Walk me through the process of buying a tear down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm on my second, more modest almost tear down. The key, for us, was downsizing. We were moving from a $800,000 house with only $200,000 left on our mortgage. We took out a home equity line of credit and our a loan from our TSP. We could reasonably carry the interest payments and our mortgage. Bought a place for $220,000. My husband managed the whole project, created architectural drawing for the new house, hired an engineer to check on the sizing and roof trusses, and submitted it for permitting (actually a few times, because we wanted to expand the footprint, but needed a variance, and instead decided to build up). Used the HELOC and loan to hire a framer to remove most of the old house and frame out the new. Hired out plumbing, worked with an electrician to upgrade the panel and rewire, a different contractor for siding and windows, another for roofing, one for drywall, etc. My husband handled the entire interior finish work - flooring, painting, tiling, bathroom and kitchen installation. We got it done in a year. He mostly worked on in evenings and used up some vacation time from his real job. My daughter helped for one summer pretty full-time. I managed purchasing and choosing lighting, toilets, sinks, tiling, etc. with my husbands input. Love my house, love the neighborhood. We are all-in at $435,000. Used the equity to partially offset college costs, but the no mortgage payments help us as well. Buying the house was no different from any other purchase we've made on a house, except for that we could make an all cash offer, since we were just writing a check from our HELOC. That made it go a little faster.

Your HELOC is not “free” is it? Did you not pay interest on the carry balance? There is no free loan, even from oneself. BTY, $450k is really cheap -
even a builder grade plastic box will set you back $700-800k today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s very expensive these days. Unless you want a fugazi toll brothers looking house made of plastic and vinyl and garbage, expect to pay at least $300 a square foot. Building with natural materials like real wood, wood or metal windows, slate / tin / copper roof, and nice real finishes has gotten astronomically expensive. There are builders that will build you the toll brothers / Mc-craftsman / Mc-modern farmhouse for less, but I personally would not want to throw 7 figures at that not including the lot — much better to renovate a well built house unless you truly have deep pockets.

+1. General contractor here. Don’t get why some people spend much energy and
resources to build a “builder grade” custom residence when purchasing an existing builder
grade is often the most practical, cost effective, less stressful experience. Not worth it
if you pay for a lot then cheapen the whole deal with an NDI, Evergreene, etc building.

Location/neighborhood, of course. But also, UMC are always trying to fill their idle time with...something. "Building your own house" is a constant brag about and way to piss away free time.

[Anonymous]

Aren't all homes being torn down and rebuilt all "builder grade"? Are you saying to do your own general contracting to source the materials yourself or what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't all homes being torn down and rebuilt all "builder grade"? Are you saying to do your own general contracting to source the materials yourself or what?

Builder grade = sub par quality = healthy builder profits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s very expensive these days. Unless you want a fugazi toll brothers looking house made of plastic and vinyl and garbage, expect to pay at least $300 a square foot. Building with natural materials like real wood, wood or metal windows, slate / tin / copper roof, and nice real finishes has gotten astronomically expensive. There are builders that will build you the toll brothers / Mc-craftsman / Mc-modern farmhouse for less, but I personally would not want to throw 7 figures at that not including the lot — much better to renovate a well built house unless you truly have deep pockets.

+1. General contractor here. Don’t get why some people spend much energy and
resources to build a “builder grade” custom residence when purchasing an existing builder
grade is often the most practical, cost effective, less stressful experience. Not worth it
if you pay for a lot then cheapen the whole deal with an NDI, Evergreene, etc building.

This. Unless you can spend $300+ per square foot on a properly built custom residence, don't waste your time. You will end up overspending on a dime a dozen plastic Mc Craftsman. Find a solid built home from the 20's-50's and spend the money to add a solidly built addition using real materials, none of this plastic garbage, and enjoy living in a well built home.