of the mountains, good location, but other than that nothing really spectacular about it. It looked like it was only about an acre or so and that there had been a trailer or something there before. When I found it online it said there are 8 acres of property....aaaaaand $380k. :o:o

There was another piece right across the street that was 5 acres for $250k and supposedly it has a good view too but you have to drive between two other pieces of property and there are trees in the way so it looked like it ended there. Also, both of these are right off a dirt road, so it's not ideal but it would be doable if only the price wasn't ridiculous. I'm wondering how long these two have been on the market.

There was another piece in Manitou Springs that was around 3 acres IIRC and it was about $75k I think, but once we checked it out we realized why it hasn't sold yet. The pics they took make it look like it's a nice flat piece of land. Well, the part down in the valley is, but from the street it's almost a straight drop. The flat part is surrounded on three sides by hills, and the fourth side is where 24 cuts across, so that's the view. Nice.

At this point I'm starting to think I would be happier with just a small piece, like less than .5 acre even, as long as it's in town and somewhat in my price range. The footprint of the house as it's planned right now is about 5600 sq/ft, and I found a piece of land that is .17 acre and that's something like 7k sq/ft, so it wouldn't leave much space but oh well lol. Although, that piece of land was found on a website that I believe is intentionally giving bad locations so you can't find the property on your own. Every single one of the ones they gave were incorrect, nowhere to be found. Really ticks me off honestly. I guess I'll have to go with my realtor and see if we can find something.

I'd like to buy the land soon so I can start paying on it and plan for the future.

you are going to need a lot bigger than .17 acre. I would say at least .5 acre

also it would be good to get a basic design of what you want to build first before you get a lot.

I have the basic design already. I'm looking at 91'x60'.

I'd love to have about 5 acres, but I'm gonna pay an arm and a leg, so I have to limit myself in some places.

post a quick scetch of the design because 91x60 really doesn't tell me much of anything, lol.

What more should be known before buying a lot?

Seems like knowing plumbing requirements and such would be a good idea to know so tha hook ups are more convenient.

I've only made a sketch by hand and I'd have to scan it. I'd like to do a google sketch or something but I don't really know how to use it lol. What I mean is basically a rectangular concrete pad, 91'x60'.

I'm not sure either, Ryan. I'd like to know all this too. If I get something out of established areas I'll have a well and septic tank anyway.

Sounds like a real neat idea. I've always wondered about shipping containers for a house.

I hate you at the moment Eric. Now I'm hooked on this idea as well. I keep looking more and more into it. Pretty soon I'm gonna start hand drawing floor plans. Its starting to become an obsession.

I found this house in the Denver Post today. That's not the article in the paper but t is the house.
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2012/04/shipping-container-house-studio-ht-nederland.html

that's sweet Jimmy!
::measures backyard:: hmmmmm....

nice find on that link. I would have never thought of a container house. It's brilliant.

chickenwafer wrote:Sounds like a real neat idea. I've always wondered about shipping containers for a house.

Yeah ever since I heard of it I've wanted to do it. Although I gave up on the idea over the last few years. I'm totally back in now lol. Once this is all built I'll have everyone over. I should have enough room for everyone's cars too, maybe even all in the garage lol.

I went looking for property again today. I found a couple nice places east of town. Both of them are on a dirt road right off a paved road, so that's not ideal but they both have pretty good views of the front range. One place is really close to 24 and has a better view of the mountain, but it's $88k for 5 acres and the other place is further away and is 5 acres as well for $36,500. If I have the money, I'm gonna go for the $88k I believe. There is another piece that has a good view but it's $89,900. And there is another one for sale by owner so I'll call him and see how much he's asking. We'll see.

GR-8 wrote:I hate you at the moment Eric. Now I'm hooked on this idea as well. I keep looking more and more into it. Pretty soon I'm gonna start hand drawing floor plans. Its starting to become an obsession.

I found this house in the Denver Post today. That's not the article in the paper but t is the house.
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2012/04/shipping-container-house-studio-ht-nederland.html

HAHA, well at least it's a good hate right? I checked out that house a few weeks ago. Pretty cool, and here in CO too! I like how open the one end of the house is, with the garage doors.