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Today, Emma and Dylan Lowell, the couple behind Cedar Grove Farm SC, share their story. Emma, a former CT Tech and current homemaker, had already owned a home in Greenville, SC, when the search began for a bigger piece of land. She wanted as many acres as she could afford, with room for gardening and animals.
She met Dylan along the way, and together, the couple hunted online, eventually finding the spot they’re at now. Dylan, who had worked in the trades throughout his life and now owns a welding company, has done most of the work clearing the land and building the home, supported by friends and family. Emma bought the land using a loan, and the couple is building the house as they have the cash—there is no mortgage on the home. They wanted their dream, all at a cost they could afford.
Who are the homebuyers?
Age: She is 30, he is 35
Household setup: Married with three kids, goats, dogs and chickens
Occupation: She is a homemaker; he owns a welding company
What is the home like?
Location: Greater Greenville, SC
Property Type: Single-family home
Bedrooms: Three bedrooms, and a loft. Two bathrooms
Size: 2,449-square-feet, on 12-acres
What was the budget?
Max budget: $200,000
Asking price: $190,000
Closing price: $170,000
House build: $100,000
Downpayment for the land: $35,000
Monthly payment for the land: $1,068
Inside the homebuying process
Emma: Both of us grew up very poor, not having much. I grew up in a trailer on family land. We had room to spread out. It was the best kind of childhood.
Where did the idea come from to buy land?
Emma: Buying land was always my dream. When I was 22, I bought a starter house just outside Greenville, about 40 minutes from here. That house was on half an acre. I always knew I wanted more land. I wanted room for a garden and animals.
How long did you look before finding your home?
Dylan: Six months. We weren’t committed unless it was perfect.
Did you have any non-negotiables?
Emma: I wanted as many acres as I could afford. At the time, I was buying on my own.
How many pieces of land did you see in person?
Dylan: We drove by a couple places, but didn’t get out and explore any of the other ones.
Did you make any other offers?
Emma: No.
How did you know this was the one?
Emma: This was an old farm that was at one time beautiful. The owner passed and the person who bought it only rented the trailer. They didn’t keep the land up, and it became wildly overgrown. But, because it had been a farm, it already had a lot of fencing in place. It also had a spring and a small pond.
Dylan: My first thought was–no way. It was too run down. It seemed more like a hunting property than a place to build a house. Then I walked it, and saw the potential. The real selling point for me was that the trailer was included for no added cost. We could live in the trailer while building the house.
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Where is this land located?
Emma: We are less than 30 minutes from downtown Greenville. We are so close to everything. We’re about 10 minutes from Simpsonville.
Why was the trailer important?
Dylan: At first, Emma said she wouldn’t move into the trailer. It didn’t look good from the outside. The trailer came with a tenant who stayed on for a few months. When the tenant let us walk through, she said, ‘Oh wow, it’s nice inside.’ When the tenant moved out, we painted the walls and changed out the kitchen cabinets and moved in.
Emma: We knew we wanted to build and that we weren’t ready to start right away. The trailer gave us a place to live while we saved money. The goal was to pay cash for the build. It would be expensive to rent a home or pay a mortgage while trying to build. Plus, the trailer meant that septic, power and water were all already connected to the property.
What offer did you make?
Emma: I offered $170,000 and they said yes. I put down $35,000 which is a little more than 20%.
What loan product did you use?
Emma: Not many lenders will lend for land, but we were able to get a land loan through Ag South. The trailer isn’t permanently affixed to the property, so we were buying land–not a mobile home with land.
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Did this have to be a working farm to get the ag loan?
Emma: No. But we used to have a lot more animals.
Where did the down payment come from?
Emma: I am a penny-pincher, the way we both grew up. I would calculate what I needed for my bills and for food, and put everything else in savings. Everything. I didn’t get my nails done or anything. When he moved in with me in October 2020, he paid half the bills, so then I could save even more.
How did the timing work?
Emma: We moved in January 2023. In December 2024, Dylan started the land prep, which took four months. He rented an excavator and cleared out trees. The home site has a lower elevation so we had to haul in dirt, and then grade the site. Then he installed the underslab plumbing. It sat four months before we poured the concrete.
Dylan: The day after Christmas 2025 is the day we started framing. The framing is finished now, as is the house wrap and exterior siding. This should be finished and we should move in the next six to eight months.
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How are you able to build this on your own?
Dylan: All of my family members are in some kind of trade. My stepdad owned a framing company and I spent many summers working for him, learning framing. My buddy helped with the grading, and only charged $2,000, which is a great deal. I had to pay $4,000 to bring in 15 truckloads of dirt.
Emma: Because Dylan is willing to do the work, we are saving a ton. It would cost so much more if we had to hire a contractor as the middleman.
How did you come up with the build plan?
Dylan: I had seen this style of barndo in PA, and thought it was really beautiful. Before I got married, my plan was to build this by a lake. I based it on that. We drew up the plans ourselves, and hired someone on Fiverr for $500 to create blueprints with electrical and plumbing. The wife of a friend is in drafting, and she fixed the plans. Initially, we were only going to build 1,500 square feet, but after we poured the slab, we realized we wanted to go bigger. She helped us make that change.
How has it been building your own house?
Dylan: I built a chicken coop a while back, and wondered, how much harder is it to build a house? It’s not nearly as hard as people make it out to be. I specifically drew up plans for a monitor-style house that didn’t have a roof with lots of hips and valleys.
What do you love most about your home?
Emma: The most amazing thing about our house is that my husband built it. I am so proud of him–that he has provided for us in this way.
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