Judy Saunders

Here is my situation: My mother invited me to move into her large house a year and a half ago with my husband and six kids (now ages 2-17), with the agreement that we would split the communal costs of living and we could buy it from her when we were financially ready to do so. I finished out the school year where I was, gave notice to my landlord and gave up my Section 8 rental assistance and we made the move. Over the summer my mother and I got in an argument and she gave us thirty days to move out. My husband had lost his job, so we were unemployed and suddenly had to find a place to go. After a few days, she eased up and presented us with a lease, which expires on Dec. 15. It contained provisions to extend the lease only if my husband found work. He has, so we are hoping to convince her to extend it to the end of school. We found a property in the next town that is our dream property, and we can put together about $10k in February from our taxes refund (EIC mostly) and some few assets that are held in my husband's name. The property is listed for $60k. I know we will need to finance the rest of the property, but we also have to get something put up to live in by next winter. I have been homeless short term before with toddlers and swore it would never happen again.

Since my husband won't have 6 months of employment at the new job by February, many banks won't even talk to us. They also want 30% down. What are some of our options (other than moving into a homeless shelter) since we can't afford to rent (which would most likely require surrendering our dog) and save to buy at the same time?

I had hoped to build for ourselves, but people keep pointing out reality to me in that it can be expensive and/or very labor intensive. I'm not afraid of hard labor, but I do have a deadline of snowfall next year. There aren't really any farms for straw bale nearby, but we have tons of rocks here n the granite state. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

Oh Jay, you've burst my bubble.

We wanted to build it ourselves and not hire anyone more than absolutely necessary. We don't have the money to pay someone for it. I understand it will take a lot of time and effort. Spring is when we are hoping to buy the land, not when we are planning to move into a house. We expect we will have to rough it for a while during the construction process, and are hoping to get exterior walls and roof up as quickly as possible and then finish the inside while living in it. I have heard of families living in the basement while building the house above them, but we weren't planning on a basement. I have lived in less. My main time goal is to have something to keep us dry by next winter (2014). So about 6 to 8 months of buildable time. That's why I don't expect to get much more than just walls and a roof up.

We do not have land yet. We expect to be able to buy in the spring. That is one reason I am trying to figure things out now -- so we can look for the right features to fit what we want to do. There is a 5 acre lot currently available that I like, but it might not still be available in 6 months, so I am not counting on it.

Our 6 kids range in age from 2 to 17. The oldest is planning on moving out on her own next summer, so that will leave the next oldest at 14. I would like (for family harmony's sake) to give each child their own (tiny) room. It would be excellent to double them up, but I think they would kill each other. I like open concept design for the common rooms. My ideal layout includes greenhouses comprising the south wall of the house and a root cellar. The house we currently live in (my mother's) is about 2000 sq. ft. and this seems just the right size. We moved up from 1000 sq. ft. which was definitely too small for 8 people. The kids are in three singles and a double room (that we carved out from the enormous living room by using bookshelves as walls), and the toddler is in our room.

We do plan on practicing permaculture. We want to supply as much as of our own food as possible, with chickens, a few cattle for milk and meat, rabbits, and a garden. We have a dog and plan to get a cat. We've been told we should get a llama. Sheep are not really on my radar. I want a field with lots of wildflowers, and forest from which we can harvest deadwood for a woodstove for heat and cooking. Windpower is a very viable option (our town has a commercial wind farm). We want to live as an integral part of the land. I spent 6 years of my childhood with neither electricity nor running water. I look back fondly on those years.

Skill sets: When I was 8 I watched my parents build a small house (I even helped hold nails and such) that we lived in for 3 years. I am quite handy - I have built some few pieces of furniture for us (a roll-out pantry, a dining table, a tall chair for the younger kids, etc.). I am a seamstress by training and have pretty good 3D spatial skills. My husband has helped his father with light maintenance on his rental properties and reshingling roofs. He is comfortable working with 110 electricity as long as he doesn't have to mess with the box. We replaced almost the entire indoor sewer lines in my mother's house last summer. He ran ethernet cable through the house, too.

My husband works full time right now, and I just left my part-time job to take care of our toddler during the day. I am quite happy to put in hours of labor. My oldest said she is willing to help out with manual labor, too, if necessary, even after she moves out.

Thank you Jay. More specifically, we currently live in Lempster, which is half an hour southeast of Claremont, so we are about an hour or so apart.

For factors to take into consideration, I know we should consider sun exposure, but I guess I want to know what we should look for in terms of bedrock (considering it just sticks up out of the ground around here) pr anything else like that. Will strawbales be warm enough with New England winters? Is thermal mass or R-value more important? Solar heating is definitely on our list of desired features.

I'm just new enough that I don't know how much I don't know. Are we in over our heads? We have strong backs and are willing to put in the work, but we need direction.

Hello, please pardon my newbie-ness and if this has already been answered somewhere, please direct me there. I live in western NH and we are trying to determine the best building method for a home. We need a lot of space with 6 kids, and I have a basic floor plan in mind, but we don't know whether we should go for straw bale, earth bag, rammed earth, poured concrete, etc. We do want to finish it up as an earth-bermed house, with a turf roof. I really like the aesthetics of the hobbit house in Wales. We have no experience with alternative building, and very little experience with traditional timber framing, though my husband has put on asphalt shingle roofs. What factors should we take into consideration? We currently expect to be able to purchase a property in the spring, so ideas on what features we should look for would be appreciated, too. We will most likely be buying in either Sullivan or Cheshire Counties. Thank you.

Judy