Question for anyone who has lived in a new construction neighborhood (gated, work)

[Skipstone]

I am considering a neighborhood where the builder is just breaking ground and planning on 250 homes. And around the area hundreds of other new home developments are going in too.

Where the construction is going on it's dusty and dirty and of course much of the forest is being scraped from the landscape. If we decide to have a home built then we'll be the first in and the neighborhood won't be built out for 3-5 years.

Has anyone here lived in this kind of situation before? Did the construction noise, trucks going past leaving dust on the windows, and overall disarray get to you after a few months - so much so that you wished you had just purchased in an established neighborhood?

We can get a really nice house for the money in this area by a reputable builder. But we've always lived in quiet neighborhoods with plenty of trees. I know it would be a huge adjustment for us, but I'm sure it is for everybody.

If anyone here can give feedback on this I'd appreciate it. If you've lived in a new neighborhood being built from the ground up, how did you manage the hurdles?

[leighbhe]

we have purchased three "new" homes here are our experiences:

Home number 1:

New development, we were the 4th home, at that time we both worked. The thing that annoyed us was the mud. In this part of NC we have a lot of RED MUD. This particular neighborhood had a shoddy developer and he had to be prodded to put up the barriers that blocked the mud from running every place. After our garage (it was a detached garage in a charleston style neighborhood) filled with mud twice after rains he did make changes. For us, the construction was not so much an issue because we were not home all day. The real issue ended up being the developer changed the "plan" of the neighborhood from a cute smaller charleston type homes with custom builders doing small homes to a large production builder making cheaper homes. We didn't like how the neighborhood turned out, which made us count the days until we could move. We loved our house, but hated how the whole neighborhood turned out.

House number 2: the last home to built in a neighorhood. Completely different feel. Everyone kind of resented us because our lot had been a "cross through" from one part of the neighborhood to another! The people that had been in the neighborhood from the beginning were very close knit. We didn't end up "getting as much" of a profit out of our house because we were the last in.

House number 3: we were the 10th people to move in. there is a home being constructed on our culdesac. I do not work outside of the home, so I see all of the construction. Honestly, it has not been that bad. I don't notice the mud/dirt like I have in the past. I think part of it depends on how close the homes will be to each other though. If you are right on top of each other, then you probably will have more dirt. I think, moreso, you just have a lot of people in the neighborhood working on the homes and they might not take as much care of it as people who live there do (trash, etc). Some neighbors have complained about noise from radios that the people working on the homes have, but we haven't experienced that. In the spring and summer, the people working on the homes tend to work on weekends and later into the night. On the postive side, the house that is being built is on the market for 50k more than we paid for our house and we have been in our house for two years in may.

My sister is living in a neighborhood where she has three houses being built in her culdesac. Her kids are crazy for construction vehicles, so they are in heaven and spend hours at the window watching everything!

Leigh

[CAKD]

We have lived though it. The noise is definitely there but really nothing that I could not handle. Lets face it windows here are kept closed for about 98% of the year anyways. Dusty yes. Here I would imagine the red clay would be an issue in CA it was just dusty. Also be prepared for getting your car tires repaired a few times if not more. Construction sites are notorious for picking up nails. Our biggest issue was that the builder changed the plan after our first year in. Our neighborhood was supposed to have pocket parks for the kids, green ways, hiking trails etc. Once the economy picked up the builder decided it was much more in his interest and that of his pockets to cut out these things for more home sites. The gated communiyty ended up with 140 homes more instead of all the items promised. Plus we paid a homeowners which stayed even though the amenties were not delivered.