Spent time this morning with some folks from West Asheville Watch cleaning up State Street.  We basically shoveled the crud out of gutters and storm drains.  Didn't get very far in almost 3 hours, but made a difference for sure.

The beginning

Closed Monday on the land and construction for my little nest. Closing only took 20 minutes, but I worked to get here for three and a half months.

I originally started looking at houses in my price range. I fell in love with a couple as we made offers on them. After 5 offers on various properties, I learned that I couldn't beat the cash that investors had in their pocket. I learned that if I was going to find a house not too far out of town, it was going to require a great deal of repair and remodeling.

So, I parted with my realtor and began thinking outside of the box. I found a builder in town who helped me find land and get through the construction loan process for the same price I was looking to spend on an old dumpy house. It seemed like the obvious best choice.

E and I went to the lot after closing on Monday (Halloween) and took pictures with my carved pumpkin. I was tempted to stay there and set up a chair to hand out candy that evening. While there, we met my new neighbor.

Hopefully soon we will pick out windows and begin to survey the land for placement of the house. It's a tiny lot on a busy street, so I'm hoping my house will be further from and up higher than the street.