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Message
Building a house at the end of next year
Posted on 3/14/25 at 9:45 pm
Posted on 3/14/25 at 9:45 pm
Currently have 1.5 acres that I financed and we plan to build on this property. I can use the equity on my land as down payment and I know that it takes around 20% down payment to build a house. I need to start gathering information and getting a plan of attack on this project because it's starting to stress me out. As of right now, I think a good total square footage for us is around 2200-2500 because we have no kids and it's just the 2 of us, but we want this to be our forever home. I have around 30k in cash and plan to save more until we sign a construction loan. I'm hoping to put down around 60k along with the equity on the land as down payment. I'm also hoping to have around 20k for furniture and what not. What are the breakdown of the numbers and what's the current price per square foot? We don't want to build something and then later down the road have regret on it not being what we want.
We want 3 bed 2 baths. Open floor plan for the living. We want to walk into a mud room with spacious laundry room. We want the kitchen and dining facing the living room and to have an entertainment area out back.
Any help and direction on this would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to be house broke. TIA
ETA: total house income would be around 250k at that time.
We want 3 bed 2 baths. Open floor plan for the living. We want to walk into a mud room with spacious laundry room. We want the kitchen and dining facing the living room and to have an entertainment area out back.
Any help and direction on this would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to be house broke. TIA
ETA: total house income would be around 250k at that time.
This post was edited on 3/14/25 at 9:48 pm
8
Posted on 3/14/25 at 10:06 pm to KRobinson
Take your time and I would do 2.5 to 3 bath. Also dirt work, plans, landscape can get expensive. Not real sure on build cost for just house but I was about $225 a square for pool fencing, land and everything in 2020 on my last build.
Budget 20% more the entire project because you will spend it
Budget 20% more the entire project because you will spend it
This post was edited on 3/14/25 at 10:19 pm
Posted on 3/14/25 at 10:36 pm to KRobinson
Figure out what you want and talk to a couple of builders to get an idea on price. We did a construction loan that converted into a mortgage at closing, but only paid one closing fee. It’s a 2.85% at 15 years with a balloon at the end.
As mentioned before plan for more than quoted, because you can’t ask for more once construction starts. If you come under budget, then you just end up borrowing less. We built during covid so materials ended up costing us $75k more than our loan, but we had a great rate.
Also, build do whatever you want during building. Don’t plan to add things on later, like a shop or a pool. We wanted both, but I didn’t like the idea of paying for both over 15/30 years so I didn’t include them in the original loan. 3 years later, no shop or pool and pool loans are north of 10% as of last year. Ship prices are also much higher.
As mentioned before plan for more than quoted, because you can’t ask for more once construction starts. If you come under budget, then you just end up borrowing less. We built during covid so materials ended up costing us $75k more than our loan, but we had a great rate.
Also, build do whatever you want during building. Don’t plan to add things on later, like a shop or a pool. We wanted both, but I didn’t like the idea of paying for both over 15/30 years so I didn’t include them in the original loan. 3 years later, no shop or pool and pool loans are north of 10% as of last year. Ship prices are also much higher.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 12:41 am to akimoto
quote:
Figure out what you want and talk to a couple of builders to get an idea on price. We did a construction loan that converted into a mortgage at closing, but only paid one closing fee. It’s a 2.85% at 15 years with a balloon at the end. As mentioned before plan for more than quoted, because you can’t ask for more once construction starts. If you come under budget, then you just end up borrowing less. We built during covid so materials ended up costing us $75k more than our loan, but we had a great rate. Also, build do whatever you want during building. Don’t plan to add things on later, like a shop or a pool. We wanted both, but I didn’t like the idea of paying for both over 15/30 years so I didn’t include them in the original loan. 3 years later, no shop or pool and pool loans are north of 10% as of last year. Ship prices are also much higher.
I should have financed a lot more on my build during Covid with the 2.6% interest rate I hade but paid cash for a lot of it to keep my note at $2500
I think I came out ok because I hired my own pool builder and fence builder and paid them cash. I also paid cash for my landscaping and finished bonus room. Once we broke ground we went into cash savings mode. I was in camp we will do it later but my wife said if we don’t do it now we will never do it. Only thing I don’t do was build my shop.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 9:23 am to KRobinson
Your cost to build could get close to 200/sq ft.
You may be looking at total build cost around 400k but that seems to work with cash and equity at least to 80k. Also your income is plenty high enough. The house will be worth well over that when finished so youll be able to finance it to pay off the construction loan. Id guess the bank has some kind of packaged loan to do that
You may be looking at total build cost around 400k but that seems to work with cash and equity at least to 80k. Also your income is plenty high enough. The house will be worth well over that when finished so youll be able to finance it to pay off the construction loan. Id guess the bank has some kind of packaged loan to do that
Posted on 3/15/25 at 9:35 am to KRobinson
Costs are volatile right now and are increasing. It almost surely will cost more by the end of the year. They are also local, so would be hard for others in different areas to provide good estimates. I would recommend 2.5 bathrooms. Having an extra half bath near your living room/kitchen is a nice feature. We also love a large hidden pantry in the kitchen. Our latest hidden pantry has counter space with electrical outlets to free up main counters from toasters and such.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 10:06 am to KRobinson
quote:
KRobinson
Mama ought to be able to help you out. How's the new job? JK.
Knowing where you live would help.
I used Schumacher Homes just prior to interests rates rising and the cost of lumber was going up. I did that because the price and interest rates were locked in at the time of signing the contract. They built my house in 6 months when it was taking people a year because they purchase everything as soon as you sign the contract. They will only do the house, nothing outside of the foundation. But you can change anything in the design meeting.
This is just to show the changes I made. The plan is flipped horizontally.
This post was edited on 3/15/25 at 10:24 am
Posted on 3/15/25 at 10:17 am to Rize
Building a home in these uncertain economic circumstances and higher interest rates environment seems very risky.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 12:00 pm to Rize
quote:
Budget 20% more the entire project because you will spend it
THIS
My cost estimate came out to 80% more. It was top of the line everything and a majestic house. Reduced it to moderate to nice touches, and it still came out to 50% more. After that the builder said you will start noticing the corners cut if you cut more, so you need to reduce square footage to get around that.
Shelved the idea and bought a newbuild spec+ house, and will go back to the drawing board for my dreamhouse in a few years.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 12:24 pm to KRobinson
quote:
What are the breakdown of the numbers and what's the current price per square foot?
You'd need to meet with your builder for this. What it is where live is not relevant.
quote:
but we want this to be our forever home.
There's no such thing for 99% of people.
quote:
Open floor plan for the living
That's fine but that's trending out. I had a full open house and didn't love it.
quote:
We don't want to build something and then later down the road have regret on it not being what we want.
You won't get everything. Trends change. Things we can't think of will become a want down the road.
Posted on 3/15/25 at 12:42 pm to AaronDeTiger
Are carports a Louisiana thing? No garage?
Posted on 3/15/25 at 12:47 pm to kywildcatfanone
I've got a garage door on one side, open on the other. Enclosed 1 car garage next to it.
This post was edited on 3/15/25 at 12:51 pm
Posted on 3/16/25 at 7:25 pm to KRobinson
Question for the people more in the know and smarter than me...
Looking to move into a new place within the next year and have considered buying a lot and building exactly what I want.
1) For those that have done it, is it worth it? I've heard can be a pain in the arse
2) Doing that compared to buying something close to what I want thats a new build already done by broker/builder... Whats the cost difference? Would it cost more to build what I want if all things the same or would it be cheaper since middle man is taken out?
I know pretty much exactly what I want after looking, however I don't like the location of the new build I saw, which is why looking at this route.
Looking to move into a new place within the next year and have considered buying a lot and building exactly what I want.
1) For those that have done it, is it worth it? I've heard can be a pain in the arse
2) Doing that compared to buying something close to what I want thats a new build already done by broker/builder... Whats the cost difference? Would it cost more to build what I want if all things the same or would it be cheaper since middle man is taken out?
I know pretty much exactly what I want after looking, however I don't like the location of the new build I saw, which is why looking at this route.
Posted on 3/16/25 at 7:44 pm to Lsut81
Building is a pretty awful experience IMO. Also a pretty bad time to be doing it with the ICE raids
Posted on 3/17/25 at 9:03 am to Lsut81
Prices are local. Just use Zillow or another app to do some research in the area you want to live. You can filter to see new construction prices vs existing homes. Everyone has to decide if the price difference is worth it or not.
I am in the business, and it is difficult to predict cost to build for new starts in this environment.
I am in the business, and it is difficult to predict cost to build for new starts in this environment.
Posted on 3/17/25 at 4:51 pm to KWL85
quote:
I am in the business, and it is difficult to predict cost to build for new starts in this environment.
So what you see for a new construction already built is exactly what you are going to pay should you do the same thing yourself (buy the land, hire the builder, etc)?
Posted on 3/18/25 at 10:28 am to KRobinson
Similar situation.
3 acres bought May 2024
Value 75K
Owe 50K
537/month at 8.3% with First South Farm Credit
Our forever home build has been priced out at $475,000 to build
We originally planned to start building this spring, but are going to just aggressively pay down lot and stack cash and wait till rates are sub 6% or have enough cash to keep our note under $2500.
We are not in any rush so its no big deal to us. I would have thought rates would have come back down a little more by now, but here we are. Patience is a virtue, thankfully I control the purse strings on major projects because my wife has NO patience.
In the meantime, I'll keep cutting the grass, the kids will keep fishing in the pond and riding 4 wheelers while I piddle in my shop on days we spend at the property.
3 acres bought May 2024
Value 75K
Owe 50K
537/month at 8.3% with First South Farm Credit
Our forever home build has been priced out at $475,000 to build
We originally planned to start building this spring, but are going to just aggressively pay down lot and stack cash and wait till rates are sub 6% or have enough cash to keep our note under $2500.
We are not in any rush so its no big deal to us. I would have thought rates would have come back down a little more by now, but here we are. Patience is a virtue, thankfully I control the purse strings on major projects because my wife has NO patience.
In the meantime, I'll keep cutting the grass, the kids will keep fishing in the pond and riding 4 wheelers while I piddle in my shop on days we spend at the property.
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