For Jeremy and Carmen Hayes, rural Tennessee offers more than just land; it’s home. Having a lifelong connection to the area and its landscape, it is the ideal place for their family. “That’s where we were born and raised. It’s just a place we don’t ever want to leave,” shared Jeremy.
After being gifted their land, Jeremy and Carmen knew it was where they wanted to build their forever home. “We are living in town right now and it is not home.” Carmen explained. They believe their new land is a place that will allow them to continue to instill in their children the values of responsibility and a strong work ethic, while giving them the freedom to connect with nature and put their family first.
Having built houses in the past, Jeremy and Carmen knew they needed a practical and trustworthy lender to get started. Partnering with Rural 1st has made their final building experience a positive one. Jeremy shared, “We’ve built houses in the past. This is actually our third home construction. I think this would be the easiest process we’ve had.” Carmen added, “so we’ve been really intentional and purposeful this time and thought, we’ve got this time to get it right. Rural 1st was able to, throughout this whole process answer all the questions that we had.”
Focusing on a custom build has come with immense benefits for Jeremy and Carmen. Without the restrictions of other lenders, they’ve been able to build exactly what they envisioned from the ground up. “We’re building what’s known as a barndominium. It’s a custom home. We love that we have a lot of outdoor space,” Carmen shared. “We just love that we had an open floor plan and we could customize a little bit.”
Jeremy and Carmen were also afforded a one-time close through Rural 1st. This key benefit eliminated the stress of multiple closings and endless paperwork, allowing Jeremy and Carmen to focus on designing their perfect barndominium that would meet the couples needs as they get older.
Instead of requiring a construction loan to be refinanced into a permanent mortgage, Rural 1st provides customers a single, streamlined loan package. “It gave us the freedom to focus on the elements of the build: design, plans and colors. We weren’t having to worry about the paperwork side as much,” said Carmen.
Rural 1st helped Jeremy and Carmen get Closer to What Matters® to them: spending time together, enjoying their outdoor hobbies and escaping the stress of modern life.
Connect with a Rural 1st loan officer today and see how easy it is to turn your aspirations into reality.
