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Building a house?


Limitedslip7

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I've been looking to buy a house in the Marion/Waldo/Delaware area for about a year now and haven't really been able to find what I am looking for. I have bid on two foreclosures but was outbid by a small amount both times.

 

With the lack of inventory and high prices, I'm starting to think that maybe it might be better to just build. I'm looking for something on the smaller side; 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, around 1400-1900ft^2. Can anyone recommend a builder? Maybe share your experience? What to avoid? Not looking for a luxury build, just something solid that I can upgrade later if desired...

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Looking to potentially build as well as I cannot find the unicorn I am looking to buy (Or it is 4.7 bazillion dollars to purchase.) I did go out and see a couple builds by Wayne homes and liked both the canned home and the custom one. Not overly elaborate, build quality was nice and pricing was decent.

 

Schumacher had the best list of available homes and could detail this down to the flooring as to costing (Friend @ work was in the final stages of building and was impressed).

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My recommendations are Gladman Buiders (they built my house) or Gossing Construction. Been in my house over 21 years and no complaints. I bought the land(10 acres in Delaware country) and took out a construction loan from the Delaware county bank.

 

Many of the builders have a canned sets of plans and call that a custom build because you can pick out a couple of options. The builders I listed above can build any from a small 1100 to the limit and have less overhead than the Wayne/Schuamcher type of builders. Just bring in picture or a drawing and then can build it, yes this in Delaware country which has tough building codes.

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I ran into the same problem up here in Avon. Its the best school district West of Cleveland and a boomtown right now. Every yuppy or 30 somthing with money wants to live there.

 

If you do it right, you can build for less than you can buy (the only time you should build IMO) I am building with K Hovnanian, and will come in around $25 less a sq/ft than market sales prices for similar houses.

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I live up in the area that you're looking... look in Marengo.. look for a property with a trailer on it. sell the trailer, build there... you save alot of money because you don't ahve to deal with the water lines, electric, and septic... trust me, that's what I did and saved a ton of money. PM me if you need help or more info. Also check out the site http://www.auction.com
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I live in southern Delaware / Lewis Center; right by Glennross golf course.

 

With that said, property this far south is on the higher side, and lots of lots are suddenly popping up as investors seek to cash out on the current demand.

 

You will likely have to head a ways north to get a fair price.

 

JP also makes a fair point, right now it may actually make sense from a cost perspective to build, assuming you can get a plot for a fair price. Just do the math.

 

Builders, diyanni homes is building a home for a friend down the rd, he loves them, and says its been very easy. Another friend built with New England over in Powell and he had a good experience, it just took a fair amount more time then they estimated (pretty normal). American Heritage is building 4 doors down right now, I walked though it, looked decent, more builder grade stuff and menu shopping it seemed.

http://www.ich-builders.com/ Frank was and old customer of mine at IPS, he just built a house on our road, it was pretty nicely built and looked very nice inside.

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I live up in the area that you're looking... look in Marengo.. look for a property with a trailer on it. sell the trailer, build there... you save alot of money because you don't ahve to deal with the water lines, electric, and septic... trust me, that's what I did and saved a ton of money. PM me if you need help or more info. Also check out the site http://www.auction.com

 

I've seen several properties in Marengo that would be just about perfect but it's too far of a drive for me. I want to keep my commute to Marion under 30 minutes.

 

I'm not really looking for a custom home; I would probably just pick from a builders standard plan to try and keep the price down. Not sure if it's possible, but I would like to keep the total cost under $200k. Problem is I want a decent amount of land too, at least 2-3 acres at the minimum.

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I ran into the same problem up here in Avon. Its the best school district West of Cleveland and a boomtown right now. Every yuppy or 30 somthing with money wants to live there.

 

If you do it right, you can build for less than you can buy (the only time you should build IMO) I am building with K Hovnanian, and will come in around $25 less a sq/ft than market sales prices for similar houses.

 

Minus land cost what is your ballpark $/sqft?

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After hearing my friends experience building a house I would never want to work with a home builder.

 

There are a ton of horror issues with this house but to top it off when they put in their basement the walls caved in and they wanted to charge them another 50k $ to rip it our and start over. After that obstacle they poured the garage floor and cut the reliefs in and the center cut shoots off 10" to the right so it's not close to straight.

 

They sold their last house and have been living with family for almost a year getting this built.

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Indeed. Many builders charge around $140 per SF (as a base for first-floor-only). It goes cheaper if its second floor, over-garage, or basement space. That is also nicer finishes. I couldnt fathom it being below a hundred around here. Maybe if you do some things yourself.
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The big issue we ran into around Columbus and now again here in SC south of Charlotte is the restrictions. There's land everywhere, but only if your building a stick built home around 2500 sq ft. Some areas are allowing modulars and I'm not even talking about sub divisions.

 

Wife and I are talking about our next home here in NC and if we build anything again we will be contracting the project ourselves to save more money. That wouldn't be the best route for everyone, but between myself and my Dad we can get the work done right and have built several houses from the ground up ourselves.

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I've been looking to buy a house in the Marion/Waldo/Delaware area for about a year now and haven't really been able to find what I am looking for. I have bid on two foreclosures but was outbid by a small amount both times.

 

With the lack of inventory and high prices, I'm starting to think that maybe it might be better to just build. I'm looking for something on the smaller side; 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, around 1400-1900ft^2. Can anyone recommend a builder? Maybe share your experience? What to avoid? Not looking for a luxury build, just something solid that I can upgrade later if desired...

 

PS...I have a pretty strong construction loan available should you decide to go that route. :)

 

mstock@usavingsbank.com or 614-339-1206.

 

Thanks,

Marc

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Pre fab homes are they a bad deal? Thinking of putting one on some acres for cheap. Don't know really much about them.

 

A true modular home is not a bad product depending on the builder. If you buy a manufactured home (such a small difference it is ridiculous), you will have some trouble getting decent financing.

-Marc

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