Calling all Grand Home owners (cost, park, builders)

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by mlerno

I'm a prospective buyer north of Dallas. I have been looking at existing homes....but this thread has me wondering.
Do Grand Home only build in a new development.......or will they build on a lot that I decide to purchase? Does anyone know the cost of a ranch style build (average).

Thanks.

1 story homes cost more per sqft than 2 stories. I have sold many newer 1 stories that easily go $160-250$ / sqft just depending on the house and the builder.

1 stories have bigger slabs, more in slab plumbing, larger roofs, ect and a lot more things that cause the price to go higher. They require a much larger lot which is why Builders have trouble building larger 1 stories in todays world. The lots are too small.

[mlerno]

Thank you Rakin. Your info is great...I will keep it mind.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by mlerno

Thank you Rakin. Your info is great...I will keep it mind.

I just had a very good builder give me a ball park quote on a 1 story of 2300 sqft for slightly under $400k. I usually ask the Buyer if they would prefer to do a 1.5 story at least because adding that upstairs footage is cheap and it helps bring the cost per foot down considerably when you go to resale.

And it provides extra space for maybe the grand kids or quests.

[keribeth818]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I just had a very good builder give me a ball park quote on a 1 story of 2300 sqft for slightly under $400k. I usually ask the Buyer if they would prefer to do a 1.5 story at least because adding that upstairs footage is cheap and it helps bring the cost per foot down considerably when you go to resale.

And it provides extra space for maybe the grand kids or quests.

We LOVE our 1.5 story. The convenience of having all bedrooms downstairs and just a large bonus room and half bath upstairs. With our single story in Plano, the living room doubled as our playroom and had to be picked up every.single.night. With young kids, it's fantastic to have a play area out of view. It doubles as a media room for the grownups and again, isolating the noise while kids are sleeping/napping has been great.

[BigDGeek]

Off topic but I'm going to ask anyway....if your house is 20-30 years old, how can you tell who built it?

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Off topic but I'm going to ask anyway....if your house is 20-30 years old, how can you tell who built it?

Sometimes you can go to the tax records and see the history of the previous owners.

[TheOverdog]

I've actually always wondered that too. It's pretty hard to find the info on who built all the subdivisions around DFW unless you can find the actual plans for the neighborhood. It's somewhat rare for the news articles to be retained online for older homes.

[mastershake575]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Off topic but I'm going to ask anyway....if your house is 20-30 years old, how can you tell who built it?

Originally Posted by Rakin

Sometimes you can go to the tax records and see the history of the previous owners.

Every city has a government building for the "building inspection" division. They should either have a copy of the original builders permit or have a copy of the original homeowners inspection with the builders name on it

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Sometimes you can go to the tax records and see the history of the previous owners.

It shows two builders. Can I DM you?

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Off topic but I'm going to ask anyway....if your house is 20-30 years old, how can you tell who built it?

Originally Posted by Rakin

Sometimes you can go to the tax records and see the history of the previous owners.

What he said.


I looked up my childhood home in Plano before the days of large tract builders and was surprised to discover it had been built by Dave R Williams.