To buy or To build? (Houston, Pearland: appointed, short sales, real estate)
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Hello, everyone.
First I would like to express many thanks to you all for generously sharing information in this great forum. I benefit a lot by reading the threads on many interesting topics.
My husband and I just moved to Houston from Europe. Since the house is generally considered "affordable" here, we would like to try to have our own home instead of staying in the rental apartment.
We narrow down our hunting area to Pearland community because my husband is working in TMC. We prefer a new home to a seconded-hand home because the new one should have one or two year warranty from builder, which will make me feel more comfortable if any problem occurs.
The target was further narrowed down to east part of SCR and Southern Trails when I read several threads addressing the landfill issue in this forum. I personally don't care much about the landfill site there but when I realize many people start talking about it seriously, I have to think about the value of the home in the future.
We started the tour from inventories because our huge container shipped from Europe is coming soon. We would like to have it delivered directly into our home from the port. Otherwise we have to find a storage for it.
We found some ready-to-move-in stuffs.
The most impressive one for us is a Westin home named Sundance located in Oak Hollow colony at SCR. I love the bay window design in the rooms which bring abundant light in. But when we looked at the home careful, we found it might become really a problem to share only one bathroom for three bedrooms upstairs when the family get expanded in the future.
And, this inventory is too pricey. They asked for $266,308 for it. I don't know how much space for negotiation would be because they said the price has been drastically reduced from original $290.342. We were so disappointed with such a used-car dealer manner. According to the base price list, it only cost $234,990 to build one from dirt there. With incentives it will be 20K less.
The first question comes: Does anyone could help to give a clue of the reasonable price of the inventory. We are not rich persons, the difference between 266K and 210K does mean something to us. We would greatly appreciate it if you could share negotiation skill with us.
Followed with second question: Is that possible and how much it could cost to add an standard full bathroom into an established house?
We also talked with Deerwoods and Ashton woods to find out if they have good offer for us. Turn out no big difference to Westin.
My husband said he don't mind to wait 6 months to build our home with a better floor plan there or in Southern Trails. But I am afraid we are not able to handle the problems during building process. And I doubt if the price can stand still as the builder offered to us at the very beginning. They will definitely push us to spend more on upgrades or so.
We don't expect the builder to do charity but we would try our best to spend our money on the right place.
Our budget is enough to build a 2700-3000SqF home with Deerwoods/Ashton Woods/Westin. BUT we would like to know if any additional significant expense could occur during the building? How much it could be? Does anybody has a list to share?
We will be grateful if anyone build his/her home at SCR or ST could share experience with us.
Thanks for your time reading my long post and wish you a nice evening.
You can definitely get a better deal on an inventory home over building one. The trick is knowing what to ask for and look for. The inventory home you saw probably had many upgrades over the standard new build, that would explain the difference in price. If you build new, it probably wouldn't have the exact upgrades you saw on the inventory.
As for the restroom, it would be much better to find a home that has the floorplan that you like, restrooms and all. You don't want to get into the process of making additions to the home. You'll deal with another ordeal there with contractors and permits. Unless you are buying in the city, it's much better to buy how you want it.
Why don't you also consider a relatively new home build 2005+? Most issues that pop up in the 1 year warranty period are just cosmetic issues. If it's anything bigger, the owners usually address them. You can tell when a home is well taken care of. Combine that with a good inspector and home warranty, and you should be in almost the same position as buying a new home. It won't be the same, but then again, you probably saved money over buying a new build. Just something else to consider.
Personally, I prefer an established home (< 10 years). You can get a home warranty to cover the first couple of years if you have concerns. Something people fail to consider is some of the added expenses to a new home. Will your home have a fence, appropriate landscaping, established trees, etc? My coworker bought a new home approximately two years ago (builder closeout; custom). I recently purchased an established home (<10 years on the same block). I paid $60K more for my house but I received 1500 more sq ft, a pool and Jacuzzi, lake view, 8 established palm trees, wrought iron fence (over 1 acre of land), custom blinds, custom drapes (valued at $30K according to Coit), custom chandeliers and even a custom 14ft mirror in the 2 story family room; fully sodded front and back yard. My coworker was at my house last week and she told me she has spent $50K on landscaping so far and her backyard is not landscaped. She wants an iron wrought fence (required by homeowner's association) but cannot afford it at this time.
The inventory home you saw probably had many upgrades over the standard new build, that would explain the difference in price. If you build new, it probably wouldn't have the exact upgrades you saw on the inventory.
The problem is that we didn't see much upgrade in our eyes. It is almost a " standard" except for the stone front. When we called to ask, the sales manager said the home is a little bigger than the standard one, which seems not to be true. The flyer we got from their sales center says it has exactly same floor plan with the standard one, not smaller but not bigger. That is why we were so disappointed. I just hate bargaining in that way!
You are right. I should give up the stupid idea to put an additional restroom/bathroom into an established house. I will keep on looking for my dream house.
Something people fail to consider is some of the added expenses to a new home. Will your home have a fence, appropriate landscaping, established trees, etc?
You are right on those points but the brand-new house would also has advantages over the well established one.
As far as I know, the double glazed window was not generally introduced into homes in houston before 2002. One has to spend around $8K to have all the windows upgraded.
Many new technologies and advanced materials were recently applied to the home to make it more energy efficient and envorimental friendly.
In addition, The floor plan and design change from time to time. I would have a fancy open kitchen with huge island and siting area which is rare in older floor plans.
Both established homes and new homes have their cons and pros. I would also be happy if my realtor(we just got one) could find a excellent established home for us.
We're building a Westin home and a lot of things are upgrades, even things that you don't realise. We saw a home that the financing didn't go through that the people skimped on the upgrades and it was horrible, laminate countertops (the standard), 6 inch tile on the backsplash, instead of the stair rails on the the winding stairway- it will be a wall, instead of stair rails upstairs on the landing overlooking the family room it will be a half wall.
I really like the Westin Homes floor plans and we are building one however you have to make decisions with your eyes open and fully aware. You will need to put in at least 40-50K in upgrades in your home to get it to look like the inventory model you saw.
You can probably get away with $30K in upgrades, we added about $45K but some of those are not necessary. Things like the backsplash and countertop are if you want to resell eventually.
The 20K incentive doesn't lower the price on the home unless it is stipulated in the contract that they will reduce the base price.
Right now it is MUCH cheaper to buy than to build. Look into foreclosures. Look into short sales but only where it is being flipped by an investor not where the home owner him/herself is trying to to the short sale. Many of the investors know what they are doing and will be able to deliver the home on a certain date as they have already finished negotiations with the bank. Most real estate agents do not know how to properly move a short sale and most of those end up in foreclosure.
Right now it is MUCH cheaper to buy than to build. Look into foreclosures. Look into short sales but only where it is being flipped by an investor not where the home owner him/herself is trying to to the short sale. Many of the investors know what they are doing and will be able to deliver the home on a certain date as they have already finished negotiations with the bank. Most real estate agents do not know how to properly move a short sale and most of those end up in foreclosure.
If you are working with a time element - short sales are not the way to go. Once an investor buys and repairs a short sale, it is no longer a short sale, but a regular re-sale. Most short sales and foreclosures have deferred maintenance AND a lot of cosmetic work (like new carpet needed, paint, etc.). Most buyers do not want the hassle.
Go with a newer home ( like City Love suggested) that has been well maintained (and you can tell when viewing). In fact, I think she works that area.
Although I do agree that there are several agents that do not know how to properly work a short sale - a decent agent can also wind up with an idiot bank loss litigator that will make it impossible to complete. Just did one where I was going nowhere with the idiot I had, then Chase gave me an extremely competent one. Made a huge difference.
my parents had a major addition done to one house and had two other houses built over the years
it is a pretty difficult process and this was 20 years ago when labor was higher quality....if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want your house to end up like the plans are actually drawn you need to visit the house under construction DAILY if not two times in a day sometimes
you will have to explain to contractors that....yes you would actually like that wall moved back 1 foot like it is on the plans......even though there was absolutely NO REASON for the contractor to move it in the first place....they just did it
and yes you DO want that LARGE cubby space used as a closet
and yes you did mean for those lights to go right where they were on the plan not in some arrangement that makes no sense
yes you want all those 3 way switches......no you do not want nail holes in your pocket door where one worker forgot that wall had a pocket door
I would hate to advise someone to not build their own home....but since it sounds like you have not owned your own "American built" home before I can't imagine all the things that you might miss that a contractor would try and pull (usually for no reason what so ever including saving time or money) that you would miss that would pop up later as an issue
with most "custom" home builders you are getting the same spec quality workers and worse spec quality supervisors and to have your home come out close to "custom" you will need to be on them DAILY
PS go out and guard ANY trees ect you want saved on the property with a gun....otherwise they might disappear for no reason
my parents had a major addition done to one house and had two other houses built over the years
it is a pretty difficult process and this was 20 years ago when labor was higher quality....if you REALLY REALLY REALLY want your house to end up like the plans are actually drawn you need to visit the house under construction DAILY if not two times in a day sometimes
you will have to explain to contractors that....yes you would actually like that wall moved back 1 foot like it is on the plans......even though there was absolutely NO REASON for the contractor to move it in the first place....they just did it
and yes you DO want that LARGE cubby space used as a closet
and yes you did mean for those lights to go right where they were on the plan not in some arrangement that makes no sense
yes you want all those 3 way switches......no you do not want nail holes in your pocket door where one worker forgot that wall had a pocket door
I would hate to advise someone to not build their own home....but since it sounds like you have not owned your own "American built" home before I can't imagine all the things that you might miss that a contractor would try and pull (usually for no reason what so ever including saving time or money) that you would miss that would pop up later as an issue
with most "custom" home builders you are getting the same spec quality workers and worse spec quality supervisors and to have your home come out close to "custom" you will need to be on them DAILY
PS go out and guard ANY trees ect you want saved on the property with a gun....otherwise they might disappear for no reason
True words.
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