Starter Smallholders

We have finally received a quote for building the house that seems reasonable. In fact, we got two at the same time, one for building the entire house, including pretty much everything, and another for building a pre-fabricated carcass, leaving us to subcontract the foundations, chimney, and roof, while completing the finishing work ourselves. There is no cost advantage to either, so we are looking more favourably at the full build, which has come in at the same price as any other combination we have considered over the past eight months. The bad news is that the bank is very cautious about this project (no 95% mortgages here!), and I reckon we are going to be about five thousand lats short. Five thousand is a dangerous amount; it seems small enough to make it tempting to go ahead - surely we can raise that much; but is also large enough that it could leave us with a real problem in three or four months time. Sensibly, we would leave it for another year. Or stick to plan a and do it a bit at a time. Property prices are rising faster than building costs, so we should be able to borrow a little more in a year's time, and we could easily save an extra few thousand within a year. But the process has already been going on for a full year, the thought of another twelve months of camping in the existing rathole is hard to take, and having just one builder to deal with instead of a selection sounds great. More importantly, this builder came highly recommended and made a wonderful job of a friend's house. Meanwhile negotiations with the bank continue, and I spend many hours looking at the plans.