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There are homes inside the beltline in Raleigh with land-to-structure percentages of 50% or close to it. You can burn down any sort of structure on them tomorrow and they're still worth a great deal. Now take the amount of money it's going to take to maintain the house that sits on them over the next couple of decades and tell me which one provides the better return.
You don't even have to go ITB to find those sorts of percentages. I just ran the quick calculation on my family home in north Raleigh and it's over 47%.
Try finding a decent vacant lot in the Triangle! All the big tracts are being bought by LLCs for big bucks, then the LLCs sell out to developers for bigger bucks. Small, desirable home building lots are just about non-existent unless they are going for over 100K per acre, which means they are in an area destined to become higher density soon. Also, if you buy a lot with a teardown on it you will usually end up in a neighborhood of deteriorating homes.
But I could be wrong. If so what areas still have these desirable 0.5 to 2 acre lots?
There are neighborhoods in North Raleigh with large lots. For example...Wood Valley. You will get an older home. Some have been updated, some have not.
You have a choice...brand new home on smaller lot of large lot with older home. Price $350's to $500's.
Or if you don't want to spend more, there are a couple of homes on Howard Road (Stonehenge) for sale on l/2 acre for $255,000. Again, older home, desirable n'hood, desirable location, larger lots.
And these are just 2 in North Raleigh. Plenty in other areas too.
If you want a brand new home and can't spend more than $250K, you may need to check out Clayton (just one area, for example) or Youngsville.
This is where YOU have choices...
If your budget is $200K and you want l/2 acre, there are choices for you.
You want 2 acres? Look at Brassfield Woods...$235,000. That is one of about 800 that came up in a quick search that I just did.
You don't want an HOA? There are plenty of homes that aren't in subdivisions for you.
Choices. There are plenty.
Just recently showed a single family detached home on over l/3 acre in Wake Forest, in a HOA n'hood. About $400,000. Buyer was THRILLED that he could pay $96 per month to have his yard taken care of. Many people would not want to pay to have their yard taken care of BUT...here was an entire section of homes on decent size lots, not townhomes, with someone else to take care of your yard!
It begins to be more frustrating when buyers want to set the price, condition, features, location, and value without reference to the fact that markets determine value, ergo, Price.
There is plenty of vacant land on the market, like Vicki says.
Sellers have a firm voice in what it sells for, if at all.
But vickiR, try finding a building lot, or an experienced builder to build on it. It is getting harder and harder, I'm sure. It seems that builders are buying the smaller lots (.3 to 1 acre) and building spec houses for the most part.
You don't even have to go ITB to find those sorts of percentages. I just ran the quick calculation on my family home in north Raleigh and it's over 47%.
Yes, I didn't mean to imply ITB is the only area for good long-term investment properties, I just selected it as a familiar example. 47% is a good number to have in the calculation, it represents that a high percentage of the appreciable value is likely to continue to appreciate long-term without investment of repairs or improvements, that's a good place to put your money.
But vickiR, try finding a building lot, or an experienced builder to build on it. It is getting harder and harder, I'm sure. It seems that builders are buying the smaller lots (.3 to 1 acre) and building spec houses for the most part.
I think it would be very easy to find an experienced builder to build on a lot.
If you own the lot, and pay as you go with draws on stages, after a significant deposit, builders will jump at the chance.
If you want the builder to be the bank for the lot and the improvements, it gets a little more difficult.
Reward follows acceptance of risk. Take the risk off the builder and reap the rewards.
But vickiR, try finding a building lot, or an experienced builder to build on it. It is getting harder and harder, I'm sure. It seems that builders are buying the smaller lots (.3 to 1 acre) and building spec houses for the most part.
I agree that you had a better chance of finding a lot a couple of years ago, when builders were hurting from the slowdown.
Nowadays, builders see a parcel of land and they "court" the owners until they agree to sell. Or they wait until grandma and grandpa pass and use their "relationship" with the family to purchase the land from the heirs.
There are development companies that do nothing but find land to be developed.
Most people prefer to be in a neighborhood as opposed to being alone, on a piece of property. Larger neighborhoods have parks and pools and trails and common area that neighbors share and don't have to maintain.
But...if you are the person that wants that piece of property and don't mind what is around you, such as mobile homes, farms, industry, etc., it is out there.
A quick search of lots in Wake County that are .33 acre to 2 acres just got me 816 parcels on MLS, starting price...$15,500.
There were 2 lots on Strickland Road. I never even noticed them until they started clearing them and by that time, Robuck had them! Prime location. Looks like he built 2 pre-sales. I would guess price was in the $400K to $500K for the finished homes. Lots looked to be l/3 to l/2 acre.
There's a difference between a 3000sf postage stamp, and 5+ acres for utility.
In my opinion, no lot should be under 0.25 acre. It makes for ugly neighborhoods with no vegetation or character. Save that for condos/townhouses. 0.25-0.5 acre is the sweet spot. There's many lots of this size in the area with very little actual lawn/yard to take care of. But you get that nice tree buffer.
Being on the introverted side, I don't like to have to engage in conversation with four of my neighbors every time I run out to my car, or grab the mail. Again that's personal preference, and I can see the other side for people who enjoy that type of thing.
Small lots benefit the builder the most, there's no denying that.
Truly, you cannot be serious.
Half, or more, residents of the Triangle wants to minimize sprawl, and increase density. Small lots.
Many buyers, a great many, want small lots.
Your problem is solved, however. No one will make you purchase a lot smaller than a quarter acre, or live in a neighborhood that doesn't fit your individual esthetic.
I like that you have that freedom of choice, just as I like that people who feel differently from you also have legitimate choices.
I'm in North Raleigh, on a little less than 1/3 of an acre, with a heavily treed backyard. I actually want some trees cut down but hubby has not agreed. I think my backyard is like a forest but hubby says it cuts down on the A/C bill.
I'm on a corner so I only have 1 next door neighbor. That being said, my nice neighbors moved about 5 years ago. Neighbors that moved in are from Florida and cut down almost every tree in their backyard.
Had no problems with them until he lost his job. He has come over twice to tell me that my dog is barking. Once was at 6 PM and once was a day I was working from home...it was 12 noon.
So...now I'm thinking...an acre or two would be nice!!!
I'm not sure if any of my friends/family "back home" would be jealous of a super nice house on a postage stamp lot, as they're all rocking their 0.5 - 1 acre lots.
We came here, bought a house built in the 90's with 0.25 acres. We could have bought new construction for slightly more, but that wasn't what we wanted, nor the reason we moved here.
What my friends/family *will* be jealous of, is when my wife and I retire 5-10 years earlier, all while living in a warmer climate with less traffic better quality of life.
I think we made a good investment. IMO, buying a new McMansion with no land, is like buying a new car. It's not your house that appreciates, it's the land. If you look at real estate up north where housing stock is old, it's the land that's worth the money, not the house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TarHeelNick
My dad has been in the homebuilding business in the Triangle for over 20 years....in the very high-end market. The features people are considering "must haves" for the mcmansion on a postage-stamp in the $350-$500k range now are things that his clients in the $2-$4 million range would have considered "a nice bonus" 10 years ago.
It wasn't that long ago that only a commercial grade Appliance was stainless, now you can buy entry level stainless appliances. Likewise with the price of granite.
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