New Construction House BackYard
goofyhomeowner
7 years ago
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Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
7 years agogoofyhomeowner
7 years agoRelated Discussions
New construction home, new sewer main tap - who is responsible?
Comments (7)Holly, I don't know your contract, but if your builder included this in your contract, s/he obviously had strong suspicion that it would be a cost. Without "opening things up", the builder really had no idea what, if any, issues existed. And so s/he obviously planned for the contingency. Was there an estimated cost enumerated in your bid estimate? If you own the lot, you own the "stuff". If s/he owns the lot, that's a whole different matter,....See MoreNew Construction Homes - Home Building Options
Comments (23)Kristen we have built 4 houses, the first being a tract builder and could only choose from a few options. The others were totally custom where we provided plans to the builder who then gave us a estimate. Included in his estimate was a allowance for lighting, plumbing, appliances etc. We could choose from stores that he had accounts at which we would pay the “contractors” price. Or we could get them from anywhere we chose. When comparing, we found that the contractor’s price was not significantly higher than the big box stores. See Jeffrey Grenz’s comment above.... it was well worth it to go with our builders accounts....See MoreShould I buy a new construction home in a new community
Comments (28)opaone- Not sure where you live, but those economics don't apply in most of the areas I'm familiar with. One of my daughters has seen the market value of her 1930's home increase by about $500K in the last 5 years. Another daughter just bought a 75 year old house -- that has not been remodeled --- for more than ten times it's original cost...and it was a bargain. My first house was a 1950's suburban rambler that I bought for $45K in 1974, did some remodeling to, and sold for over $700K 15 years ago; the buyer started an update, but decided to sell 5 years after that for $1.3 million, even though parts of the remodel were only half done. My neighbor across the fence paid about $400K for a 1960's split level 8 years ago. He has done nothing to it other than paint the exterior, and expects to be able to sell it soon for at least twice what he paid. Some people do want new houses, but many people prefer the charm and building material quality of older homes. As long as they have been maintained, older home values keep increasing over the long term. I have been through more than one market cycle where my home lost value on paper, but it's always more than recovered. In fact, I've always lived in the suburbs and have done much better with buying and selling homes than any other thing I've invested money in. I'm sure some suburbs decline, but, in areas with decent economies, suburban homes still increase in price as young people are priced out of the urban market. They seek out these homes as their longer commutes make them less expensive than a similar house close in. The lower suburban price doesn't mean the houses are falling apart. I agree with you on the trend for people to want things close by and not have to drive as much, but those types of communities and infrastructure are starting to be built where I live by savvy developers who have figured out where our aging demographics are taking us. And these types of projects, while they may not have all the amenities of living right downtown, do offer an alternative to the grittier aspects of big city urban life. In fact, we have good friends who just sold their beautiful downtown condo with spectacular views to get away from noise and panhandling, and move to a home in a nearby suburb where many things are no longer within waking distance, but the living environment is more pleasant....See MoreNew Home Construction + Pool Construction - Best way to finance?
Comments (15)While you can include all costs of the pool and landscape into a construction loan, pool and landscape may have little effect on the appraisal. That translates into a higher down payment or cash out of pocket up front. For example: Land+Design+Permits+Construction for a project that appraises at around $1.2 mil also appraises around $1.2 mil. At 80% LTV (loan to value) the client can borrow $960K. (75% = $900K). When we add solar (a CA requirement Jan 1), pool and landscape for about $150K more, the appraisal if we're lucky, increases $50-100K, increasing the loan $40-80K at 80% LTV. The effective loan on the solar/pool/landscape is 25-50%. If the market is less robust, the appraisal won't be affected creating a higher cash out of pocket requirement for loan recording. If you can wait until completion of the home, you can often get an updated higher appraisal and fund these with less cash out of pocket....See Moregoofyhomeowner
7 years ago
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