{"id":390,"date":"2015-08-14T20:30:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T20:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smartgroupbuilders.com\/news\/?p=390"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T00:15:45","slug":"smart-builders-step-3-steps-to-building-a-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartgroupbuilders.com\/news\/smart-builders-step-3-steps-to-building-a-new-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Step #3 – Steps To Building A New Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our continuation of the series of Steps To Building A New Home<\/strong>, this week:  Find some land (or a neglected older house)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Where do you want to be? How do you want to live? What are you looking for? Maybe you want that house in the mountains or with the ocean view, but it\u2019s not in the cards right now… The point is, find a spot that you can claim as your own, and build your dream home there.<\/p>\n

Maybe that land isn\u2019t a few pristine acres on the lakefront. Maybe it\u2019s an existing house that\u2019s just old and tired and has suffered some neglect.  Antiquated plumbing, the absence of upscale amenities, and the high cost of gut rehabbing are pushing many homes in the Chicago suburbs and North Shore areas into early retirement.<\/p>\n

Wilmette, for example, saw 48 teardowns last year. That\u2019s way up from the 15 to 20 the North Shore town experienced annually from 2009 to 2011. (Chicago Magazine, February 2015)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our continuation of the series of Steps To Building A New Home, this week:  Find some land (or a neglected older house). Where do you want to be? How do you want to live? What are you looking for? Maybe you want that house in the mountains or with the ocean view, but it\u2019s not in the cards right…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-latest"],"yoast_head":"\nStep #3 - Steps To Building A New Home - SMART Builders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smartgroupbuilders.com\/news\/smart-builders-step-3-steps-to-building-a-new-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Step #3 - Steps To Building A New Home - SMART Builders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In our continuation of the series of Steps To Building A New Home, this week:  Find some land (or a neglected older house). 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