The House Searching / Buying/ Building Thread

[JR]

Thought I would make a thread about this, since it really didn't seem to fit in the renovation thread. This is a thread for anyone who is buying or building a new home to come in, get advice, give advice, and post pictures of their latest acquisition.

My family is building at the moment, Here are the house plans. There are some minor edits we made, such as an outdoor cooking area in the back, and a 3 car garage instead of a 2 car, but this is, overall, a good representation of what the house will be--- http://southernlivinghouseplans.com/plans/SL1597


Appliances have been picked out and we are going with the Frigidaire Gallery Series in the Kitchen, save for the dish washer, which we got in the Frigidaire Pro Series.

The exterior will be natural colored brick (I think, Mom keeps changing her mind) and we will have hardwood floors of some type. The countertops will be granite.

 

[99srxman]

Nice looking place there we built 10 yrs. ago my only advice is plan plan ahead and think about how your home will be used 5 -10 yrs down the road its alot of work BUT so worth it in the end. And plan ahead... LOL keep us updated..

 

[TC]

I use to build houses. We built big, fancy, custom "mountain" homes. Everything we did was cut and nail. We were a 4 man crew and we did everything except for the plumbing and electrical work. I was kind of the tile guy. We also always either did granite counter tops or we made concrete ones, it depended on the customer. It was a lot of fun and we were making great money until the end of 2007 when things started turning south. I still have all my tools and equipment and i like to do around the house projects quite a bit.

Good luck with the house JR. Those are stressful times for a family.

 

[Doug the lefty]

Good luck with the house, JR. Looks like a really nice setup.

One of the farms I bought last year was for the sole purpose of building a house. Still in the brainstorming phase and this may be a long term project, I just wanted to buy the real estate while I had the chance.

 

[JR]

Good luck with the house, JR. Looks like a really nice setup.

One of the farms I bought last year was for the sole purpose of building a house. Still in the brainstorming phase and this may be a long term project, I just wanted to buy the real estate while I had the chance.

This is what we did. We found 23 acres with a house on it for 25000 and financed it the very next week.

 

[TRyan]

Awesome picture JR! That house is going to be awesome

 

[Damaikis]

This is what we did. We found 23 acres with a house on it for 25000 and financed it the very next week.

Good luck with the new house JR! My parents are buying a new one down closer to the shore area of NJ. Mostly just in the eastern side. Rumson and Mendham are two places they're really looking at hard. They just need a smaller house because my sister's in college and I will be next year. We also need a better school district for my little brother because the local one now sucks.

 

[coolbreeze]

I am currently in the planning stages of tearing down my house and building a duplex. We bought this lot because it was zoned multifamily and I could build a duplex here and sell them off and make a good profit. The time has come to do it, this time next year I should be building.

 

[Esox]

I am currently in the planning stages of tearing down my house and building a duplex. We bought this lot because it was zoned multifamily and I could build a duplex here and sell them off and make a good profit. The time has come to do it, this time next year I should be building.

Your market must be much different than ours. Very few properties of any type are being built on spec here. Very few houses being built period. Though lot prices have dropped to a level where you can almost buy a lot and build a house for at or less than buying existing.

Kevin

 

[Dr. Teeth]

I am currently in the planning stages of tearing down my house and building a duplex. We bought this lot because it was zoned multifamily and I could build a duplex here and sell them off and make a good profit. The time has come to do it, this time next year I should be building.

CB I thought you guys were getting a log cabin.

 

[coolbreeze]

CB I thought you guys were getting a log cabin.

I tried to buy that place but the owners took it off the market. We had the bridge financing in place to buy that house and we were going to rent the house own here, but since they didn't want to sell right now, we are going to build the duplex here and then look at buying a lot and building our dream house.

 

[coolbreeze]

Your market must be much different than ours. Very few properties of any type are being built on spec here. Very few houses being built period. Though lot prices have dropped to a level where you can almost buy a lot and build a house for at or less than buying existing.

Kevin

Our market barely dipped at all Kevin. There is lots of building going on right now and properties are worth more now than they were 5 years ago.

 

[MWard]

I currently work in residential real estate in Florida. If any of you have any general questions, don't hesitate to drop a line in this thread and I'll see what I can contribute.

I'll forewarn with this though.. If it's of a legal matter, I can't really help you out much there other than reccomend seeing an attorney. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I want to practice being one lol. But if it's a general question, I'll do my best to answer.

 

[Dr. Teeth]

I tried to buy that place but the owners took it off the market. We had the bridge financing in place to buy that house and we were going to rent the house own here, but since they didn't want to sell right now, we are going to build the duplex here and then look at buying a lot and building our dream house.

That sounds like a really great plan!

 

[Griff]

Wife and I planned on building last year, but our current house appraised at such a crappy number we held off. Nice neighborhood, lots of kids, nice houses, great school district and it appraised out $30K under what we paid 7 years ago. Not taking that hit and I can't imagine it's much better a year later. Frustrating, but what can ya do? Great time to buy, horrible time to sell.

 

[interlooper]

We just purchased a new place this summer a couple blocks from the old place. We decided to just hold on to the old place for now and rent it out. Thinking it will be 5-10 years until the value will be OK to sell the old place.

 

[Esox]

We just purchased a new place this summer a couple blocks from the old place. We decided to just hold on to the old place for now and rent it out. Thinking it will be 5-10 years until the value will be OK to sell the old place.

That sounds realistic.

Kevin

 

[hartattack52]

My parents just bought a house in FL. I will be living there during college. By the way, the house looks great JR.

 

[TrueFX]

Great looking house!

I've built several homes. It can be a fun process watching everything come together.

 

[Wicked Cool Bearded Man]

Getting ready to put our house on the market. Looking to buy. Will see after the basketball season if we will be moving to a warmer climate hahaha. Good we stay. Bad and I'll see if I can talk her into moving down south or to California.

 

[Wicked Cool Bearded Man]

Thought I would make a thread about this, since it really didn't seem to fit in the renovation thread. This is a thread for anyone who is buying or building a new home to come in, get advice, give advice, and post pictures of their latest acquisition.

My family is building at the moment, Here are the house plans. There are some minor edits we made, such as an outdoor cooking area in the back, and a 3 car garage instead of a 2 car, but this is, overall, a good representation of what the house will be--- http://southernlivinghouseplans.com/plans/SL1597


Appliances have been picked out and we are going with the Frigidaire Gallery Series in the Kitchen, save for the dish washer, which we got in the Frigidaire Pro Series.

The exterior will be natural colored brick (I think, Mom keeps changing her mind) and we will have hardwood floors of some type. The countertops will be granite.

WOW. That is a great looking house JR. I hope everything works out and gets built exactly to what you and your family want. Good luck!

 

[MWard]

We just purchased a new place this summer a couple blocks from the old place. We decided to just hold on to the old place for now and rent it out. Thinking it will be 5-10 years until the value will be OK to sell the old place.

Impossible to really say how long recovery'll take. If you bought between 03-07, you may not ever see those numbers again. If before, it just depends on how much you purchased for. 5-10 years though is 5-10 years more you've paid off on the mortgage at least.

 

[SNRote]

Awesome house JR! We built 7 years ago and I will re-stress what another said about "plan ahead" for what your needs will be 5-10 yrs down the road. We didn't have kids when we built and now we have 4. So we are moving when we had hoped to stay here for a long time. The house just sold after being on the market for 4 1/2 months. Market conditions are a bit rough here. The movers are coming next week to start boxing up the house! Best wishes to you. House looks great!

 

[Doug the lefty]

Good luck with the house, JR. Looks like a really nice setup.

One of the farms I bought last year was for the sole purpose of building a house. Still in the brainstorming phase and this may be a long term project, I just wanted to buy the real estate while I had the chance.

Here are a couple of (crappy cell phone) pics from where the house will sit.

View to the east:

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View to the North:

[/IMG]

 

[RatFink]

I'd love to live on a nice open plot of land. I'm in one of the very choice inner-city neighbourhoods and I am starting to want to get out... I dream of living in one of our out-of-town suburbs some day, but my friends think I'm crazy since I can walk to work in 40, bus in 10 and so on.

$25,000 for 23 acres is amazingly cheap! It costs >$350,000 for 2.5 acres just outside of town here.