House, House!

So, it is true, Mike has bought a house. I wasn't going to mention it to you guys until we closed on it because we keep doing these types of things that don't materialize and then we seem like total flakes (as I assume we seem to most people anyway). I was biting my tongue and my urges to blabber about it but someone else, named Mike, told other people last night and now the news has come full circle. Good Lord. I'm very very excited for him as this really will be his baby and the start of, hopefully, his professional journey.

The house is in the Highlands on a 8700 sqft lot. This is significant because the typical lot for development is about 6250 big. The upside for this is we can build a much larger duplex than the standard duplex. Our goal is build 2 duplexes about 3000 sqft above ground with an unfinished basement that could be done at a later stage. The third story will have a roof top deck with great views (we imagine). The lot is large enough that each side will have a very reasonable yard. The house is about 4 blocks north of Highland Square so the location is prime. Our goal is sell one side and live in the other side. I've requested a main floor office with a separate entrance and I think I may just get it ;-)

Here are the bad parts about the project. We have to somehow get together 800K (or more) in financing. If we take a partner (we have one lined up) we have to cut the profits in 2. If we do it by ourselves we will have to put just about everything on the line. I'm a gambler and want to just go for it but it will be really hard to do. That is our goal and it looks like we will get there but will just mean huge amounts of pressure until the house is done next fall. We don't get possession of the house until August even though we close 4/28 as the sellers wanted to do a lease back for those months. We probably won't break ground until September and the project won't be done fro a year after that. Hmmm..that's like a lot of time to stress over 800K. I'm going to need to work on this one.

The other negative is that our personal needs can run our budget up significantly. It's very easy when we will be living in one side to rationalize putting in expensive items as, aside from the whole duplex issue, it will be close to everything we want in a house and we see ourselves there for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of forever. It sounds so odd to hear that it will be a duplex but these puppies really are amazing. In any event, budget control will be a huge factor and the fact that this will be Mike's first project and it is huge, huge, huge.

I'm so freaking happy for him though. This is really the direction he wants to go and I'm happy to support him in it. All I can do is give him the space and freedom to make it his own. No easy task when that much money is on the line and it will be our home. Ah well, what will be will be :-)

In other frustrating poker news I am 3-5 this week. I've been playing 2 at a time which is probably not where I should be right now but I realized yesterday that I hadn't played for the week so I figured it would be a quick way to get them out of the way. With the recent developments it is hard for me to concentrate too much on it now. Ach!