Really!?!

So, this past weekend, Brad and I had a discussion.  Actually, this talk started about a month ago.  OK, it probably started a tiny bit before that.  

We were grouting the master bathroom shower when I say, "You know, if we had taken part of the master closet, we could have put in a half bath with an entry in the hallway, and then pushed the closet back some and taken footage from the laundry room."

That's when it started.

The little, "You know..." conversation. Sometimes it also starts, "We could have..."  And this weekend, it actually excelled to, "Next time..."

Brad started it.  He said, "We really don't need the bonus room.  We could have just made the spare bedrooms bigger and I could have put the media room over there."

And then, I added fuel to the fire. "And then, the stairwell could become the half bath."

"Right, and I think I want a bigger porch." He added.

"Good!  Because I was thinking that we should definitely have double doors." the words tumbling out of my mouth, "So a bigger porch would be necessary."

So, we have officially decided that we will build our house again.  Yes, that's right, the year-long planning, working and general pain-in-the-butt, we want to do it again!

And I couldn't be more excited.  I got a mailer for a one-day tile sale the other day.  I'm totally keeping it because the photo shows a really cool archway over the vanity in the bathroom.  I think I want to do that, too.

Aside from the general, 'are you insane' question, there are reasons.

1. despite major pains (a**hole plumbers, lazy electricians and inspectors in general) the process was loads of fun.

2. You get a major sense of accomplishment from thinking up something and seeing it to completion.  And when that something is a house, the feeling is AMAZING.

3. The realtor across the street from us is trying to sell the house beside us, but when our house was under construction, everyone said, 'Can I get that house instead?' And our builder got three calls from people trying to make an offer.  

4. We saved.  We saved a lot.  At one point, we thought that we barely broke even, and then our builder sent us the 'surplus' of our account - 13k.  Which was after he sent us 15k.  Right now, we own about 30% of our house.  (And that figure is low because of the current market)

5. Now we know what we're doing.  Like anything, practice makes perfect.  And by the time we build this house for the third time, it should be spot-on (and almost free).

6. Yes, you read that last one correctly, THIRD TIME.  We will do this twice more.  Or at least as many times as our knees can take or until we own a house out and out.  

Seeing that we aren't doctors, or any other form of independently wealthy people, this is one way we can build our personal wealth safely.  If you live in a house for at least two years, you do not have to pay capital gains on the sale of your home.  You keep all that money.  So, we live in our dream house for a few years, sell and do it again.