Hello. My wife and I are interested in building are own home, rather
than buying a resale. Resale homes where we want to live are now up to
$200/sq ft. We've been told you can build your own home for $85-$100/sq
ft.

In any case my brother is an architect by trade and he is willing to
design the house for us.

I want to know if anyone can recommend a good construction loan
company, or tell us which ones to avoid. As far as I understand,
construction loans are lines of credit and you are charged interest as
you use the funds from the kitty available. Then when the home is build
you can transform the 'construction' loan into a traditional loan
pledging the house as collateral.

One thing I don't understand is... do you need to own the land free and
clear or can you get a land loan also?

Also can anyone tell me what fair closing costs are on construction
loans?