Building a Home.

[Walks44]

Hey All.

My wife and I are looking into building a new house. We built our first house 4 years ago and have quickly outgrown it with a 2 yeard old and another one due in december. The lot we like backs on to green space and is $9000 more then the exact same lot across the street. Obviously there are so many advantages to being on green space. But with my wife going on to maternity, and going to be working even less then she is now, I was wondering if there was any advice on getting builders to cut down some of thier costs to get prices into a more comfurtable range, say 5- 10 grand less then what they state, when you sit down with them, Right now I'm frustrated with architectural controls and a paying 9 grand more to be on green space.

Feedback appreciated

Matt

[Nancy]

Two questions:

What kind of greenspace is it? Are the architecturals on top of the $9K you quote? If I could trade for a greenspace lot for $9K, I'd do it in a heartbeat. The houses across the street from me are on a ravine and easily fetch at least $50K more for it.

What do the architecturals encompass? Often with the greenspace lots, the developer wants the deck to be built right away and done so by the builder. However, frequently, if you sign a guarantee that you will build the deck within X months after moving in and that it will follow a preset design, they will allow you to build the home initially without the deck. Builders don't like to tell you this because sometimes they make big markups on decks.

When we were buying, we had a good salesperson, they dealt with the developer and the designer directly to help get the architecturals under control. Often they don't know exactly what the AC will be so they quote an excessively large figure up front.

[4X4]

Before paying more to be backing on a green space, check the area structure plan to see what the designated use is for that green space. In a few years, you may find out that you're backing on to commercial land or something.

[Walks44]

To give some more information, the lot backs on to a space that is a baseball diamond and future rec. centre, the baseball diamond is already up, there are already trees planted about 15 feet off the chain-link fence providing privacy. AS for the architectual controls it includes extra windows, stone, roof designs, etc. They budgeted 15K for it. Right now this decision is just tearing me up. As for a deck they didn't mention anything, but I plan for a concrete patio with a built in firepit. That came up in a discussion with the sales rep. The house price is right, and the lot is great, but about 10k is putting me on the fence, and we really do need to upgrade from 1500sq/ft to something bigger. This new house would be 2069 sq/ft and has all things we said we would want in a next house....... so frustrating........

[mac_gurl]

In the long run, I'd say the greenspace would be well worth the $10,000. These days, in the newer areas, houses are built far to close to each other. if I could have paid $10,000 to have the house behind me be greenspcace I would have. If its only approx $60/month increase in your mortgage, I don't think that is too much at all.

[Nancy]

Originally Posted by Walks44

To give some more information, the lot backs on to a space that is a baseball diamond and future rec. centre, the baseball diamond is already up, there are already trees planted about 15 feet off the chain-link fence providing privacy. AS for the architectual controls it includes extra windows, stone, roof designs, etc. They budgeted 15K for it. Right now this decision is just tearing me up. As for a deck they didn't mention anything, but I plan for a concrete patio with a built in firepit. That came up in a discussion with the sales rep. The house price is right, and the lot is great, but about 10k is putting me on the fence, and we really do need to upgrade from 1500sq/ft to something bigger. This new house would be 2069 sq/ft and has all things we said we would want in a next house....... so frustrating........

Just curious, what development is this? Sounds upscale if they want stone on the back. Extra windows are absolutely worth it.

If you go for the non-greenspace home, you will have very little privacy in your back yard. It's not just that you can see everyone else on their deck on the whole block of homes that back behind you. It's also that everyone's bedroom or bonus room windows look down on your backyard from behind, so it always feels like someone is watching you. Take it from me as someone who is in that situation. OK, for some people this is not a big deal as there are many in my neighbourhood who seem to go out in their backyard no more than a dozen times a summer. We, on the other hand, are out there every day.

When we were building, we had the choice of picking the neighbourhood we really wanted and compromising on finishings, or go for a cheaper neighbourhood in order to get a larger home with better finishings. We decided to go for the neighbourhood we really wanted and made big sacrifices on finishing (no granite and limited hardwood, etc.). We could always add these things later but we could never move the home to a different neighbourhood. (I don't buy into the "property ladder" theory either, it just means you end up spending way more money on real estate commissions over the long term.)

One last thing: don't be afraid to try to make a reduced offer on the contract. There was a time when salespeople wouldn't even take these offers back to head office, but these days they are fairly common.

[sclitheroe]

I'm gonna guess the place is going to cost you upwards of 400K...why on earth are you fretting about what amounts to 2.5% of the total cost?

You could hold on to your existing vehicle for a year or two longer than you planned and recoup that in no time..