Does a Habitat for Humanity home come furnished in any way, appliances, etc?

kids bedroom furniture packages image

Force

We're going to apply for a home at the next meeting, but I wanted to know ahead of time what all comes in the home.
We lost everything to a fire & have been in a small rv for months until just recently getting in a small mobile home, (only 2 bd when we need 4-5), so a home would be great.
We work & pay bills & qualify $ wise & the sweat equity would be no problem, so I'm not concerned with the application process or stuff like that. We even own the burned home, land & all, so there wouldn't be any land payment added to the mortgage.

I just wondered what all actually comes in the house.
* Is it completely finished inside?
* Do they include appliances, heat & cooling units, etc.?
* Do they offer pkgs that actually furnish the home, like with beds etc.?
* Do they only build certain blueprints or can you decide anything on the home, like if you want the bedrooms clumped together or seperated etc?
* What about colors?
* How basic are the designs, such as do they only have bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, & living room or do they have utility rooms, pantries, & dining rooms too?
* Do they do anything to the yard, like fences etc? (ours burned with the house)
* Can you determine your energy source for the house, like can you decide if you want natural gas or electric for your stove, etc?
* Do they do "green homes"?
* What about under the houses, the pipes & stuff in the ground, (ours are very old clay & would have to be upgraded per city code for us to rebuild or repair), do they add the cost of digging up all the old utility stuff onto the cost of your house? (I know they have to run new lines & foundations on all of them, but what about that old stuff being removed?)
* Do they do basements or attics or garages?

And I guess the most important question is, the sweat equity that you accrue, how is it calculated? * Do they count each hour at a specific rate, like at minimum wage or something, then take it off your mortgage like real $, instead of a wage kinda thing?
(I don't understand that part except that there's a minimum of 300 hours at our local chapter.)

* What about if we have 10 friends that all put in 100 hours each, does that count as 1000 hrs off our mortgage or are they just counted as volunteers & only our hours count?
* How old do you have to be for your hours to count, like if our 9, 11, 15, & 16 yr old help does that count?

* And what about AFTER our house is built & we're in it, can we still do the sweat equity thing to pay toward our home or is that only before the house is built?

Just, if anyone knows things like this, I'd appreciate the information.
I can find questions of the app process & what it's like to volunteer but I really need someone that knows these kinda details too.
Thank you
Thank you for all the info in the 1st answer, do you know if they tear down & get rid of the old house or if the property must be cleared by us before they're willing to build?
I was asking about the possibility of furniture because we were told they may work with Salvation etc to help replace some since we won't have enough basics. We're on craigslist couches at the moment.
And I was asking about the garage & fence & basement because it's in a "historic district" so there are a lot of older but larger homes & they all have those so I didn't know if the code required it, if it would still be approved. The code does require a fence.
And I wasn't worried about colors, just a basic house would be a Godsend, I was just curious how involved the new home owner got to be in planning or design or anything like that.
It would need to be atleast a 4 bd, but as we were wanting to become foster parents before the fire, if we get a home we'd want to continue

Answer
A Habitat for Humanity home is "simple, decent housing".
It's finished inside
It often includes appliances. It definitely includes a heating unit. Depending on the area, it may include cooling.
They do NOT offer packages that furnish the home with furniture.
They only build from certain blueprints, and if it's a four-bedroom home that is needed, there will probably be only one style available.
The house is generally painted a basic white inside. You want colors, you paint it yourself.
No pantries. Generally a dining area, not a dining room. Possibly a utility area somewhere in the house.
No fences for the yard.
No, you don't get a choice of energy source.
They sometimes do green homes.
They do all the prep work for the foundation, etc, and if that includes removing old pipes, that's included.
They generally do not do garages unless the local zoning requires it - it's "we build houses for people, not for cars"! Basements depend on the area as well; up here in the Northeast, everyone has them, so the houses do as well. Down South, the houses are generally built on a concrete slab.

The sweat equity is simply calculated in hours. No, it's not taken off of your mortgage; your mortgage is already lower than market value because of all the volunteer hours put into the home. And generally, it's only the hours the people living in the house put in that will count toward your total. You can't work on a Habitat site till you're 16, so your younger kids won't be able to help. You have to do a portion of your sweat equity before your house is even started, working on the houses of other people, and all of your sweat equity must be done before you get to move into the house. It's part of your "down payment".

There's quite a cost involved in tearing down and getting rid of an old house. You'd have to talk to them about that.
I've never heard of a Habitat affiliate "working with" the Salvation Army to get furniture for a house. That's not to say it isn't done - or that you couldn't work with the SA to make it happen.
As for the requirements of code in an historic district, they may be onerous enough that your Habitat affiliate would not be willing to work with them. To put it bluntly, the extra money they might have to spend to do that could be spent helping another deserving family.

How are people making $9-$11 an hour living on their own?

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How insane is this, a typical apartment here is around 500-700 a month depending on the condition of it. How are college students who make between $8 an hour to $11 an hour living by themselves in apartments when they're so expensive nowadays. Food is expensive, I bought a few snacks for myself the other day and the bill was $30. You could swear that the majority of college students are anorexic or are living on pre-made food everyday, that's cheap. You think, 600 dollars for rent plus utilities, plus food, plus supplies to make the food, plus ingredients to flavor the food, on top of personal hygiene, clothes you may need, maintenance on your car, furniture unless they use air mattress to sleep in which would be terrible and extra money aside incase something were to happen, health insurance is a plus and dental insurance is a plus because nowadays, nobody I knew had perfect teeth. That takes your bill close to a few thousand a month or more just to pass on by, what the fuck. Whoever I know is making this much, i'm extremely jealous lol. These idiots have parties and afford everything, how is it. I make close to what they make and I can only afford my car, personal things, my phone bill each month, food and drinks and money left over for college. They make 50-100 more but that still isn't enough to get you through life. This has to be a joke or something because even if I made that much it still wouldn't be enough to afford college, monthly expenses and bills and much more on top of that. Standard living you would have to make between 30,000 a year to 50,000 a year. Which includes a decent sized house or apartment. I give college kids credit but they must be living on credit or loans each month to make out in this world. I couldn't last because even they had roommates it would cost more and the bills would be even higher for food, rent and you would have to live in a bigger apartment. How do they make out with working 2 part time jobs that pay like shit. out of all of the jobs they work, it isn't worth living by yourself just wait until you get a good paying job when you're out of college, fuck that horse shit. i worked at a restaurant and half of the workers told me that they have apartments and I was like how, when you only make $8-$10 an hour. Gas and food prices have skyrocketed and It seems like our federal wage hasn't gone up at all which is fucked up. $9, $10 an hour is adding 50-100 dollars to your $240 a week paycheck which Is what I make. New York State sucks with taxes, they take $70 dollars that should be mine out of my paycheck each week which I think is bullshit, when I work full-time. Where is the benefits and support for us full time workers, we get shit for anything and expect to pay all these high prices on food and gas and you Hispanics and healthy rich living people wonder why we are so obese and live on junk food everyday because nobody is able to afford it. living on the edge is a good idea right??
i'm not saying that you shouldn't enjoy your life but It just surprises me to know that you college junkies are able to afford college itself and apartments, they must be getting support somewhere because that's impossible to save up. I'm not lower-class, i'm middle of the road, I just find it strange that there are some people out there that can afford it, I don't know how they got so lucky in the job market.
a great answer would be nice because i'm in a blind sight right now as to why college students live on their own and afford such expensive things. even with roommates it would cost more and you would pay just about the same as if you were to live alone In a one bedroom apartment. it's crazy, I would be too overwhelmed and I would want to just live at home and be smart and save the extra money for college.

Answer
College students generally get money from their parents for a lot of stuff. A good bit comes from loans too. I understand where you're coming from - my parents ask me to use all the money I make on necessities. After food, utilities (my parents pay the rent, thank goodness), and books, there's nothing left :( And, even so, I'm taking out quite a bit in loans for my tuition, so I understand.

But, honestly, $30 for snacks? What were you buying? I spend that much on all my food for the week and I cook - I don't get that pre-packaged stuff.

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Title Post: Does a Habitat for Humanity home come furnished in any way, appliances, etc?
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