A dilemma...

As most of you know, my wife and I are living in Canada at the moment, and weren't due to be back until August 2009. Well, the good news/bad news of the first home-buyers grant being increased to $21,000 but only until June 2009 has got my mind wondering...

We've already got a block of land, so to get any type of grant we have to build - selling the land and buying an established home is not really an option.

So...

I can stick with our original plan of building when we get back - and having a $12,000 grant ($7,000 federal + $5,000 state), assuming that it what it goes back to

or

I can try to build remotely from here - getting a $26,000 grant ($21,000 federal + $5,000 state), but not sure if it is worth the risk. We have a good idea of what we want, and will probably go custom, but I'm worried that without us being there to oversee it it will be a piece of junk. Of course, we could get a project manager (one of my friends) but that eats up a lot of the extra money...

What would you do? Has anyone on the forum built remotely? Were you happy with the results?

You have to sign the contract by that date but you could probably arrange for a start date after you return?

Ditto, Rachelle.

Also, another forum member - BrisVegas - is doing this at the moment - maybe send him a pm - good luck!

Your only out by a couple of months...

Is it worth starting and be back for most of the build??

I think it will be very diffucult dealing with quoting and such if you cant speak to the builders one on one - a hard decision.

Hopefully you can sign by that date and start when you get back, as the others have said.

Here's a different view. Up until a couple of days ago you weren't going to get the $21k anyway, so if you miss out, have you really lost anything? Your budget, no doubt, never included that amount anyway.

Just my thoughts.