San Antonio property virgins ! (Kaufman, Murphy: sales, foreclosures, rental)

[anjr]

Hello !
We are planing to buy a house in the NW side of San Antonio. We were just browsing through the options online but we are confused. One of our main question to begin with is that should we buy a new house or buy a resale house? Which one works out cheaper? If you suggest buying a new house, please do suggest some trusty builder's name we can go for. Please share your experience here.

[firstclassflyer]

Originally Posted by anjr

Hello !
We are planing to buy a house in the NW side of San Antonio. We were just browsing through the options online but we are confused. One of our main question to begin with is that should we buy a new house or buy a resale house? Which one works out cheaper? If you suggest buying a new house, please do suggest some trusty builder's name we can go for. Please share your experience here.

DM on the way...

[TexasRedneck]

"Cheaper" is relative. A new home can be neat - fresh walls, paint, yard....oh, you wanted grass??? Different personalities will find different preferences - for myself, I like determining the look of the yard, rather than either trying to deal with what someone had done. That's not always as easy (or fun) as you might think - and there's definitely value in established landscaping, which is often overlooked.
Personally, anything built by Ray Ellison, Rayco, KB, Kaufman and Broad, or any of their offshoots, I'd avoid like the plague.

[majormadmax]

Get a good realtor, that will help you tremendously.

If you need a recommendation, let me know and I will DM you the name of one of SA's best...

Cheers! M2

[kevcrawford]

As several have said, get a good Realtor. There are too many variables to answer your question. The answer is basically "the house that fits your needs and budget". Once you sit down with a good Realtor, you'll get all that figured out.

[TexasRedneck]

Let me echo the vote for a good realtor - you often hear folks talk about how they don't earn their fees, but believe me - a GOOD one will in spades!!!!

Also - as you prepare to look, take a good HARD look at your budget. Many financial institutions will "qualify" you for some really high loan amounts. Keep in mind that it's up to YOU to make the payments - and all too often I see folks get into a mortgage that LOOKED good....until Murphy paid a visit. You should be debt free (or relatively so) before getting into a house - a car payment, maybe one credit card w/a 2-3k balance at most. That does two things, the most important of which is that it makes you look a lot more responsible to the financial folks that are going to be evaluating your ability to pay the note back.
When we built our house in NB, we were approved for up to $750k. I about choked!! There is NO way that we could've afforded those payments long-term if even ONE problem cropped up. We settled on a MUCH smaller mortgage w/40k down. Did we buy less house than we could have? Yeah - but y'know what? That was 6 years ago - and now we've got less than 6 years left on this note because we've been able to make extra payments along the way with the "extra" money that we didn't need for a larger mortgage. So, if you come across a realtor that suggests you "stretch yourself" on a house, find another realtor, because they are NOT keeping your best interests at heart.

[scuba steve]

BTW don't go for what's cheaper. You'll serve yourself a whole lot better by going with something that's a better overall value. Going cheap for the sake of numbers is rarely the best solution.

[sawatchdog]

Now a days....new homes are almost priced the same as pre-owned home....we decided to go *New* because of the incentives the builder offered, such as help with closing, money for upgrades, etc. we also loved the fact that our home has a warranty so coming from a rental we didnt have to worry about costly repairs....

on a side note: no one has ever clipped their toe nails in my carpet...LOL its just nice to know!



I found this for you....

Today’s best: Today's floor plans offer up-to-date plans and features for your lifestyle.

Built for You- Pride inherent in being the first owner of a brand new home, which is an expression of your decisions on community location, options, decorating, style and landscaping.

Rest easy: Resale homes and Foreclosures have hidden costs. Unanticipated repairs and renovations come out of your pocket. You don't have to worry about replacing old carpeting and counter tops as well as aging appliances and roofs.

Greater efficiency: Built for a greener world, new home efficiency saves you money. New homes are more energy efficient. Due to better windows, more efficient heating and cooling equipment, better control of air infiltration and greater use of insulation, new homes are twice as energy efficient as homes built prior to 1980.

Health- New homes are healthier because asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials have been eliminated from home building products

Lower insurance: New home purchasers often enjoy savings on homeowner’s insurance premiums

Quality construction: Today’s more stringent construction standards mean new homes meet tougher structural requirements.

Wired for today: Up-to-date electrical means safer operation, more outlets and the ability to handle the latest in computer, cable and phone service.

Warranty: New homes come with a warranty that will cover the home ownership costs that can be as simple as touching up nail pops and paint or as major as roof leaks and air conditioning system repairs.

Personalize your home for you: If you buy a new home you can customize to your wants and desires. You will have a choice of flooring, countertops and cabinets to your taste. Rather than making due with someone else's choices, you have the advantage of living in a home and a neighborhood that truly reflects your taste, lifestyle and personality

Competitive Pricing: Another benefit of buying a new home is the special incentives Builders offer to assist buyers. Some of these incentives, such as $$$ for design upgrades and help with closing costs, can save you thousands of dollars and make it easier for you to move into your new home! No need to negotiate with a seller for closing cost assistance!

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by sawatchdog

Today’s best: Today's floor plans offer up-to-date plans and features for your lifestyle.

Built for You- Pride inherent in being the first owner of a brand new home, which is an expression of your decisions on community location, options, decorating, style and landscaping.

Rest easy: Resale homes and Foreclosures have hidden costs. Unanticipated repairs and renovations come out of your pocket. You don't have to worry about replacing old carpeting and counter tops as well as aging appliances and roofs.

Greater efficiency: Built for a greener world, new home efficiency saves you money. New homes are more energy efficient. Due to better windows, more efficient heating and cooling equipment, better control of air infiltration and greater use of insulation, new homes are twice as energy efficient as homes built prior to 1980.

Health- New homes are healthier because asbestos, lead and other hazardous materials have been eliminated from home building products

Lower insurance: New home purchasers often enjoy savings on homeowner’s insurance premiums

Quality construction: Today’s more stringent construction standards mean new homes meet tougher structural requirements.

Wired for today: Up-to-date electrical means safer operation, more outlets and the ability to handle the latest in computer, cable and phone service.

Warranty: New homes come with a warranty that will cover the home ownership costs that can be as simple as touching up nail pops and paint or as major as roof leaks and air conditioning system repairs.

Personalize your home for you: If you buy a new home you can customize to your wants and desires. You will have a choice of flooring, countertops and cabinets to your taste. Rather than making due with someone else's choices, you have the advantage of living in a home and a neighborhood that truly reflects your taste, lifestyle and personality

Competitive Pricing: Another benefit of buying a new home is the special incentives Builders offer to assist buyers. Some of these incentives, such as $$$ for design upgrades and help with closing costs, can save you thousands of dollars and make it easier for you to move into your new home! No need to negotiate with a seller for closing cost assistance!

Okay....no hard feelings, but this is obviously copied from a sales pitch. Nothing personal, but some of it is BS IMO.

Roofs/countertops - yeah, they MAY be older...but that can easily be factored into the purchase price. And appliances and carpets included by most builders are typically at the very bottom of their food chain - cheap and built to last long enough to get out of warranty. Remember that they put a profit on everything that's put into the house - so that it's often cheaper to have them NOT install their stuff, and just supply your own (most builders don't want to do that, and I don't blame them - but it IS added cost).

Greater efficiency? Yeah - to an extent. But most homes built in the past 20 years have been built to higher efficiency standards. Maybe it's not *the* highest, but the average owner will not see really significant differences, in my experience. Also, remember that they recently found that some homes were TOO tight, and not allowing enough air transfer for proper ventilation.

"Healthier"?? C'mon....lead paint was outlawed in the 70's - and even that can be protected simply by painting over it with a good paint. Same with asbestos. Lead in the pipes - that was primarily solder, and that was outlawed back in the 80's IIRC. And because it's a new product doesn't mean it's gonna be healthier - just ask the folks with the Chinese sheetrock that was found to be acidic!

Lower insurance? Yep - but that's not really THAT big a deal in my experience...and eventually, it goes away as the house gets older.

Quality construction? Horse apples!! I've seen a LOT more shoddy workmanship over the years as cheaper labor replaced the true craftsmen! And believe me - the touted "home inspectors" aren't going to begin to catch it all - they sure didn't on THIS house, and it was built a LOT better than many out there.

Wiring? Better keep an eye on the stuff they use - many went to 14 gauge wiring, while the old standard was 12 gauge. And frankly, most of the older homes seemed to have more outlets than what we saw on the new ones. To be sure - the newer ones WILL have more prewiring for cable, etc.

Warranty? You can buy extended warranties on anything - including a house.

Personalize the house? Yeah - as long as it's a paint color or cabinet/counter top! We spent almost 6 years to find a builder that would build whatever we were willing to pay for without having to go to a straight custom builder. We had 3 pages of changes/upgrades - everything from 3-car garage with windows where *I* wanted 'em, to double oven, island kitchen, etc. Most of the builders have pre-drawn plans, and refuse to do *any* structural alterations to those plans. Ours redesigned more stuff than I can begin to tell you, and at a reasonable price - but they're the only ones I'm aware of that do so.

Insofar as the pricing....my son and DIL are in the process of buying an existing home at about $58/sq ft. My nephew is closing on one at about $40/sq ft. The sons' place will need about 5k to bring it up to "very nice" (about 2 bucks a sq ft). The nephew, about 30k - about $10/sq ft. Both have existing and established yards and landscaping....please show a builder that compares on that price.

So.....read past the hype, decide what is important for YOU - then move forward. Just don't let someone else fool you!

[LindaGrace]

Awesome post, TexasRedneck.