Yes. North of Seattle I would say both are expensive, heh, but building...yep.

Also if those 2 quotes have very low allowances, then you should be prepared to spend quite a bit more to get better quality finishes/products.

I'm in central NY, and those numbers are roughly equivalent to what I ended up paying to build new vs. buying existing. You really do pay a premium to build new.

You really can't compare apples to apples in this case. When you say newer construction home, how many years newer? Within the past 6 months? A year? 5 years?

A new house with everything brand new and never lived in, vs a house that has been lived in where appliances, etc have "worn down" a bit?

Also what would one of those almost new houses need to bring it up to what you want? Would it just need painting? Or new appliances?

Additionally, are you asking for higher end finishes than the houses around you? For example, crown molding when most of the houses don't have it? Or hardwood floors when most of the houses have carpeting? Is the square footage the same?

In my area where I'm building in FL, the house I'm building is actually comparable to well kept, updated houses that are older. The old houses usually need such extensive renovations that cost wise, building new vs renovating is a wash if all other things are equal.

CP, Yes, these are all home that were built within the last 5 or so years. For 150k, I think I could replace the dishwasher and paint and still have 149k left over. I'm comparing similar size and finishes. To me it is not worth paying 50% more just to get exactly what I want.

If that were the case we would not be building. The only reason we are building is because we couldn't find the house we want in the location we want. When we're finished, we could sell next week, for a profit. There is no point building for $420k if the most you could get when selling is $300k.

How many square feet are we talking here? And what the did the bidders bid from? A set of plans or just a conversation?

Poolroom, yes, another concern would be what I would have to come up with at closing if the appraisal was 350k.

Blueprint, we are only looking at 2200 sqft with only bonus space upstairs that I was planning to finish myself. They were bidding from my plans I drew up on software. I created it from a plan I found on a website and modified.

Is it a complicated plan with lots of jogs in the exterior? Is the roof complicated especially compared to other houses the same size in the neighborhood?

Like pool I wouldn't be building if I couldn't sell for at least what it cost me to build plus land

Comparing a new house to an existing house is like comparing a new car to a used car. When it's new it's exactly what you want and it has 100% of it's useable life ahead of it. If it's used ... it's used. My house is for sale now. It's 7 years old and I am pretty sure that to build a new one just like it would cost 100K + more than what I have it listed for.

It seems that builders in your area are building new for around $200.00 per sf. If that is the case, and you want a new home then you can afford about 1500 sf. So the threshold becomes, do you want a brand new 1500sf for 300K or an existing (whatever number) you can buy for 300k. Might be a way to look at it perhaps? Just tossing the idea out there.

Plus, keep in mind that if your plans do not call out every type of fixture, material, etc. etc. The bidders are taking liberties with what they bid.

schreilbdave, while I disagree with your analog, (nothing depreciates faster than a car. Houses normally appreciate with time), you seem to be confirming what I am stating. Unless your house was built for 900k, then 100k more to build new is much less of a percentage markup.

Blueprint, remember as stated above, I'm including land, driveway, landscaping, etc which is in the quote in order to compare with existing home prices. So it is more like 160 to 170 per sqft.

It is not that I can't afford 450k for a new home, I just think it is foolish to spend that much more for my exact design. I knew I would pay more to build new, I just didn't think it would be 40% to 50% more. I feel like it is a "fool and his money" situation. I was hoping to see how much "extra" people felt they paid for new construction.

Again titlist a lot would depend on if you're comparing apples to apples which is why I asked about things like the roof lines and whether your plan had more bump outs than what similar houses have.

The cost of construction has increased dramatically in my area. We had expected a 50 % increase but ended up paying over double from when we built 14 years ago. Contractors are busy so the can demand higher labor costs and our builder said material costs have also jumped.

Contractors are busy so the can demand higher labor costs and our builder said material costs have also jumped.

Back in 2010 it definitely would have cost me about 2/3 of what it will cost me to build the same house today.

I looked at a ton of existing homes. I looked at new spec homes in the area. I looked at the major national homebuilders. I talked to some builders and architects. For my area I found approximately the following.

Existing home, ok condition, better location. 500k. Probably needs 100k work to modernize plus some additional replacements like Windows or roof in year 2-10.

Production homebuilder, average location, average finishes, some features. 550k.

Some national homebuilders were mre, but the homes were bigger than we wanted, and too close to highways etc.

Spec home. 600 - 650k. More features, better finishes. Some less than desirable lots.

Custom home, custom lot, 800k.

Titlist Mover - I agree that my comp to new/used cars is clumsy but my point about a used roof/water heater/carpets/etc being less valuable than the same items when new is legit - and that's not even considering the fact that technology may have improved in the interim and that the buyer of a used ... whatever is settling for the original owner's choice of colors and features.

In my opinion, and based on my part of the world (around Syracuse NY) I think the days of counting on homes to regularly appreciate has passed. The market of course is based on supply and demand so that will vary from place to place, price point to price point, etc but in my experience prices have been stagnant for 10+ years and I am assuming (with my new build) that we will not make any profit when we sell it 15 or so years after it's completed. Hope to be wrong but I don't think I am.

In our area we were able to build for less than what it would cost to buy used. Several factors came into play, basically we hit the market just right. We bought our land at the bottom of the market and started building two years later. New construction was at a low so contractors were hungry. We completed our house at the beginning of this year and would probably be able to sell for 30-40% above what it cost to build.

Our small town is about 5 years behind the recovery curve and I have heard that after we completed our house the cost to build went up 20%-30%.

In my town (LA area) RE prices have gone up 40+% since 2010 and we have surpassed the 2007 peak prices. We have no undeveloped land, so to build new you have to buy an existing lot/house, tear down and rebuild.