Anyone build their own house?
- Thread starter Dasfinc
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I'm assuming the first thing to do is find the area you would like to live in and see if there's new construction sub divisions being built.
Walk through the models and get their brochures / folders.
the sales center should be able to give you a base price on the home and what it includes.
an "options" sheet will provide all of your upgrades and hopefully pricing.
i'm assuming it's easy to add 50k-100k in upgrades with just cabinets, flooring, doors, hardware, light fixtures, counter tops etc...
Walk through the models and get their brochures / folders.
the sales center should be able to give you a base price on the home and what it includes.
an "options" sheet will provide all of your upgrades and hopefully pricing.
i'm assuming it's easy to add 50k-100k in upgrades with just cabinets, flooring, doors, hardware, light fixtures, counter tops etc...
We are thinking from scratch, we would either buy a tear down in the area we want, or buy just land and build on that.
I don't want to deal with one of those building development things, I've seen how shittily they are built. My grandparents bought one of those in Mundeline, and it was 2 years of on-going problems after they moved in from poor build quality and bad material choices from the contractors.
I don't want to deal with one of those building development things, I've seen how shittily they are built. My grandparents bought one of those in Mundeline, and it was 2 years of on-going problems after they moved in from poor build quality and bad material choices from the contractors.
I bought a foreclosure for 50,000.I gutted the whole house. and did a full remodel. It took me and a few of my buddy's three months. It cost me 15.000 cash. Best 65.000 I ever spent. I think if you are handy try this route. Why pay so much for a new house if your only guna live their for 5 ys
Mortgage Basics for Building a Home | Eplans
Quick google search. So there is 3 loans. One for the land, the construction, and then the house itself and they're all separate.
Quick google search. So there is 3 loans. One for the land, the construction, and then the house itself and they're all separate.
I bought new construction in a subdivision, but not anything like buying lot or gutting a house. The nice part of that is you aren't out any real cash (I think 5k earnest money to get them started) until the house is done. I know you mentioned that you didn't like that route, but if you go with a good builder you should be fine.
This. My parents did this also. However they had he hook up from my grandpa who was the accountant at a lumber yard so they got great pricing. The contractors were all people my dad knew very well.
Actually [MENTION=7534]wolfe[/MENTION] the guy who built it was the teacher of building trades in Oswego back in the day.
On the flip side, my dad had been in construction since my age so he was his own contractor so that cut a lot of bullshit out of trying to find someone reliable.
We had a house built in 2006 (great timing). This was in an huge existing subdivision of 1,000 homes. We grabbed one of the last 4 lots, thankfully we loved the lot we picked, it was an oversized half acre lot, I think the premium on it was $8,500.
First thing we had to do was put $10K cash down to secure lot/start construction. Then there was another $10K once we were under roof.
The property taxes in that area are/were very high. So, we did a few things that the builder and relatives suggested to keep the contract purchase price lower, thus lowering our taxes. We paid around $25K cash for upgrades that never made it on the HUD1 contract (cabinets, full basement, fireplace, insulation etc). It's risky, because if you don't get the loan and get the house, you've basically thrown money away and upgraded someone else's house. Next, we took a builder's credit for appliances and supplied our own (aprox $6K). Our house was finished in October, so we took a credit for the A/C system ($5K) we had a family friend do it the next spring for $4k. Finally, we wanted hardwood flooring through out the 1st floor and the builder wanted to charge an obscene amount, so we took the credit for the builder grade flooring and had our own guys come in and do it for half the cost.
Some things to consider... interior paint, contractor left all the walls an off white primer color. I think we paid $7,500 to have the house painted. I would have done it myself but was too busy with work at the time. Landscaping/Sprinklers, this was probably around $15K, I did all of the plants/trees/shrubs myself, otherwise add another $3K
The things we disliked the most about the process: The selection process was so overwhelming, they took us to the basement in one of the model homes and had us make selections on tile/carpet/color/fixtures etc... hundreds and hundreds of choices. And for two indecisive people, it was utter hell. I wish we had a designer with us, to guide us through the process. We agonized over our decisions for a very long time. Ultimately we had no regrets with our choices. Another issue was that our builder wasn't very receptive to change/suggestions, he built about 500 of the homes in that subdivision and we were one of the last ones. It was evident that he was ready to move on and had a take it or leave it attitude.
As far as timing, we had dreamt of moving into that subdivision for over a year. When we felt financially ready, we visited the sales office and found out the process. Since there were only a handful of lots left, we had to move quickly and put down the money that same week, on Cinco De Mayo 2006, we moved in October 10th of that year.
Let me know if you have any specific question.
Thought about it but with the prices of foreclosed properties and the bang for the buck you can get it almost seemed like a huge waste when there are so many to choose from on the market. The argument came up that we can choose exactly what we want goes both ways when buying a foreclosed house as you can choose from anything out there except you can buy a bigger house for less money.
Its worth mentioning that I renovated (Floored, Painted, Appliances, etc) the majority of our current place myself with some assorted help, so I've gotten pretty comfortable with dealing with that sort of thing myself. We did it over the course of weekends and a couple of days off over 3 months (1200 sqft).
So I guess the ideal scenario it sounds like would be to have essentially an 'empty' house built with EVAC (Financed), and then finish it with Cash (Flooring/Painting/appliances/etc).
It sounds like this isn't really that big of a deal either if the typical scenario involves potentially 3 loans. I may be able to work a cash deal on a certain plot of land that's within the family as well which would just leave financing the initial construction.
How long did it take them to actually complete the construction for your place [MENTION=288]Jack[/MENTION]?
Another reason why I'm not keen on pre-builts, is I recently visited a co-workers home that he had custom done to his spec, and it made me think about how nice it would be to not have to settle on a single aspect of my next home as far as layout goes.
So I guess the ideal scenario it sounds like would be to have essentially an 'empty' house built with EVAC (Financed), and then finish it with Cash (Flooring/Painting/appliances/etc).
It sounds like this isn't really that big of a deal either if the typical scenario involves potentially 3 loans. I may be able to work a cash deal on a certain plot of land that's within the family as well which would just leave financing the initial construction.
How long did it take them to actually complete the construction for your place [MENTION=288]Jack[/MENTION]?
Another reason why I'm not keen on pre-builts, is I recently visited a co-workers home that he had custom done to his spec, and it made me think about how nice it would be to not have to settle on a single aspect of my next home as far as layout goes.
This was back in 2006, and I've seen homes go up faster in the subdivision we're in now. Depending on how quickly the contractor can move and the complexity of the build, I'd say 3-6 months is a decent ball park estimate.
May 5th Put our initial deposit down
May 26th Broke ground
July 1st Under roof
Oct 10th Occupancy permit / Closing
Rehabbing also is a very very profitable business in and around inner cities.
1. Location. Pick an area where you will be comfortable. Good schools (kids?). Appreciating neighborhood (look for a Starbucks already in or being constructed in the neighborhood. They do in depth community research on their locations).
2. Talk to at least a couple mortgage providers. This will give you an idea how much you can afford, your monthly payments, what you need to do to get the mortgage(s), etc.
3. Research and find a builder. This is important. You want someone who has a good reputation for building good homes at fair prices.
4. Pick a type/model of home. Select upgrades. Read Jack's post above. He covers a lot of the items that cause people grief. The basement sitdown is one of them. I suggest eliminating things you don't want at the first basement meeting then concentrating on the advantages/disadvantages of the upgrades that make it past your first cut. The builder may have vacant homes or occupied homes where the owners will let you look at what they did. We showed our home to a couple families when they asked our builder for ideas.
5. Patience and calm. Try to stay even keel throughout the process. It can be emotionally frustrating. Good luck!
2. Talk to at least a couple mortgage providers. This will give you an idea how much you can afford, your monthly payments, what you need to do to get the mortgage(s), etc.
3. Research and find a builder. This is important. You want someone who has a good reputation for building good homes at fair prices.
4. Pick a type/model of home. Select upgrades. Read Jack's post above. He covers a lot of the items that cause people grief. The basement sitdown is one of them. I suggest eliminating things you don't want at the first basement meeting then concentrating on the advantages/disadvantages of the upgrades that make it past your first cut. The builder may have vacant homes or occupied homes where the owners will let you look at what they did. We showed our home to a couple families when they asked our builder for ideas.
5. Patience and calm. Try to stay even keel throughout the process. It can be emotionally frustrating. Good luck!
Had one built in '05. Picking out everything was terrible as said above. Some things I am doing differently next time:
Engineered I joists for floors.
9' minimum ceiling height in basement.
Landing on staircase to basement.
No cathedral ceilings on main level. Maybe tray/coffered ceilings and/or 10' ceiling heights.
Sprayed in polyurethane insulation.
Heated floors in basement.
42" front door. 36" garage door.
Triple pane R5 windows
No plastic or metal window wells, poured concrete only.
2x's in walls where door handles line up.
Storage trusses or room in attic trusses above garage.
Engineered I joists for floors.
9' minimum ceiling height in basement.
Landing on staircase to basement.
No cathedral ceilings on main level. Maybe tray/coffered ceilings and/or 10' ceiling heights.
Sprayed in polyurethane insulation.
Heated floors in basement.
42" front door. 36" garage door.
Triple pane R5 windows
No plastic or metal window wells, poured concrete only.
2x's in walls where door handles line up.
Storage trusses or room in attic trusses above garage.
I am continually amazed at how fast stick frame homes go up.
I don't think my office has designed a single home in the last 20 years that has taken less than a full year from ground breaking to occupancy. Most often, the entire process, from first contact to occupancy, takes 2-4 years.
Down here wood frame homes take a 10% hit in value (WDOs (wood destroying organisms)). Most homes are Block/Stucco. No basements. Few two stories. We used brick in Frankfort and the home was solid. 3,000 sq. ' and a 2,000 sq. foot basement plus attic storage. Couldn't fill the basement no matter how we tried.
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