Building a new house - realistic budget (Bedford) (Essex: construction loan, home builders)
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Looking for some feedback and any info that would help in making our decision. We are thinking of buying a 1300-1600sq ft. cape house in Bedford, MA with a .8 - 1 arc lot size, and rebuild it to a 2 floor ~2800-3000 sq ft (unfinished basement) house that will fit our family. Seems like capes are going around 500-600k, we are unsure of what the costs would be to get the house we want. Our total budget is around $1.1m-1.2m (we have have a down payment of 40% of that, as i know lender require reserves for construction loans).
With the current market, it’s harder and harder to find larger houses in the metro west area. Too many buyers and too many over bids. Seems like small capes in the area aren’t going as aggressively. Before we get too excited and reach out to GCs, we’re trying to figure out if it will even work within our budget.
Honestly, I see a lot of houses and doubling the size of a house through an addition rarely comes out nicely IMO. Why? Because people often don't make the two parts of the house match (ex. addition has GIANT rooms with 10 ft ceilings while the original part of the house has teeny tiny rooms with 7 foot ceilings). To really make an addition work well you're likely completely gutting the original house as well. All of this is going to add up in terms of cost quite quickly. My guess is $600K isn't going to do it (at least right with a builder who does good quality work).
I agree. Your likely looking at gutting the entire original house to make the addition seem part of the original floor plan. Right now is also a time where building materials are in short supply and at inflated prices, so contraction costs will be at a premium, likely through end of year at the minimum.
Well, if the house is already 1.5 stories but the second floor is unfinished, then the basic structure, including the fitting of the 1st-to-2nd story staircase into the layout is already there... if it doesn't have dormers upstairs, you might add a big shed dormer (most usable space per dollar spent). Moreover, if it's in crap shape, then it shouldn't cost that much to purchase, and you won't be discarding as much value in the renovations. This to me is the ideal starting point for a project like you seem to be considering.
But if it's a random 1-story house, in decent condition, and you want to turn that into a like-new 2-story house, I'd say don't do it. Much better off getting a 2-story or 1.5 story house that's already close to what you want.
I don't think you are going to find a Cape in Bedford in the $5-600K range. That's what builders are paying for teardown lots.
Most likely, you are going to buy something to tear down for $600K and spending $300-350/sq. ft. constructing a new house. You'll be into it for $1.5 - might as well buy something recently built.
I built several homes in the early 2000s in northern Essex County and I have been involved in a few extensive remodeling projects since then. To be honest, your budget is substantially short for Bedford. It is almost always more cost effective to tear down and build new when you are looking at doubling the size of an existing home. robr2 is probably pretty close with his cost estimates in the current market. If you can sit tight for 2 years or so, you will most likely find some better values. For example, lumber costs are up 80% year over year due to increased demand from homeowner projects and natural disasters and COVID related supply chain shortages.
I built several homes in the early 2000s in northern Essex County and I have been involved in a few extensive remodeling projects since then. To be honest, your budget is substantially short for Bedford. It is almost always more cost effective to tear down and build new when you are looking at doubling the size of an existing home. robr2 is probably pretty close with his cost estimates in the current market. If you can sit tight for 2 years or so, you will most likely find some better values. For example, lumber costs are up 80% year over year due to increased demand from homeowner projects and natural disasters and COVID related supply chain shortages.
Absolutely. If you're already talking about gutting the existing house and putting up an addition that will double the size of the house, you might as well just teardown and start fresh. It's usually cheaper/simpler to do that.
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