In looking at older houses we stumbled upon the property we bought- a large half acre with an older house that, while interesting, was somewhat of a Frankenstein house that was built in 5 phases over about 80 years.  For example, take a look at this nonsensical meeting of roof lines.

The house was also in pretty poor shape, having been a boarding house for 10 years, after which it sat empty for a year.

What made this property really interesting is that the old house was built on the back half of the lot.  We immediately thought we might be able to live in the old house (after some minor rehab) while building a new house on the front part of the lot.

The idea appealed to us because we wouldn’t have to carry a second property while waiting to build and building the new house.  Plus, being that close to the construction means that we can keep a closer eye on the process, and our kids will have an intimate front-row seat to the construction rather than just the occasional visit.

A common comment we receive to this idea is “but you’ll be living in a construction zone.”  From my perspective, Living on the back 40% of the property, we are no different than our direct neighbors who are living right next to a construction zone. We have a comfortable house we are used to, and a small yard, and the people next door (which happens to be us) are building a house.

This plan isn’t without complications.  Charlie, our builder tells us that it is a trade off.  Not having the entire lot to stage the build, and having to work around the old house does come with additional costs.  My theory is that as long as we are in the winning side of an increase in building costs vs additional rent of another house, it is worth doing.