building a house, cost?

by jwbot 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Aaron2

  I would imagine you could build a dang nice house for 150k to 200k depending on the area and how smart you are with the money and building of the house. The only question would be, are you up to building it yourself? Are you going to hire contractors to do any of it? Do you know people who do a good job, yet work for cheap.

  You should depending again on the area be able to make a phat profit if you decided to sell it too. But that depends on if you build it well. You've also got to take into account the government and the taxes, permits and hoops they're going to make you jump through. There is a lot more to this than you probably realize. It's definately a worthwhile venture. But do you have what it takes to make it work?

  I'm a real-estate investor, so if you have questions about this, I'd be more than happy to talk to you about it.

  Aaron2
• 

  Undaunted Danny

  I have built over a hundred homes,shacks to mansions.From my chair if I had a bundle of money i would probably purchase an existing home.Rather than build from scratch.

  A lot of $$$ goes into construction.There are homes in Maine devalued by folks that want to move in a quick.

  Note: I am a damn good building contractor,but I have little expertise in long term investments,( except in WT$ phony $ecurties )

  Good luck to you.
• 

  Confucious

  Whoo hooo!!!
  
  Crazy Danny agree'd with me.
  
  Can I call you Crazy Danny???
  
  Too much???
  
  No???
• 

  jwbot

  Thanks for the advice guys. We are not sure what we want to do.

  Another idea is to buy a 2 (or more) unit place and rent out the apartments to pay for the mortgage and save up more that way...
• 

  Lehaa

  ok, my ex and I run a carpentry buisness adn my father in law is a builder.

  Theeese prices that you have seen is usually just for the house, does not include excavation, soil tests etc, theese you need before they even start building the house, and can be quite expensive. The prices quoted are usually a very basic price with very cheap appliances. tiles, carpet, paint etc.

  Display homes usually have the top of the range extras but they only quote the cheaper range with no extras.

  The house you have chosen would be very expensive due to all the different roof lines.

  Timber is a lot cheaper than brick.

  Also heating this house would be quite expensive too as to all the high ceilings.

  Go and see the display of that design too, rooms look large on a plan but in reality they are usually a lot smaller. Be aware too that things like beds etc are not normal size, they are smaller to make the room look biggger.

  Now that I've gor all the reality out of the way. I really love the design of the house, its fantastic. I just love timber rustic kind of houses.

  I'm sure that if you do all your home work properly and budget well you should be able to do it. Go for your dreams.
• 

  jwbot

  Thanks Lehaa:

  I think we are going to look at model homes just to understand the sizes of place. Like 2000 square feet seems small to me but looking at the plans it might be what we are looking for, and maybe even 1500 is all right. I REALLY REALLY like tall ceilings and I understand it will cost more...but I REALLY like them. hehe
• 

  drwtsn32

  We were able to avoid PMI (mortgage insurance) even though we didn't have 20% to put down on our house. Our lender did a dual loan: the primary loan was 80% (to make it look like we put 20% down and therefore avoid PMI) and the secondary loan was 15%. We only had to save up 5% for the down payment.

  Might be something you could look into.
• 

  Confucious

  Jbot,
  
  Really be careful about that "Buying two and renting out one," thing.
  
  Being a landlord is REALLY tough work.
• 

  larc

  Like some others, I would prefer a pre-existing home. Building a home is very time consuming and things can go wrong with the contractor and subcontractors. Also, the interior features require a myriad of decisions. I would prefer a house that is in place and I can decide if I like the layout, the interior features, and the lanscaping. If there are features I don't like, can these be updated at a low cost? If you do decide to buy such a house, make sure an inspector has reviewed it, and the house is "up to code". Also, some home owners will provide homeowner's insurance to cover andy major problem that developes in the first year after your purchase. ............................................................................................ As far as financing goes, I would save up the 20% you mentioned, but I would try to get a loan for zero to 10%. I would put the rest of the money in an account to ONLY be used for emergency home repairs or to use during months where you have trouble meeting the house payment, because of unexpected expenses. Having this buffer is a good idea, but only if you have the discipline not to use this money for other purposes.
• 

  liquidsky

  If this is your first house, my advice is to buy a pre-existing home. My husband and I just finished building our dream last month. $250k was our original budget. Total cost to build the house and buy the land: $400,000.00. Everything went over budget. The cost of lumber and osb nearly doubled from the time we applied for our building permits till the time we broke ground. Everything from the permits, to final inspection was a huge hassel. Nothing went smoothly. Building a house is very, very time consuming, and will drain you financially for a while. The bad thing about a construction loan, is everything that goes over budget, has to come out of your pocket.

  It took us a total of 2 years from the time we applied for our permits till the day we moved in. But I have no regrets. Its a bueautiful house, with a great view, and its exactly how I wanted it. But I will never, ever go through building a house again.