A piece of land on a street that I had my eyes on is up for sale. I don't have any expectations so I don't get my hopes up as 1) We don't have the knowledge or know where to start to build a house 2) Just talked to a lender about what the process is like in terms of a construction loan and buying the land with cash.
I'm sure it'll take more than a board post to get us to where we need to to be to handle a "build our dream home" project. Does anyone here have prior experience in project managing the construction process from beginning to end? Any recommendation on good reads to get started in this area of expertise?
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@Snowybreeze: I actually wrote a blog post about our experience last year. We moved in last June and the process wasn't too bad.
Happy to answer any questions you have! -
we bought land with cash, and then had a construction loan. It was very straightforward and simple.
The most important is to have a builder you can trust. We had an incredible experience and would definitely use our same builder again. He also project managed the entire thing for us. Our foundation pour to move-in took less than 8 months, and over a year later, there is nothing we would change about it! Our neighbors are using a different builder -- they are in the process of a gut renovation and expansion, and are having a horrific experience...
I would find as many people as possible who used your builder, and ask about their experience. In our experience, "it was fine/he's good" = you're going to be frustrated. "I recommended him to my parents and would definitely use him again if I built a second house" = what multiple references told us. We had a wonderful experience. People seem to think that building/renovation has to be a nightmare, so they have really low standards, which means you need to find someone that gets rave reviews.
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@Mrs. Lion: I definitely had read it when it was posted! I'll go refresh my memory, but I'm sure I'll have more specific questions for you. Should I post the questions here once I have the list?
Thanks Mrs. Lion!
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@MrsLonghorn: I completely agreed. Although I don't have the experience, but have heard plenty from others or things I've read that emphasized on the importance of a quality builder that you can trust.
We don't have that amount of cash to buy the land, so when we talked to her lender he explained a few options like refinance for cash as well as home equity. I have to talk to him again to get the details on what the drawbacks is. I'm sure there's always some draw back for these options right?
I'm based in Massachusetts- any chance you are? =P -
@Snowybreeze: sure
just tag me again! I try to check in with the boards often but that way Ill get a notification -
@Snowybreeze: we just went under contract on some land that we will build on in about 3 1/2 years. We considered a land loan, but it would have been 7% for 10 years which came out to some pretty high monthly payments. We eventually decided to ask some family for a family loan, and some other family for some gift money (which was "owed" to us as part of an inheritance but hadn't been distributed yet), and are pulling the rest from savings.
Our financial advisor basically said to do whatever we could to avoid a land loan as the terms were poor and going into the construction loan process already owning the land outright would be significantly in our favor.Our financial advisor said we could refinance/take a home equity loan for the land, but advised against it because the interest rate on our mortgage is super low and we would lose that. Since we aren't actually selling our current house/taking the construction loan for another three and a half years, he said this wasn't a great option for us.
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@Snowybreeze: we built a home last year however our builder handled everything. The community we live in is owned by the builder so contracting for the land and construction was all one contract.
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@Snowybreeze: sorry, I'm in Texas. Otherwise, I would recommend my builder in a heartbeat!
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@Mrsbells: Is this the type where you would actually see a MLS listing for a construction to be built? and you basically get to be part of the process, from picking the material to appliances, etc? If it is, in my mind that is nearly the same as just buying a new construction.
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@Snowybreeze: so we get to choose the plot, the house plan and all the different possible options and configs for # of bedrooms, garages, fireplace or not, different elevations, and all that etc. After that we get to choose the materials such as brick/stone and all the interior.
Buying a ready built home is very different because its already complete so you would get no input. -
@Mrsbells: I guess I'm trying to figure out the differences mainly cost ones. My brother is in the process of a house being built but is similar to what I described above- where the plot/design of the house is in place but they get a say in many other aspects of it as the house is being built. But he is definitely paying the price for "new construction home". I'm looking for other's experience that can somewhat shed some light on the price differences....like if it's not a whole lot then maybe a new construction home isn't too far off (aside for some other customization). I'm just thinking building and managing the process has to be cheaper right? or no? because you're hiring a builder and a contractor? or are they the same? There's also the project manager. I'm trying to make a list and post it for Mrs. Lion, but you're welcome to chirp in. Thanks!
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@Snowybreeze: Its cheaper if you have the freedom to choose which electrician you work with etc or can shop around for supplies. In our situation all our options were through our builder. We couldnt bring in our own tile or our own plumber. It was one contract that covered everything.
Cost wise it all depends. In our area the new construction homes that are ready to move in have a lot of upgraded features so tend to be pricier but they also give more incentives to buyers who choose ready built homes such as throwing in a free fridge or washer/dryer set
Happy to answer any questions you have! Reply
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