Hello again! We are pretty late publishing our April 2024 financial update blog, but for good reason. We made the cross country trip from Utah to Pennsylvania so that we could attend our son’s college graduation! It’s crazy how quickly four years flew by and we are so proud of him! He the first person to graduate college from my side of the family and he did it with honors to boot. Obviously he gets his smarts from Mrs. RVF’s side of the family.

Thankfully, he already has an amazing job opportunity lined up starting in the fall. There’s also a good possibility that he will not be too far from our new house during a good portion of his onboarding time. So that might be a very nice bonus! In the meantime he will be taking a well deserved trip across Europe, which we are very jealous about. As for us, we will be mooch docking in his apartment until he gets back home. Then we will make the journey back across the country to Utah.

Make sure to follow us on X (Twitter) and Instagram for updates as they happen!

Before we get to our April 2024 financial update numbers let us bring you up to speed on the home build. On our way to Pennsylvania we took a more southern route so that we could visit our property in Texas. It was a little out of the way, but we had to meet with our builder and some of the other contractors.

One of the fun parts of this process is being able to pick out every part of decor for the house. We have to pick everything from the materials down to the door hinges! It’s can be a little stressful. There are so many options and you have to visualize what everything will look like once it’s put together. Thankfully, we are pretty much on the same page as far as style. But, getting the look we want while being cost conscious is a little difficult.

Once we arrived in town we decided to go straight to the property. Honestly, we weren’t expecting to see much of a change. As you might have heard on the news the weather in Texas and the midwest has been crazy! Our foundation pour was delayed three times before there was finally a weather break long enough to let the ground dry. Up to this point we had only seen photos of the foundation that were sent to us by the builder. So our expectations were very low.

As we drove down the road we came to the hill that overlooks our property we were completely shocked at what we saw. There was a structure popping up from the trees! It was an absolutely amazing and unexpected site to see. Actually, I was so shocked that I yelled out “holy shit”! Which scared Mrs. RVF as she was driving at the time and thought a deer or something was in the road. Probably not the best thing to do, but I couldn’t believe my eyes!

As you can imagine our excitement peaked immediately! The rain had just stopped so the road that will eventually be our driveway was a mess. But, that wasn’t going to stop us from getting up there. We parked on the street and quickly threw on our boots and began slogged our way up to the build site. As we came around the corner we could see the structure and it was beautiful. What a moment! We stayed on the property for about an hour just walking around the house. The surrounding area was a muddy mess, but we didn’t care one bit.

Over the next couple of days we had our meetings and visited the build site a couple more times. The framers were there both days which was amazing to watch from a distance. They really move quickly and don’t waste any time getting things done. By the time we had to get back on the road they were about half way done with the roof framing and it looked more like a house.

We were sad to leave Texas and our home build, but we obviously had an important event to attend. We are really looking forward to seeing the progress made on the return trip to Utah in June. Hopefully, drywall is being put up by then as weather will not be a factor once the structure is dried in. The builder also gave us a preliminary completion date of September. That would be perfect timing!

All of this progress however comes at a price. That brings us to our current financial situation and the crux of our April 2024 financial update. Just be forewarned, it’s getting ugly! Let’s get into the numbers.

Our Portfolio Performance April 2024:

Portfolio = $1,478,631

Our Portfolio Decreased By $56,749 or 3.70% From The End Of March 

Year-To-Date Our Portfolio Has Increased By $50,277 or 3.52%

Net Worth = $1,486,464

Our Net Worth Decreased By $170,752 or 10.30% From The End Of March 

Year-To-Date Our Net Worth Has Decreased By $94,301 or 5.95%

Alright, we have some explaining to do. As we mentioned in last months update blog, we are at a point in our build where our net worth numbers are going to be taking a hit. This is due to the process of having a construction loan and how draws are made throughout the build process. So while our portfolio moved with the markets downward trend for the month our net worth is another story.

All of the excitement we enjoyed above comes with a giant price tag. If you have ever had a home built then you know that the foundation and the framing are two of the largest expenses. In fact, looking at our budget they are over 30% of the cost to build our home.

Since a construction loan is a short term interest only loan we are recognizing these expenses in our net worth numbers as we incur the cost. This is going to continue until our home is done and it will appear very ugly for the next several months. Once the house is done we will pay down some of the principle, IE a down payment, and convert the rest to a mortgage.

Now, we could have gone another direction and papered it over. Or we could have just excluded anything home related from our numbers. We are building an appreciating asset and we already know the estimated appraised value of our completed home. With this information we could have created an offsetting asset account to make our numbers look all pretty. But, we want to be transparent throughout this process and technically the only asset we own at this point is the land the house sits on.

We hope to show our readers how this whole process impacts our finances. And let me tell you, it can get a little unnerving! This is also only the build side of the equation. The expenses side with the actual cash dollars we are shelling out of pocket is not much better!

We hope our readers will be both understanding and appreciative of our effort. This is a large financial undertaking and it’s not always going to look very good. It could also end up transforming our lifestyle when all is said and done. We hope not, but it’s always a possibility when this much money is involved.

Everyone is a genius when everything is at all time highs. It’s easy to sit back write blogs and crituiqe others when the markets are flying high. This arena however is not for the faint of heart. Once you get into the ring there is nothing you can do except try to plan and navigate for the least financially painful outcome. And that is the situation we currently find ourselves in.

Onto the dreaded spending numbers for April 2024:

Monthly Budget = $5,000

April Spending = $10,494

April Over Monthly Budget = -$5,494

YTD Over Budget  =  -$7,922

April is always the worst month of the year for us in the expense side. This is due to a number of annual and semi-annual expenses that we always incur. However, this April is particularly special because of our home build. With this new adventure comes new monthly expenses. Some of these expenses could have been avoided or deferred, but our hope is that bitting the bullet now will save us money in the long run. Why lump something into the construction loan with interest if you can pay for it upfront?

Additionally, we have been keeping an eye out for really good deals. We have to furnish our house at some point so we created a priority list of necessary items. These are basic furnishings that we need once the house is ready for move in. If we can get some items on the cheap over time it will save us money in the long run and spread out the expenses a little.

A great example is a bed we purchased. Now, I know some are thinking “why buy a bed when the house is barely framed”? Well let us tell you why.

When we are out and about and we see items we like we take a pic so we have it for future planning. We started doing this as soon as our plans were finalized. At one particular store there was a bed that’s perfect of our home design. While taking a pic a sales person walks over and says the bed is 75% off because they are remodeling the store and need to clear most of the store space. We were at the right place at the right time and it was a no brainer purchase. Of course we only have a small Jeep so we had to figure out the logistics. But for that deal we made it work.

Interestingly enough, that same store is here in Pennsylvania. So of course we went there looking for more deals. We weren’t so lucky this time, but they happen to have the same bed in stock. The price is even more than the original price we got 75% off of. We saved over $1,500 buying it that day and now we have a place to sleep when the house is done.

As you can see our finances are going to be complicated for quite some time. Between building, furnishing the house and traveling things are pretty expensive. This will be the trend for the foreseeable future. Hopefully everything works out and our lifestyle is not impacted to much when all is said and done. Everything looks good on paper, but as the process goes on and more expenses are incurred you never know what can happen. Things often don’t go as planned in construction.

This is the journey we are now committed to taking no matter the cost. There is no turning back now as the build is moving along. If anything, we will learn some valuable lessons along this path. Some might be hard and we will deal with them and learn from what went wrong if that happens. In the end happiness is what matters and we can’t wait to get to the end of the road and begin anew.

See you on the road, or maybe just around town.

Joe

Check out our online store StuckonCamping where you can get some of our designs on stickers, magnets, shirts, hats, tote bags and more! Check it out for camping, hiking, RV and other outdoor designs! Help support our blog by checking out our affiliates page for some great products and services or by clicking through one of our Amazon Affiliate product links before you make a purchase. We will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.