The purpose of this blog is to keep you informed of our home buying process. Well, First thing my wife and me did was to call 4 banks to get an idea of how much they will pre-approve for us, then we received three pre-approvals: Zions Banks for 157,102,000 FHA loan, WellsFargo for 112,000 an independent Mortgage lender for 161,000 FHA Loan and Cache Valley Bank which declined us because of the type of visa we have. After that we decided to see some of the houses been sold in the Real Estate Book magazine. One ad attracted our attention, a construction
company. We have always dreamed to be able to pick our choices in our first home, so we went to see the company, Visionary Homes(
buildvisionaryhomes.com). They showed us the model home and some of the house already in the process of been built and we picked the one we would like for 160,000. We called Zions banks, but they said they don't work with construction loans(we found out that first you get a construction loans and when the house is built, then you take your permanent loan). Then we talked to the independent Mortgage lender and he and Cache Valley Bank agreed to combine the contract; Cache Valley Bank will lend the
Construction Loan and the Mortgage lender the Permanent loan. We asked for a good faith estimates and the builder agreed to take care of the closing costs and all the fees of the construction loan. Then we realized that the monthly payment or our permanent mortgage would be more than $1,000 a month, so we called the builder and changed plans to build a smaller house, two stories, and a bigger Lot. We signed this option, then we signed the construction loan. The builder called my wife and me to pick our selection of colors, windows, door, exterior, exterior, etc. We were invited by the
builder team to see the plans and we modified it and added all kind of extra options. One detail that we noticed with the construction loan is that you get to add to the price, but not to get discounts, on the other hand, when you buy a house already built the owner could reduce the price.
think it will be easier if I start early. 
The house roof is finished and it has the bathtubs in place. The heater and cooling system is installed and I saw two doors ready to be installed.
The house outside walls are wrapped with a white plastic material, I guess this will function as insulator. They are also working in the plumbing system
and attached you can see some pictures of the foundation. Since then we added more features that we want the house to have such as a storage room in the garage, insulation in the garage, windows in the bathrooms, 
etc. The house will come with dishwasher, counter-top and stove. We added a microwave, and a refrigerator. The builder promised that the house should be ready by the end of May. I am already working in the paperwork to get my first 3 per 1 savings from the IDA plan in March and we are already using the new address for anything after May. We are excited, and we appreciate the motivation, instruction, and support that the IDA program has offered us to help this dream become a reality. I will keep you updated o
f the process until the end. I would like to encourage people to build if that is what they want to, it is possible.
company. We have always dreamed to be able to pick our choices in our first home, so we went to see the company, Visionary Homes(buildvisionaryhomes.com). They showed us the model home and some of the house already in the process of been built and we picked the one we would like for 160,000. We called Zions banks, but they said they don't work with construction loans(we found out that first you get a construction loans and when the house is built, then you take your permanent loan). Then we talked to the independent Mortgage lender and he and Cache Valley Bank agreed to combine the contract; Cache Valley Bank will lend the 
Construction Loan and the Mortgage lender the Permanent loan. We asked for a good faith estimates and the builder agreed to take care of the closing costs and all the fees of the construction loan. Then we realized that the monthly payment or our permanent mortgage would be more than $1,000 a month, so we called the builder and changed plans to build a smaller house, two stories, and a bigger Lot. We signed this option, then we signed the construction loan. The builder called my wife and me to pick our selection of colors, windows, door, exterior, exterior, etc. We were invited by the 
builder team to see the plans and we modified it and added all kind of extra options. One detail that we noticed with the construction loan is that you get to add to the price, but not to get discounts, on the other hand, when you buy a house already built the owner could reduce the price.