building a house in plano. am i a dummy? or is this a great deal?

[rosscountry]

if you are happy with the price go for it.
If you want a better deal you can always get that as there are PLENTY of homes in the area. B/C of pro-development and lax land restrictions Dallas will continue to be a buyers market. I think people here are happy about the fact they can buy a home and comfortable live in it for years. If you are buying to flip it then definitely keep looking. The HOA dues are like hidden costs. They can increase in a year or 2 and some times have special assessments.

Things that could jack up your HOA: Gated entrance(private communities) have to pick up the costs to road damage/ improvements.
Community Pools or parks can be costly with repairs and insurance. If this is managed by the city vs. the HOA then you don't have to worry about it.

I used to be a board member on an HOA and walked into a budget nightmare after the HOA before us didn't calculate some of the things I mentioned above. It resulted in many home owners putting up for sale signs because they didn't plan on some of those "increases" that tend to happen with some POA's and HOA's.

[Eric Fred Norris]

Originally Posted by rosscountry

if you are happy with the price go for it.
If you want a better deal you can always get that as there are PLENTY of homes in the area. B/C of pro-development and lax land restrictions Dallas will continue to be a buyers market. I think people here are happy about the fact they can buy a home and comfortable live in it for years. If you are buying to flip it then definitely keep looking. The HOA dues are like hidden costs. They can increase in a year or 2 and some times have special assessments.

Things that could jack up your HOA: Gated entrance(private communities) have to pick up the costs to road damage/ improvements.
Community Pools or parks can be costly with repairs and insurance. If this is managed by the city vs. the HOA then you don't have to worry about it.

I used to be a board member on an HOA and walked into a budget nightmare after the HOA before us didn't calculate some of the things I mentioned above. It resulted in many home owners putting up for sale signs because they didn't plan on some of those "increases" that tend to happen with some POA's and HOA's.

the HOA is like 150/month, it covers an amenity center, landscaping of your front yard and common areas. have been no assurances as to how stable that's going to be .... so yeah

Originally Posted by Tejar50

Every builder, every realtor you're dealing with---make sure
you do background checks. Don't take anything at face value.
Google my friend. Do you really need to build a new house?
I bet you there are some good deals in Plano already for move in. There
was a big boom in house building not long ago, it got overly saturated and
then folks started movingto the next popular place.
Look around...you may find an ideal home already
built and much cheaper. Good luck!

have looked for awhile in the general central/east plano area, nothing appealed to me as much as building there. there aren't any other semi-custom garden homes in the area that are really close to the light rail station, so close to the nature preserve and close to that asian shopping center.

i feel good about my decision ... so far, that is

Originally Posted by loves2read

if you are set on continuing with this build--you can't wait to have ONE inspection prior to closing--there are problems with internal construction/slab/wiring/plumbing that will be concealed when the sheetrock goes up and makes problems known after the fact...

have staged inspections to coincide with items like pouring the slab/wiring for electric/plumbing/framing
make sure your window installation is checked before brick goes up--that is very tender point with some builders who do no put in correct flashing (and forget about the CITY inspectors doing anything positive like tellking builders to take something out and redo it...does not happen)...

agreed, i need to hire an inspector for that ... got any suggestions, anyone?

[sarahTX]

I've had several clients cancel their contracts at Oakpointe for various reasons. We signed a contract in June 2006 and when the product was done, they had stripped down the unit and we had to fight for "standard" items that they were claiming were "upgrades now". I didn't feel comfortable having my clients purchase something that we believe to be sub-par construction, especially the more important things behind the walls. In addition, the power lines are going to be hard for resale. The topography itself is very nice with the nature preserve surrounding it, close to DARt and Asia World Market, but for resale and construction quality, I would not recommend that subdivision. There is another subdivision right across the street called Glenwood and you can get something comparable over there. I've sold 15 homes with Wall Homes and know they will deliver a great house. Another newer subdivision is the Villas of Stoney Hollow, right next to Plano Senior East. Be sure to do get your CMAs to compare the value. Builders have a tendency of marking up their prices and then giving away "specials" to make you feel like you are getting a deal. You have to compare it to comparable properties in the area.