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Man, you guys get a lot of house for your money down there. Depending on which area, comparable homes are $50-100,000 more up here...
2Blonde- I adore Perry homes. There are several townhomes in Houston they've built that I've been drooling over. If we won the lottery tonight we'd be on the phone with Perry tomorrow about building my dream house in Oak Run in New Braunfels. *happy sigh thinking about dream home*
Man, you guys get a lot of house for your money down there. Depending on which area, comparable homes are $50-100,000 more up here...
That may be, but prices are going up all around Texas, but especially around the big cities - Dallas, Austin, Houston, SA and their respective burbs.
For instance, my father built his house in 1990. It was house + corner lot (big lots), custom build right next to Gruene (literally - the subdivision that surround Gruene, not all the 'Gruene Courtyard' extensions and ) for $89,000. It now appraises for something like $150,000+ and the bigger ones in the neighborhood are selling for $180,000 - $200,000+.
In Houston you can not get a home inside the loop for less than $225K. In my area, near the beltway, houses that need work are approaching $200K. We're looking at 1200-1500 sq ft condos inside the loop that are between $140K and over $200K (well, we're not really looking at the $200K ones).
As the population continues to increase the property values are rising, particularly inside the cities because of rising commuter costs.
My parents bought their housein Houston for $60k in the early 80s, and they could easily sell it for over $300k now just based on location. It's crazy how much property values there have increased just in the last 10-15 years.
My boss is kicking herself, because when she and her husband got married and bought their home, they opted to buy a duplex (two bedrooms each, and up and down, so no knocking out walls) instead of a three bedroom with a den (what she's looking for now), because she thought that the $150K for a 3bedw/den inside the loop was too high.
Now, they rent out the other part of the duplex, but are cramped with their two kids. And because her husband stays home to watch them, they can't afford a house inside the loop, even with renting out both duplexes or selling.
Damn. I wish our home prices were like yours.
Homes are generally over-valued around the nation but this has recently become a new phenomena in San Antonio thanks largely to rising interest rates and a over-exorbant rise in home values in the last 10 years. Houses are taking longer to sell and many people who took advantage of ARM's are losing their homes because they can't meet the higher loan payments. Also, rising fuel costs and minimum payments of credit cards are squeezing consumers. For these reasons alone I say wait a couple of years. Stick the money in your bank account and find a nice, cheap home to rent. When prices decrease, as they surely will, then you buy, that is unless your planning on staying in the home for 10+ years and you have time to wait for home prices to grow through their usual cycle.
Buy a used house and save some money...
I could never live on anything smaller than 1 acre, which is what I have now. If it was a box house with tiny yard I would go cheap and just load up with electronics inside and more money allocated to fancy vacations and vehicles.
We are building a home right now. I think you have to look at what your budget is and then narrow your choices then.
There are builders that build homes for < 100K
There are builders that build homes for 100K-140K
There are builders that build homes for 140K-200K
Above 200K, I wouldn't be purchasing a KB, Choice Home, etc. etc...
We chose Ryland. Why? Dunno.... Mostly because that day we got a deal and other builders weren't in the deal making mode....
It was probably between Lennar, Ryland, Kimbill Homes and maybe Pulte...
For the price range we were looking at the Pulte neighborhoods didn't fit our tastes.
Hope that helps.
Many years ago I worked for a lighting company that sold lighting packages & ceiling fans to new home builders. Perry builds quality homes a little on the upscale side...we sold them many 6 ft entry lights. I went along on many walk-throughs and they were just amazing homes.
Pulte goes from low-end to high...pretty good choices as far as lighting, anyway. Centex at the time used seriously cheap-y lighting. Aspen was like the worst, cheapest mofos on the planet...do they still even build here?
This was about 10 years ago...I'm not sure what all has changed. I know the Pulte home office is a block away from where I work.
KB does build some ty homes, but they will also build some pretty decent ones also. If you can stay away from the cookie cutter divisions that KB builds then you would be fine with them.
Wow, thanks for all of the responses...I should have gotten out of bed soonerLots of things to think about.
We're thinking in the 140-180 range. And we're thinking new because I'm anal about things and want to be able to decide on the flooring, cabinets, countertops, etc. I know it seems silly to most, but it just makes me happy when I'm around surfaces I like.
We've pretty much not looked at Pulte because of something they did on Dateline or 60 minutes about 4 years back. For those of you that live in a Pulte home, what do you think?
And it has to be a house because John wants a yard. I dunno why, but it's important to him so we'll get one. As long as I like the floor plan and it has cherry wood cabinets I'm happy
Y'all have mentioned some builders I've never heard of. Is there a site about builders in the area?
Any other advice welcome, we're new to this and have no idea what we're doing!
You should really, really wait. I can't stress that enough. The housing bubble is just starting to deflate in San Antonio, in a couple of years speculative home investors that wanted to make a quick retirement buck, are gonna be selling at huge discounts to avoid facing higher ARM payments. With that said, I've worked with quite a few home builders in San Antonio. In the 140+ range, you should avoid discount builders Pulte, KB, Armadillo, and go with a quality builder like D.R. Horton, Rylan, or Hartmann.Wow, thanks for all of the responses...I should have gotten out of bed sooner
We're thinking in the 140-180 range. And we're thinking new because I'm anal about things and want to be able to decide on the flooring, cabinets, countertops, etc. I know it seems silly to most, but it just makes me happy when I'm around surfaces I like.
[QUOTE=Nbadan]You should really, really wait. I can't stress that enough. The housing bubble is just starting to deflate in San Antonio, in a couple of years speculative home investors that wanted to make a quick retirement buck, are gonna be selling at huge discounts to avoid facing higher ARM payments. QUOTE]
You're wrong. It depends on the side of the town, the neighborhood, etc. etc..
All the builders have problems at one time or another, especially the way homes shift in this city. Just make sure they offer you a solid warranty on the structure. PM me if you want representation, we get paid by the sellers...
Pulte's product is superior to D.R. Horton's with the exception of the Heritage unit on the southside. Gordon Hartman sold his business to a California developers more than a year ago.In the 140+ range, you should avoid discount builders Pulte, KB, Armadillo, and go with a quality builder like D.R. Horton, Rylan, or Hartmann.
Last edited by Mijo; 03-23-2006 at 07:45 AM.
And ARM loans are just one option out of many....and if you have decent credit you will have MANY options. If interest rates go down or things change a few years down the road, you can always refinance.
Buying is always a better option than renting if you can afford it ... I have no idea why you would think otherwise, unless you like just throwing money into someone else's pocket with nothing at all to show for it.
Carie -
Remember that surfaces can be replaced. I totally, utterly, and completely understand why you would want to build (I am exactly the same way), but again, if you aren't planning on staying there . . . you'll just have to go through it again anyway. From what I've seen researching Houston houses, you could almost certainly buy an older home for less than building a new one and replace those surfaces you want to and still come out cheaper if you do it yourself or bid out to trusted contractors. For instance - paint does wonders, and tiling is generally easy enough to do yourself (especially refering to kitchen surfaces; floors are more difficult). You can find good deals on slabs of marble, tile, granite, slate if you look around. You can find good deals on cabinetry if you look around.
Seriously, find a neighborhood you like and price the homes (using a realtor for this is a great idea). Talk with MoSpur about who he and his folks have used for their self-builds and price out what you would want done. See if that is adding up to less than a brand new build. If so, you've got a nest egg socked away for your upgrade home or for emergencies. If not, then you've got your answer.
If you have the time/patience, you can upgrade an older home to what you want for less money than building a new one. One downside to an older home may be less energy efficiency. One downside to a new home may be some questionable construction and less certainty about future home value (if you plan to resell). It's totally amazing what just replacing a few things can do - it's how house flippers make their money. My friend in Arizona recently bought a new home with the idea that if they bought the place they did, they'd have $30K extra for renovations because of the price. So they were able to have the location they wanted and now have the dream kitchen and hardwood floors in the floorplan they wanted for much less than building.
If you are willing to pay around $140K you are probably buying a house that was built for around $85-$100K. Seriously, you and your husband can be your own builders with around $90K and have a home worth $150K +. No joke. Especially if your husband wants a big yard. I would drive around the surrounding areas of SA and look for an acre or two that is reasonable and build on your own.
You're basically just cutting off the middle man out of everything and saving all that money. People think its hard, but it really isn't.
I see a lot of love for Pulte but I guess you guys missed that episode on 60 minutes a few years ago...
With the government competing for available credit, just exactly when and how do you expect interest rates to go down? The lastest speculation is that interest rates will keep going up, even the most optimistic speculation is that interest rates will remain even, almost nobody has interest rates going down, unless your looking 30 years down the road.And ARM loans are just one option out of many....and if you have decent credit you will have MANY options. If interest rates go down or things change a few years down the road, you can always refinance.
Buying is always a better option than renting if you can afford it ... I have no idea why you would think otherwise, unless you like just throwing money into someone else's pocket with nothing at all to show for it.
Renting makes sense when there is money to be made down the road off of speculative home-buyers who thought, like you, that interest rates would stay low forever and/or they could always refinance their debt later at a lower rate. As interest rates go up, in order to sell quicker, motivated sellers will drop their home prices. We could be looking at good size discounts. It's worth the wait.
Hey the houses you guys are talkin about in the range of 130-180k, are they houses like 1hr-1.30hr drive from the metro cbd area?
Somebody want to enlighten me on the 60 minutes show about Pulte? (Not that we're gonna change now, I'm just curious). Our foundation should be solid... they had to carve the garage space out of solid rock.
Mijo - we're buying in the Grandview subdivision.
So put your life on hold indefinitely while paying someone else's mortgage for something you will never own and speculate the out the market while watching interest rates climb. A 2 or even 3 point hike in interest rates will totally wipe out (and then some) over the life of the mortgage a couple of grand an anxious seller will knock off their selling price.
If I were worried about rising interest rates, the only thing that would make me want to wait it out is if I were paying cash for a house.
Last edited by SpursWoman; 03-24-2006 at 09:54 AM.
No, more like 20-25 minutes, where we're looking at least.
As far as Pulte goes, I just remember them talking about a lot of customer complaints. And one in particular they went to their house, you could close the back door and feel the house shake in the front of it. Or something similar. It wasn't very sturdy, to say the least.
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