Thursday, January 31, 2008

From log cabin house plans to your dream house


Great log cabin house
Once you've decided that log cabin house will be your dream house, you need to choose home plan out of hundreds of house designs. Here I've gathered some useful advices for you, which I hope would save you time and money in your quest.


First, you have to make some basic decisions regarding your log home. Make sure you have answers for all these questions:


1. What's the size of your lot? How big your house can be?


2. How many bedrooms and stories you're planning for your new log home?

3. Get more information about flooring styles, interior wall and ceiling, so you can choose the kind that would suit you the most,

4. How much money can you spend?


What are the formats for log home floor plans? What kind of drawings are included?


Besides the familiar printed version, on blueprint paper, your log home design can also be purchased as cad plans, which are most useful if you're intending many changes for the original stock plan. This is an electronic version of the hose plan, which actual blueprint paper can be produced from very easily. There are many kinds of sheets that are need for building your dream log house:


There are many site with plenty of log cabin plans. One of my favorites is shed-plan.com, where you can find dozens of cabin plans, shed, pergola & cottage plans for less than 25$ ! They give you 100% Money Back Guarantee for 8 full weeks, so you can buy with confidence. Another great site is sds-cad.com, where dozens of log cabins are offered for less than 10$!

Exterior Elevations, Foundation Plan, Floor Plan, Section views, Roof Plan and Interior Details. I'll give more details about each sheet on my next post,with some other information about log home plans.



English Cottage House Plans

charming English cottage house plans
Charming English cottage hous
Known for their charming style, English cottage houses have inspired larger and more elaborate house plans, without decreasing the cozy comfort that is identified with the cottage style. The English cottage house is famous for its picturesque storybook style. It is actually based on the rustic cottages of western England. Every one of us would like to spend the weekend in the country, away from the stress, smog and the noise of the city. Now imagine that your house is actually a vacation home – and this is the true meaning of leaving in a cottage house. Looking as hundreds of cottage house plans, I bet you'll find your dream house in one of them. Cottage home plans are great for vacation designs as well as permanent residency. English Cottage house plans are perfect not only for empty nesters but also for families with children. It's usually referred as a fairy tale home since it made the dream of so many Americans coming true. Although there are many of cottage home plans, you can find some common features among them, such as their exterior which typically boasts steep gables, and the hip roofs, with shingle, stone or stucco siding.

Getting estimation of the property you're interesting in or of your own house, can be done online instantly, using the Electronic Appraiser. Click here and find out in a few minutes how much your house or any house is worth.

Another source of home plans is foreclosure lists. Actually, they're considered as the next real estate boom. At first you might ask – what foreclosure lists has to do with house plans? Well, it's quite simple. First of all, where can you get ideas for home planning or even see the outcome of every home style you can think of, if not in a list of homes, presented with information such as number of bedroom and baths, local school districts, property size, tax roll information and any other important information regarding the property? Secondly, many times foreclose properties are actually a great investment – even if you don't have large amount of money to start with - I'll explain more on that later on. You can find many sites that will offer you foreclosure listings.


After checking the major sites, I most recommend governmentauctions.org, trust me – no other site presents as comprehensively organized a database of Government & Police Auctions. governmentAuctions.org shows his registered users a vast multitude of sources where they can profit, or otherwise get great deals at government auctions. All members also get access to Foreclosure Listings where you can find homes for as little as $10,000 – it is the absolute best guide to Government Auctions and foreclosure – Just click here, join today and get instant access!


Another informative site, which offer vast free foreclosure listing is forclosure.com, which as the site states, it's america's largest provider of distressed properties, with more than 1.2 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO and tax lien listings across the United States located conveniently in one place. No matter what style of house your looking for and in which state, you probably can find several properties that would match your demands, with all relevant information.

Foreclosure.com gets its listings from hundreds of leading foreclosing lenders and government agencies, as well as an extensive network of corporate sellers, directly. Join today to their 7 day free trial and get instant access to more than a million properties across the states – just click here.

I joined their free trial – and was amazes buy the amount of houses I found, of all styles you can think of: cottage houses, log cabins and more. They also offer free foreclosure email alerts and many articles regarding investing in foreclosure, which brings me to another thing I'd like to share with you – how you can make a sustainable amount of money from foreclosure, event if you don't have large amount to start with! Yes, I couldn't believe it myself, but this was before I read the amazing book of Matthew Griffin -Foreclosure Profits Now. In his extraordinary book,Griffin explain in a very simple way, how you can invest in real estate even if you don't have a lot of money and your credit isn't perfect. most people think that they have to have a lot of money or great credit before they can even think about investing in real estate; and this mindset simply isn't accurate. In today's real estate market, there are many ways for an investor to control a property without going to the bank or to a traditional mortgage lender. All you have to do is be able to “think outside the box.”

YOU can be a real estate investor TODAY without a fat bank account or a five-star credit rating. Here's how to do it:


  • Locate a property where the homeowner is facing a foreclosure situation because they're unable to afford their mortgage payments.
  • Pick up the telephone, call that homeowner, and make an appointment to come over and discuss their situation.
  • Get that property under contract by explaining that you are a solutions provider and real estate investor who can help them get out from under their debt.
  • Sell that contract to another real estate investor and collect an assignment fee OR finance the deal through a hard money lender and sell the property yourself on the retail market.

After trying what is described in the book, I must say – it sure works! If you want to make nice profit of thousand of dollars without investing your own money – you must buy today the great book of foreclosure propfits now – just click here! It's really unbelievable that by buying this book for less than $50 you can earn thousands of dollars! After reading this book, I search through the internet for more books regarding foreclusre invesing. As a real estate and homebuilder expert, I must say that many of them are nothing more than rubbish to scams – unlike The real estate ultimate system. This book, written by s Robert Allen, the author of two of the largest selling financial books in history; Nothing Down and Creating Wealth, both New York Times best sellers, explains in a very simple way how you can Buy Real Estate Nothing Down, Realize Returns As High As 16% to 50% With Tax Lien Certificates and Purchase Your Next Home or Investment Property For 30% to 40% Below Its True Market Value With Foreclosure Short Sales.


As Matthew tells, the Los Angeles Times challenged him to live up to his claim. "They flew me to Los Angeles, where I met Martin Baron, the L.A. Times reporter, and together we flew from Los Angeles to San Francisco. When we arrived at the airport, I handed him my wallet and he handed me five crisp twenty dollar bills."

"With a reporter by my side, $100 for living expenses, & armed only with my knowledge; I purchased 7 properties worth $772,000, all in 57 hours." Los Angeles Times, Business Section

Again, it's amazing that for less than $40, you receive information worth tens and hundreds times of that. Read the testimonials located here should make you buy the book today and learn how you can Buy Real Estate Nothing Down.


Starting Today, You Can Get Your Hands On The Greatest And Most Powerful Real Estate Resources, Quite Literally, On The Face Of The Earth For Only $39, and receive over $200 in free bonuses – just click here.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Bungalow house plans

simple bungalow house plans
affordable bungalow house plans
When someone asks me to define bungalow, the first thing that comes to my mind is that a bungalow is a combination of art, simplicity and natural material, all in a very affordable cost.Usually we're talking about one and a half story house with low pitched roof and deep porches.It's quite common to find a bungalow with sun room with lots of windows, which makes you forget it's a small house. The floor plans are quite efficient, and it's considered as friendly to families, especially young families, because of its low cost and artistic characteristics.

Inspired by a strange combination of the English Arts and Crafts movement and Far Eastern wooden architecture, the Bungalow house plan quickly recognized as one of the most popular small house styles in nation wide. When I ask bungalows owners to define their home living style, they usually say it’s the American dream coming true in an affordable cost, and if you'll go visit a Bungalow home, you'll agree with it – on its on lot with his family car parked out front, the Bungalow house is all about independence and privacy. Originally just a shelter, the Bungalow house nowadays considered as the simple way to achieve what every one of us is looking for – a good life in a convenient and equipped house.

Log cabin plans and small log homes

reliable log cabin plans

Handcrafted log cabin plans

Although they are usually built as a retreat home, many log homes and log cabin plans finally ends up as a residence home. Contemporary log home plans are made for modern day living, which makes them great choose as a permanent home for your family. I think of log homes as a modern house with a rustic look.Log home always reminds me the American pioneers, building their log houses from the forests that were so common in the old days. The handcrafted log house plan sure gives me a romantic feeling of home.

The first log houses were of the handcrafted style, which means that they weren't changed after they had been peeled. Since they require intensive fieldwork, today they are less popular than the milled style – logs that were processed and have the same size and appearance, which makes them more suitable for home building.

The logs are a great shelter from the cold, since they lock the heat inside them, which make them so popular in cold areas world wide.

As you’ll see, there many types of log cabin plans, but of course they all share some features:


Fireplace with a chimney – I like it more when it’s made from brick, but some like the stone version.
  • Very large kitchen and living rooms.
  • Wide back porch. Actually, it’s the first think that comes to my mind when someone says log house.
affordable small log homes

Log home plans come in a range of sizes – from as little as 500 square feet to more than 2000. Since you’re interested in small home plans, you’ll be happy to find all this home plans that suits you.

For more loge home plans, garage plans ans shed plans, just click here.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Cottage house plans

lovely cottage house plans
affordable cottage house plans
If you’re looking for a cozy house to be your dream house, cottage house plans an most likely fit. Your cottage house can be your gateway home.


When someone tells me he’s looking for a cottage home plan, my first question is “What kind of cottage home?”, since there isn’t one style for cottage houses. Although the English cottage house is the most popular among cottage houses, log cabins and bungalows are rather common as well.The architect and designers offices have years of experience in planning cottages homes, which results in some great home plans. The space is most efficiently used, and it gives you the feeling of a much bigger cozy house. Like most plans, you can customize cottage house plan according to your own taste – maybe adding a garage or a nice balcony.For many people, a cottage house is a storybook house with the enchanting English county style that includes romantic gardens and a fireplace. Many of them you can find as well.Although you can find many styles of cottage houses, they all steel have some characteristic in common:
  • Steep pitch roof with gable and shingle, stone or stucco siding.
  • One and a half stories with many interior design elements.
  • The exterior is rather decorative.
  • Cozy, cozy, cozy. Just another word for cottage home.
  • The house design is influenced by the local landscape.

There are hundreds on cottage house plans available online – just pick the one that reflects best your dream home. There's is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on cottage house plans. After checking several sites offering these plans, including of course visiting houses built with the plans, I can confidently say that the Cottage House Plans Site gives you the best value for your money. Not only you pay less than $20 for your cottage plan, you get a great plans with a full material list and most important - a step by step instruction guide, that is most helpful for anyone without any building experience. Believe me, I just watch my friend Joe, who never hold a hummer in his life, building a storage shed from this site over the weekend. Yes, you can find there shed plans, cabin plans, deck plans, barn plans and much more - off all sizes, just get the one you need, and instantly download it. You have nothing to loose - they believe in their product so much, you can get refund in 60 days if you're not happy with it. I can't blame them - their plans are so easy to built and address a variety of needs, that there's no chance you'll ask your money back. Anyway, you can rest assured you'll get refund if you wish to.

If you want to know how you can get a true estimation of your house or the house you're interested in, read my post about the Electronic Appraiser.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Small home plans with great opportunities.

Many people prefer building small homes in order to save big money. And I’m not talking only about empty nesters. Since technology has advanced so much in the recent fifteen years, the space usage can be planned so efficiently that many families can really feel at home in their cottage or townhouse and thus save thousands of dollars. There are many types of small home designs, much of them I bet you’re familiar with. I summarized the different kinds and their characteristics so you can choose the right that matches your dream house the most: Beach house plans – it is the best place for you taking the weekend off and get some quality time alone or with your loved one, away from all the pressure and the stress of  city life. Many beach home owners consider it as a vacation gateway. Beach houses are usually one story homes although I’ve seen 3 stories beach houses as well. They are also referred as coastal houses, due to their location near the ocean or a lake. They usually raised above the sand, giving a breathtaking view of the beach or the lake nearby. Some design elements of beach house plans are borrowed from Mediterranean style home plans. Beach home plans usually offer features such as panoramic windows, balconies and plenty of outdoor living spaces to take advantage of the location by  the beach. The houses are built from materials that can withstand the salty air and the tides and winds. There are many kinds of beach house plans. I’m sure when you’ll look into them, you’ll finally find the one that will help you realize your dream beach house.

Small home plans with big size

When you ask someone what's the size of a home, the answer depends on the person you asked. You can hand out house floor plans to two different people, ask them to calculate the plans size, and get two different answers. And they’ll booth be true. Although you're sure the answer objective, it is rather subjective, since different people in the construction industry have different interests and ways to measure your house.  Builders naturally will tell you the house size is different from what county auditors would tell, both numbers are different from the net and the gross size of the home. As you've already guessed, there are several ways to measure the home size. This has a great importance, since the size of your home plan is a great factor of your suture constructing cost, and when comparing two home plans, it's important you'll compare sizes measured the same way. Some home designs calculate the square footage only according to the heated placed, and some include every area that is under roof. Some include the thickness of the walls in the area calculated (gross area), and some don’t, and gives you the net area. Most home designs state how the area was calculates. If this information is missing, you must contact the designer and get it – it has big influence on your building cost. When comparing two building designs, make sure their size was calculated the same way.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Some more things that will help you choose the best design from all small home plans

Hi there, all of you looking at all these home plans and can't really decide what suits them most: would it be cottage house plan or a log cabin house? Two stories or maybe one story with a porch? Well, as I started in my previous post, here are some more tips to help you choose the house design that would later on become your dream house.

 List your requirement, but remember: no one's is perfect


These advice my mom gave me many years ago, when I asked her how can I find my princess to spend my life with. As years went by, I understood I can use this advice for other decisions in life as well. Looking for home plan, for example.There are two kinds of people – the first kind is looking for the best, and never satisfies for anything if he think he can get better. When he looks for car, and finds one that fits all his requirements, at the last minute before buying it he'll give up the car, thinking: "mmm…I can get a car just like it in $50 less, or – in that price I can get a much better car..". Well, there's never an end to its quest. These kind of people never find rest (and never get married..they always think they can find a much better spouse..) But I'm not this kind of person (Just ask my wife…). I know I should first list down my requirements and demands, what's important for me and what is just nice to have. Than I look at all candidates, ignore the ones that doesn't match my mandatory requirements, and from all the rest – pick the one I like the most. If you think a little, you'll see this process of choosing isn't appropriate only when looking for home plan but for other situations as well – even when you go to the supermarket to get some serials, for example. You should distinguish between your dream house to a perfect home. Your dream house is exactly what you're dreaming when you think about your home – all its features and characteristics. It's the home you want to live in for the rest of your life with your loved ones, or to be your vacation home. A perfect house – I don't think there is such thing..you can always find better.  So first list all your requirement from your dream house, look at the hundreds (and more) small home plans that fit them, sort them out, and finally take the one you and your family like the most – but don't wait for months until you'll find a better one – it just will make you regret later on for missing some great home plan, for missing time and money. 

 I won't let the sun go down on me

We all want the sun to light the living room, as well as the kitchen and where we eat our breakfast.  But no one promises you that placing the home plan into your lot would result in the sun lighting your rooms, rather than heating the wrong side of the house. Since you can't really change the sun location (You may try, though…), the designers can change the home plan orientation easily for you – reverse or rotate it. But you have to verify this before buying the home plans.

What type of small home plan are you looking?

As I mentioned before, there are many styles of small floor plans : first you have the small cottage house and the small log house or the cabin house, then you have the small country house and the small vacation home. And we haven’t talked even about very small house plans (or tiny home plans, as my young ones call it). Of course you can find small luxury home plans, small modern home plans and small guest house plans. What I want to say, is that you have to be familiar with all of this types, before selecting your specific design. Each type has its own virtues. You should consult your family, friends and acquainting, even visit some houses and feel them inside. Think, in which type do you feel home? Which type makes you that warm feeling? Of course, your budget plays a key role in selecting the style of your new house, and your lot location as well.  So you must take all factors: your budget, location, and your preferences, and select the best home plan that will turn to be your dream house.