The Wonn Report - Top 10 Budget Busters When Building Your Dream Home

BUDGET BUSTER #1 - LAND

You’ve found the place where you are going to build your “dream” home.  What do you do next?  Stop, look and listen!  Before you move forward with purchasing the lot, you need to first consult with both a Realtor knowledgeable in vacant land and new home construction and the actual Builder who is going to be building the home on your lot.  Secondly, when looking at the lot, you have hopefully done your homework and narrowed your search down to a Builder or two that you might use in building your dream home. The Builder(s) will want to go out and actually walk the lot with you to make sure that you are able to do what is necessary to erect the home on the property, within your budget, lot lines, exposure, etc.

What can go wrong you might ask?  Plenty!  So much so, that this piece of land could end up costing you substantially more than you ever imagined.  It could become a “Budget Buster” and that’s not a great way to start the home building process.  Here are a few of things you need to know before purchasing your land: 

1.      What are the building restrictions?  Can you have vinyl siding or do you need to do an LP siding?  Do you need to have a % of brick/stone on the front?  Can you have a front entry garage? Etc.

2.      Does the land have municipal sewer/water or well/septic or mound?

3.      What is the local municipalities “impact” fee?

4.      If you aren’t planning on building right away, what type of maintenance do you need to do on the lot?

5.      Are there Association fees, which are basically maintenance fees?

6.      In this market, I’d be asking if the developer is stable?  Many developers are having financial issues right now.  That last thing you should do is pay for a lot in a subdivision that is getting turned over to the bank.  Building stops and all of a sudden, when the bank is ready to sell, those lots could be priced significantly less than what you paid, affecting everyone’s property values.

Again, these are just a few of the concerns you need to know about when looking at raw land.  Be sure to consultant with an experienced Realtor and Builder to ultimately avoid a “budget” busting mistake.

Tomorrow’s blog will cover: 

The Wonn Report - Top 10 Budget Busters When Building Your Dream Home – ARCHITECTURAL CONTROLS