What areas for new houses? (Napa, Sonoma: how much, custom home, to buy)

[Gidget]

Hi All

We live in southern California in a small valley where my husband has been building houses, one home at a time, no big developments. Problem here is that land has gotten so expensive (postage stamp lots are going for $300k and up ) that there is no way to make a living building houses. What areas in northern California might somebody be able to build and sell homes still? For instance, I know land is relatively cheap around Clear Lake but is the area growing enough to support new housing? We are definitely not focused on Clear Lake, it's just an example.

We do want to end up in northern CA one way or the other. Thanks for any input!

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Sorry I can't answer your question - we live in Europe and wish to buy a second home in Southern California, preferably new. Can you tell me a bit about the houses your husband builds? Where in Southern Cal have you built - are you still building there? If not too nosey - how much are your houses selling for, square footage? Maybe this is not the right forum to ask those kind of questions - but your comment caught my eye.

[NYSD1995]

It's tough because there has been so much building in recent years. An idea would be to find an area which is not overbuilt with tract homes but is attracting wealthy people who would want custom homes. Somewhere like the Russian River area, maybe Marin/Sonoma/Napa, maybe Tahoe?

[Gidget]

Hiya California Dreamer. There are many, many variables for cost of building a house, for instance, type of materials, terrain, and accessibility of materials. For a general, vague, ballpark figure you probably would be paying at least $150 a square foot. That's not counting the land. We are in southern CA.