The News Is Out! Move #6...We Are Building!
FINALLY! We are so excited to share "what's next" for Hannah Tyler Home! We are officially moving...house #6 in 6 years of marriage. After many renovations, we will be switching gears and tackling new construction, building our next home from the ground up! Today, we're sharing (both here and on the podcast) why we are building instead of renovating, where we are building, and our plans for the Lake Macatawa cottage (which we are currently living in!)
We spent the past year in great debate, trying to decide if another flip was in our future or if we might want to do something different. We looked at SO many houses and lots, considering scenarios all over greater Grand Rapids. We even made a few offers on properties that didn't pan out, which would have lead us to move back to the city. After many months of searching and considering a variety of options, we landed on the new construction route, choosing to remain near the lakeshore! As much as we love the character of an older home, we are eager to work out those creative muscles and do something other than renovate! (Though, I'm sure we aren't done renovating for good!) The low maintenance appeal of new construction was also something that heavily inspired us, especially with our first son due in about a week!
This home will be our primary residence for now. Most likely, it will end up on Airbnb, in time! The house will be located near the Michigan lakeshore, on a densely wooded lot, just a short drive from the beach! Living near the Lakeshore has been such a delight, one we didn't know we would get so attached to! While this property will not have water views like we do now (currently of Lake Macatawa), it will be just a couple of minutes to the beach which suits our lifestyle even better, as we found ourselves driving to the beach at least every other day this past summer to catch a sunset! We can only imagine our beach days will multiply once we have a little guy who*hopefully* loves to play in the sand!
Alas, the Lake Macatawa Cape Cod. Though deeply adored, we have decided to sell the cottage (most likely selling late Spring 2022). Initially, the plan was to hold onto the home as a long term investment/cottage. Because we opted to build on the lakeshore (versus back in the city/suburbs), we can't justify owning a vacation rental so close to home. While it would be simpler (and a lot of vacation rental hosts prefer this!), we would rather invest in different areas (mainly, different climates!) so that our family can enjoy visiting other locales (like the cabin rental). With vacation areas vastly growing in popularity, we also have a lot of equity in the home due to the increased value. It makes more sense for our business model to sell the cottage and allocate the resources elsewhere! It will make a lovely home or cottage for someone else, and we can't wait for it to be loved by new owners!
This isn't our first foray into building. We have built before, but nothing like this project. We built our first house just over 5 years ago and moved in on our wedding day. My Dad was our builder, and the house plan and neighborhood were very "cookie cutter" with very little design options. We did get to select some finishes, but there wasn't room for updates or overhaul with our budget. We loved our first little abode, but were involved very little in the construction process. We got a more involved with a build when we constructed our first rental. This home was a long term rental that we rented for 2 years then sold. After, we built 4 townhomes that sold the following year. That build process was quite intensive and we were both very involved in getting those built, condominiumized, and sold!
This time, we will be building with my Dad as the GC. We work together wonderfully and he truly understands my vision, which is such a blessing! We also enjoy tackling these projects together...learning about the construction process from him is my favorite type of "father/daughter" bonding!
I am drawing the plan completely from scratch! I perused hundreds of floor plans online. After finally selecting one, I presented it to my Dad, along with all of the crazy suggestions I had for changes. I was looking to make so many alterations, that my Dad suggested we just start from scratch and draw our own. I created a (very amateur) rough draft, then we improved it together, and he created all of the elevations.
A lot of thought has gone into the floor plan, and we are going to share all the details with ya'll here, including the design, our vision for the house flow, which things we opted to upgrade, and those which we didn't!
We are breaking ground on construction in December! We wanted to tell ya'll before baby arrives (I'm due in 8 days!) as we don't know how much we will want to be on social media during our first few weeks as a family of 3. I have a lot of posts about the build pre-written and will be sharing all about the entire project, which we hope to complete by early summer!
For more details, make sure to give the podcast a listen, and stay tuned as we will be chatting about the exterior design theme soon. Thanks for following online as we tackle house #6!
Hannah and Ty