In January of 2024, just a few months after moving back to Kansas City, I started house hunting. I was still recovering financially from my Boston era, but I also couldn’t bear the thought of living with my parents any longer than necessary. I was broke, lost, living at home, starting a new career, and training a new puppy—so naturally, I thought: why not add the stress of shopping for a home to the mix?
My parents have built five homes over their 30+ years of marriage, so when we found a lot in my DREAM neighborhood, we knew we had to jump. Except… it wasn’t one lot. It was two lots being sold as one. We immediately called my sister and soon-to-be brother-in-law to see if they wanted to claim the other half. They were just as excited as I was, and with that, Vaughn Corner Estates was born. (Fun fact: when you subdivide a lot, it officially becomes a subdivision—so yes, the city really did name our little corner that.)
Then came the hard part.
Luckily, our realtor—also a family friend—recommended a builder he trusted: Jack Fuller. He showed up with a clean truck and dirty boots, which I’m told is exactly what you want in a builder. We dove into the world of floor plans and aesthetics, pulling inspiration from everywhere. Each lot is 35 feet wide and 127 feet deep, which meant our options were more limited than we expected. Once we started getting into the city requirements—20-foot setbacks in the front and back (or 10 feet between the house and a detached garage + 3 feet from the back alley), and side setbacks of 8 feet on either side with a minimum of 10 ft between houses, unless the house was grandfathered-in —we realized our dream home would have to fit inside a very real, very skinny little rectangle.
My sister and I grew up in Toronto, so we naturally gravitated toward those charming old Toronto row houses. But that dream died a quick death the moment we got the masonry quote for a full brick exterior.
Suddenly, we were deflated and back at square one. We had made the classic rookie mistake: trying to build our dream homes on a starter home budget.
Leave a Reply