New Construction Homes (Islip, Babylon, Levittown: for sale, how much, custom home)

[BC1234LI]

Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[nyc_sport]

Building your own home is far more expensive than buying an existing home, even new construction, uless you are "building" buy buying into a new development that has undeveloped lots and existing home plans. Builders putting together a larger development can build homes cheaper by using the same (or similar) plans, and buying all of the basic lumber, siding, flooring, fixtures, etc. in bulk (and, usually, of mediocre quality).

Another problem with building on your own, which I am experiencing currently, is that you inevitably when given the choice are not going to want those contractor grade tiles, hardwood, vanities, cabinets, etc., and that adds up VERY quickly. A well-built custom home is going to cost $250+ per square foot, and that does not include plans, land, permitting, landscaping, etc.

[twingles]

I can't even imagine that you could find land, get the plans, and build a house in any of those areas for your budget. Like pp said, construction is about $250 sq/foot, so you are talking about a 1000 square foot house when all is said and done. Not really worth it, IMHO. Like pp said you get the most basic of everything if you go lower of that and it's not worth it - why build new and then put crap in for tiles, doors, cabinets, etc?

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by BC1234LI

Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Honestly, for what you want you need to significantly increase your budget. Plus take into account the property taxes are always higher on new builds.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by BC1234LI

Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Does your $430K ceiling figure in for land? If not, have you checked out prices of vacant lots in those areas?
Taxes on new construction are typically higher than on existing homes.
As someone else has written -- when your in the thick of construction, you're going to find yourself wanting upgrades and it's going to add up.

[BC1234LI]

Thanks for the info. We didn't think it would be possible to do this, but wanted to find out some info anyway, since we're not having too much luck with homes that are already around.

[jpg71]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

Plus take into account the property taxes are always higher on new builds.

This fact alone usually makes new construction on Long Island hard to swallow. As others have said already, complete custom building is going to require considerably more funding than what the OP is looking at. New development with pre-established plans are definitely less expensive, but the only developments like that are not going to be in the areas you're considering, or are going to be cost prohibitive if at all.

I bought into a new development with pre-established plans in another state, and after I added in all the options I wanted, the final price was 30% more than the base, and that was being very conservative.

[Chrisk327]

I haven't priced out getting someone to build me a house, but $250 sqft is high.

just going by the houses I've seen new construction for sale in towns by me, they hover in the 550-650 range and are around 2400 sqft. if it cost them $250sqft to build, then they're already at $600K without the land.

430K in those towns seems low for getting anything new construction. I seem to remeber seeing in west babylon new construction houses running in the mid-high 4s.

judgeing by the towns you picked it doesn't seem like you should have a real hard time finding something nice around $430K in some of the less expensive areas. From your highest to lowest area, I'd bet the swing on the same house would run 100K-150K

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by Chrisk327

I haven't priced out getting someone to build me a house, but $250 sqft is high.

just going by the houses I've seen new construction for sale in towns by me, they hover in the 550-650 range and are around 2400 sqft. if it cost them $250sqft to build, then they're already at $600K without the land.

430K in those towns seems low for getting anything new construction. I seem to remeber seeing in west babylon new construction houses running in the mid-high 4s.

judgeing by the towns you picked it doesn't seem like you should have a real hard time finding something nice around $430K in some of the less expensive areas. From your highest to lowest area, I'd bet the swing on the same house would run 100K-150K

$250sqft is not what it costs the builder to build the home. It's what the builder charges the customer. However, you could probably get it lower than that. My aunt got plans priced for a home she wanted to build out east on LI and it was $220sqft. It is less in developments because they are buying large plots of land and multiple fixtures, not single lots and enough fixtures for only a single house. So, as someone else posted here, if you want your spot built house fitted out with better than the typical "builder generic" stuff, you will pay more.