Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy
So I get the idea of $200K lots are out of the picture, I had a limited budget as well, the max was the cost of the current house, 1,200 sq ft living area single floor two car garage, $300K max. . . my wife walked into a model Begonia and said "I love this" (model selected) . . . as compared with a model home fully furnished at $380K with rain pond view, approximately 1,800+ sq ft. My gutteral response, NO! The following is in rounded numbers only, for your a conceptual directionally correct estimation purposes only.
So we bought $12 K lot next to $30-45K lots, and put the rest of the money into the house. Peek a boo pond view out the front, no houses across the street, facing an open area. Stretched the house by cost, not quite the max length (mistake 1). Stretched the lanai (not the max mistake 2) put the rest into the construction costs as discussed above, specifics below.
So not sure how much you are thinking you want to spend, don't really care, so final cost for 2,000 sq ft under air, 3 br with ceramic tile throughout the main house and baths, stretched garage 4 ft in length, and lanai 4 feet in width (House length) quartz counter tops in kitchen, medium size air conditioner, extra 4 plug outlets where TVs/entertainment centers would go in master bedroom, 3rd bedroom study, lanai and living room, no chandileres, central vacuum, small patio built out front for sitting to talk with neighbors, standard electric appliances, gas outlet for back pad gas grille, no furniture, $355K write the check.
When we compared this cost with spec houses for sale with their configurations, lot location, house size and floor coverings were the main factors for pricing. It was cheaper to build what we wanted for a house configuration on a cheap lot with higher perceived house value, versus higher lot with cheap base, and after market addons. I don't want to be a general contractor, getting bids, arguing etc. . . this is my retirement house, i want to spend time outside playing soccer and golfing and traveling, . . . its my SKI house. . . (Spending Kids Inheritance)
But the subtle point if you are intuitive, I spend almost as much on just the house as the furnished model home, and built a bigger house with no furniture as the smaller demo with $50K of furnishing. And yes, we then had to add $40K of furnishing as we listened to posters here, and left 95% of the New England house in New England. And selling the cold house will cover the mortgage on the TV house, which required a $100K down payment (20% for us for a lower mortgage rate)
So, as a finance professional who thinks in price to value terms and not in cost terms, in the whole package and not the sum of the parts, I still go back to the original point, figure out what you want, and use an estimate of a spec house and subtract 10% of spec sale for the cost buildup. . . so my spec house would price out at about $400K+. If you notice that spec house sale prices aren't using nearest 10s rounded up, there is an element of cost up pricing in their pricing models, which is lazy in my opinion, what then again, i am just an anonymous poster with an opinion. . .
soccerguy
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