I worked in Auburn California for about three years in the nineties and remembered a nice gated development in Cool. This place, Called Auburn Lake Trails, has two lakes, horses, pool, nine-hole golf course, parks and wildlife. I had to go there sometime to help load Roofs when our guys called in sick so I had an idea of the area. Of course, growing up in El Dorado Hills, it really felt like home that I remembered. Amy and I went up to Auburn lake Trails with listing in hand. Again, just about everything we looked at was on a steep slope of a hill or mountain. I remember finally driving to our property. As we turned the corner we could see the for sale sign on the this flat, one tree, one acres piece. Could not believe it. It was perfect.
We called Martie to have her call the agent and do a comparison for us. After the legwork, we set up an appointment with the seller's agent. We got up there and had a nice talk. They wanted $125000.00 for this one-acre lot. Seemed like a lot of money, but after you figured the saving from moving dirt, rock and drilling a well, we thought it was in the right dollar range. The owner, whose name is Bob, is a contractor in the area. He came down to the meeting as thing got more serious. After speaking, we realized he also does drawing as well as builds. Well, after talking for a while we decided to get up and leave. Martie, Amy and I went to dinner to decide what we wanted to do. We offered $125000.00; in addition, he had to draw the plans from start to finish and get them through plan check and permits. They agreed to the terms.
Bob has been a godsend. He really helps us out a lot with his suggestions how to best get the top dollar for resale. Among other things as well. Although he was not interested in building for us he as gave many great ideas and pushed us in the right direction.
Starting in September we would meet with bob to go over ideas for our house. After a lot of changing this and that moving the here that. We finally came up with our perfect house. 2230 sq. ft single story Ranch Style house.
In the mean time, I have been calling framers plumbers and other subs to get prices and contracts signed. So far, the only one that we got cemented down has been the dirt mover. Meanwhile, Amy and I had to take the plans to the jobsite and mark the corners of the house on the site. It was neat to see how it was going to fit on the lot. Just as that happened (December), it started to rain. Could not believe it. The last three or four Decembers have been almost rain free. While I was in Texas for Work, Amy got a call from Joe saying it was dry enough to do some dirt moving. Being in Texas and Joe wanted someone there to show him, Amy called Bob to see if he could be kind enough to help. Sure enough he did. They did some dirt moving but it was still to wet.
Now, in January we finally got word we get to pull the permits. Now if it would just stop raining enough to finish the dirt moving and get the foundation started.
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