Buying New or old (real estate market, rental, first time home buyer)

[sweetana3]

I visited friends at the subdivision close to Zionsville off 334 and that was the same comment we had. Every single house was the same design with tiny changes in the look of the porch or the siding. It was like looking at the worst in cheap subdivisions. Just an expensive samo samo subdivison.

However, our friends liked the people in the neighborhood neighborhood and the diversity of ethnicity they found in that particular subdivision. They had met many of their neighbors and had only been there a short time.

You have to be careful choosing options if buying new because there is such a range. If you go cheap, then at resale you will often not show well against the other similar outside looking houses that have chosen more upscale options. And almost everything was an option so beware the base price.

[ImGibby]

Originally Posted by Alien!

We are in process of buying a home in Carmel. We looked at every single builder, looked at their homes, homesites, floor plans, neighborhoods, talked to many local people, etc. At the end decided to simply buy a ready one, simply because my wife got tired of looking around for builders!! Among production builder, we found that Pulte homes are the best (prestige and therefore resale), then comes in order: Estridge and Drees. I personally didn't like Estridge, just because I found it very "dirty" buisiness-oriented builder! they try to attract people with any trick, that I don't like. (simply personal opinion). It has been my feeling, and other people's experience that Ryland homes are "okay" and affordable, I think they are better than Davis or others. There also is a guy "Paul Shoopman" previous owner of Centex who is building semi-custom homes, his homes are nice as far as outside look and the amenities, but for some reason our realtor (who has 20 years experience) isn't very fan of this builder. The other semi-custom builder that I think builds reasonable homes is Silverthorne.

I personally think that Ryland and Pulte build very comparable products. Every production builder has different "levels" of homes, so make sure that you are comparing similarly priced homes in comparable neighborhoods when trying to compare one builder to another.

I have recently become familiar with the Paul Shoopman homes, and have been impressed with what I have seen. Don't know much about the way they operate / customer service etc. but the quality appears to be there.

[ImGibby]

As far as resale, it doesnt matter too much right now in this market who the builder is. You likely are going to run into problems getting what you think it's worth, particuarly with newer homes, and espically if there are still lots available in the neighborhood where someone can build a new home for about the same price they could buy an existing home for. All these new neoghborhoods have "artificial" value when they are being developed, thats the risk of building new. Until the neighborhood gets established, you wont truely know what the home values are going to be.

I have a friend that lives in a Pulte home in Noblesville that is only 2-3 yrs old, and he is relocating to MD and will be putting his home on the market, we are all curious to see what he gets out of it! The neighborhood has Pulte & Ryland homes in it. The Pulte section is closed out, but Ryland is still building, and as a matter of fact just recently started a new section. This will likely have some affect on what he can expect to sell his for, because he will be competing with the builder, although it's a different builder, but the houses from the 2 builders in that neighbohood are very comparable.

[domergurl]

Shoopman used to own Dura, which I never heard good things about. Sold the company to KB Homes, which up and pulled out of the area completely before the end of the year.

[ImGibby]

Here is an example of what impressed me about Shoopmans homes...these are pictures of the mechanical room which is on the second floor. Rather than simply putting a drip pan under the Furnace and water heater, they used sheet metal and caulking to essentialy turn the entire floor into a drip pan. Anything that leaks in that room will be contained to that room and the floor drain will prevent it from overflowing. This is a brilliant idea, and a lot of builders, especiall production builders, are not going to spent the extra time or money to do such a thing.

This, among some other subtle differences, really impressed me about the quality and pride this builder apparantly puts into his homes. Just some food for thought.

[domergurl]

Maybe if he's getting away from production homes like he built with Dura, he can do more of what you describe above.

[ImGibby]

That's what I'm thinking. From what I've seen he's currently building communities from about $300k and up. A little different target market than Dura.

[Michelle Morris]

Realtor Magazine reported today that builders are cutting out extras to try to stay profitable, so as they say in the article, "if you don't like cookie cutter subdivisions, you won't like the next couple years."

Link here

[Armyofafew]

I've been in Fishers for 3 years and the property value just keeps growing. According to the census lady on my doorstep a few months ago(however accurate that is) the city was expecting to hit 80,000-90,000 people by the end of 2008 if it keeps growing, and its expected to keep growing until 2012 or so. Property, in one of the safest communities in our area, wil lbe the factor. Much like anyone moving here, we looked for a big yard(.3 acre or more) first, then decided on the house. Most people that migrate here are professionals who are use to having large yards and nice homes in their previous community. Don't bother buying something with a small yard backed up to someone elses back door. No one will buy it on the resale, thats obvious if you look at all the homes on realtor.com for fishers. A lot of those that have been on there for 6 month or more have tiny yards and wonderful houses.

llocation location...size.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Armyofafew

I've been in Fishers for 3 years and the property value just keeps growing. According to the census lady on my doorstep a few months ago(however accurate that is) the city was expecting to hit 80,000-90,000 people by the end of 2008 if it keeps growing, and its expected to keep growing until 2012 or so. Property, in one of the safest communities in our area, wil lbe the factor. Much like anyone moving here, we looked for a big yard(.3 acre or more) first, then decided on the house. Most people that migrate here are professionals who are use to having large yards and nice homes in their previous community. Don't bother buying something with a small yard backed up to someone elses back door. No one will buy it on the resale, thats obvious if you look at all the homes on realtor.com for fishers. A lot of those that have been on there for 6 month or more have tiny yards and wonderful houses.

llocation location...size.

The proof in the pudding is when one actually tries to resale a house. Our Fishers house appreciated only because we bought it for a song. Most friends who have bought and sold, at best, broke even.