Who's built/building a home?

mrshall1027 · May 2014

H and I are pretty sure we are going the build route unless something comes up that meets all our needs/wants. We are hoping to start the process in the next two months or so and just want to get some input from other that have done it.

What was the process like for you? When did they pull your credit and look at financials? What did you have to put down for them to get started? How long did the process take? Any advice you can share?

RockABye · May 2014

We’ve built two houses and both were really great experiences! I’d absolutely do it again! Both times it took around 3-4 months from slab to completion. They can take longer though.

I’m trying to remember how financials worked.. we had to at least be pre-approved and have financing somewhat lined up ahead of time, but we didn’t lock in rates or anything until closer to closing. First house, we put nothing down (other than earnest money of like $200). Second time I think we did $2k earnest money, but that’s it. As for down payment, on first house we did zero, on second house we did about $30k.. but that was all at closing and not prior to them starting the build.

I LOVED building our houses! The first one was more of a tract home, so we picked a floor plan and only added in options. The second house was a custom home so we designed everything top to bottom. It’s only stressful if you make it stressful! Stay on top of the builder.. visit the house often and take LOTS of pictures of the process. If you see anything amiss, notify them immediately. If they say “oh we cant’ fix it at this point”, you say “yes you can as that’s what was agreed upon, or you’re going to do something else for us and not charge”.

Use a realtor and negotiate. You can’t negotiate as much on new builds, but you can to some extent. Even if not in sale price, you can almost always negotiate on upgrades and sometimes lot premiums!

Have fun! I seriously LOVED building our houses and really hope we can do it again someday!

sgautschi · May 2014

I have no experience, but I know @sparklingdiamond just finished building a home a few months back. GL if that is the route you are going to take!

mrshall1027 · May 2014

@RockABye thanks!! That's great info. I'm surprised they only took 3-4 months to build; we've been told it will take anywhere from 7-10 months from different builders.

sparklingdiamond · May 2014

We just had our house built! We had to put $1500 down in order for them to start. We originally signed the contract in July of last year and it was finished/we moved in Feb of this year. They had told us it would take 90 days to complete, but it ended up taking a lot longer due to weather delays and other various reasons.

We had to provide some documentation when we started building I think (like to get pre approved to buy the house), but most of the stuff we didn't provide until the end when we were signing the mortgage papers.

RockABye · May 2014

There are a lot of factors that come into play and different builders take different amounts of time. I'm surprised at the 7-10 month time frame! But then again, it all depends on the constructon method. Do you have basements where you live? If so, that automatically would add more time. Or if it's a large custom or they're counting processing/permits time. Who knows. Regardless, it's still fun, IMO!

zamboni00 · May 2014

We are at the tail end- should be moving in within a month.

We had two options- we could close on the lot with a construction loan- before the build, or wait and close on the house after it was complete. Basically, but the lot and pay him to build on it, or buy the house once it's done.

We chose to get a construction loan, because rates were low, and we would save something like 20k in fees and taxes buying a lot, instead of a house. The risk is that we are paying on the construction loan (only on the portion that has been paid to the builder) and still paying our current mortgage. We will be paying both until our house sells.

We started the process last summer. It took us a while to find a lot we loved, then we met with the builder. He led us to www.frankbetz.com where we spent another month or so looking at a million floor plans. We found a couple that we loved, told him about some changes we would make,and he quoted a price.

Once we agreed on a price, the architect drew up plans.

Then we spent another month or so going over the plans, making sure they were everything we wanted. We made even more changes.

Once we had the final drawings, the builder got all of the permits, etc, and then we closed on the lot. This was in January.

As I said, the house is just about done. So from hole in the ground to move in will probably be 6 months, but we really procrastinated with some of the decisions (mostly just the kitchen cabinets, really). We probably would have been in there already if we hadn't hemmed and hawed so much.

I agree with @RockABye‌ - take lots of pictures, and point out anything that isn't what you agreed on- quickly.

Also- spend the extra time up front to make sure the plans are perfect before they start building. It's so much cheaper to change things on paper than once it's up.

I think we had to put down 1k to reserve the lot, and pay the architect 2k. The rest was done with the loan, and we didn't have to be pre-approved or anything. I was surprised by that.

Phew- that was long. Sorry

but if you have any questions, let me know!

And GL! It's been pretty awesome, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to do this.

poppies717 · May 2014

We built our home 2.5 years ago! Today is actually the 3-year anniversary of our agreement with the builder.

Our floor plan was set, but we could move and customize some things. We picked all the flooring and cabinets. I highly recommend seeing your floor plan finished if you can. We made changes based on a visit to a home that we love and wouldn't have thought of if we didn't visit a finished home.

We were pre-approved for a mortgage when we signed our construction agreement ($15k down; we live in the northeast). About a week before signing, they ran our numbers again.

I have a lot more to add, but I don't want to overwhelm you! Once you decide, feel free to ask questions. There are lots of things I am so happy we did, and there are tons that I wish we had done (recessed outlets come to mind...)

mrshall1027 · May 2014

@sparklingdiamond - did you go through a community builder or a custom builder?

@RockABye - No basements, but it is going to be a larger home so maybe that's why. In the areas that we've been looking at, a septic and well would also have to be put in, so that may be adding to the timeline as well.

@zamboni00 - so it sounds like you went the full custom route. I think we are leaning towards doing that, but we are going to look at all options. With buying a lot, we may have to put a septic system, a well, level out the land, install a driveway, etc., so that's kind of holding us back from pulling the trigger. Did your builder go out and look at the lot you purchased and give you an estimate on whatever needed to be done before they could break ground? I'm surprised they didn't require more $$ upfront for everything! We've been hearing we'll have to put between 5 and 10% down to get the ball rolling.

@poppies717 - I definitely want to see as many finished homes as we possibly can! There are so many options; it'll be hard to narrow it down!

zamboni00 · May 2014

Ours is an interesting situation. There was a farm that had been sold to a builder. That builder built on/sold 1/3 of the land, then retired.

He sold the remaining land to our builder, who is selling the remaining lots. We could have bought the lot, and then worked with another builder, but he had an amazing reputation, and we felt comfortable with him.

In some ways it's like a development, because he is building a handful of other houses in the neighborhood, etc, but each lot is at least 1.8 acres, and are all so different, because you can any floor plan you want.

We had looked at some other national builders neighborhoods, and this felt like a good compromise. We got the financial upside of a development, but in the end it was much more custom.

We also have septic and a well, and that is all included in the process/contract. We opted out of having him put the driveway in, so we will be doing that once he's done.

They are also grading the lot for us (H was actually there yesterday to discuss what we wanted haha).

I think the reason he didn't require more $ upfront was because he owned the land, and could just sell it to someone else is we feel through. We had the construction loan in place before he broke ground or anything.

If we had gone the other way, buying the completed house, he may have asked for more down, but also could have just sold the house to someone else.

He had very little risk, I guess.

sparklingdiamond · May 2014

We went through a community builder.

mrshall1027 · May 2014

zamboni00 said:

Ours is an interesting situation. There was a farm that had been sold to a builder. That builder built on/sold 1/3 of the land, then retired. He sold the remaining land to our builder, who is selling the remaining lots. We could have bought the lot, and then worked with another builder, but he had an amazing reputation, and we felt comfortable with him. In some ways it's like a development, because he is building a handful of other houses in the neighborhood, etc, but each lot is at least 1.8 acres, and are all so different, because you can any floor plan you want. We had looked at some other national builders neighborhoods, and this felt like a good compromise. We got the financial upside of a development, but in the end it was much more custom. We also have septic and a well, and that is all included in the process/contract. We opted out of having him put the driveway in, so we will be doing that once he's done. They are also grading the lot for us (H was actually there yesterday to discuss what we wanted haha). I think the reason he didn't require more $ upfront was because he owned the land, and could just sell it to someone else is we feel through. We had the construction loan in place before he broke ground or anything. If we had gone the other way, buying the completed house, he may have asked for more down, but also could have just sold the house to someone else. He had very little risk, I guess.

This sounds more like what we'll be doing, not with the builder and land situation, but building on a larger lot and all that.

We're going to meet with a couple of custom builders and two community builders and see which will work out best for us. So far, I really like the idea of going with a custom builder just because we really want a good size lot and the lot premiums some of these community builders want to charge is just ridiculous! The custom builder we've been talking to said they will walk the lots we are interested in free of charge and they have realtors that can help us find the right one. But, they also said the whole process from start to finish is a year!

zamboni00 · May 2014

ystaalenburg said:

But, they also said the whole process from start to finish is a year!

Start to finish, ours was a year. But we definitely took lots of time up front to make sure we loved the floor plan, and that it had everything we wanted.

As I mentioned, we also took lots of time before deciding on kitchen cabinets. We met with 2 companies, and that was a tough decision.

In the end, we still made some changes after the fact. Is really hard to picture the house when looking at a floor plan. If you can't walk through a house with the floor plan you like, we had some luck Google image searching the name of the floor plan. Even found some walk through videos!

mrshall1027 · May 2014

We haven't been able to find any floorplans that we can agree on! I swear, we've probably seen a hundred so far and none have meet our wish list entirely. We looked a little at the site you mentioned, but I'll need to spend some more time on it. It's overwhelming how many choices there are!

zamboni00 · May 2014

We felt the same way.

Then we realized we could always make changes!

We came up with our list of must haves (H wanted a first floor master, I wanted laundry on the same level as the master, walk-in pantry, etc) which made it easier to narrow down.

It's tough. There are just SO many out there!

mrshall1027 · May 2014

Yeah, we just came up with a wish list last night and tried to narrow down our "must haves". We had a little more luck finding some good possibilities last night; it's just going to come down to price now.

Thanks so much for your input! Once we are done with the sale of our house, we'll be able to move forward a little quicker and hopefully get a set plan in place.

jt305 · May 2014

ystaalenburg! We will hopefully be building this fall (if our house sells). We already have a lot on some family land. We are having someone draw up our plans--just telling him what our "must-haves" are--then go from there. I like the idea of a custom home. Good luck!

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