Buying a house in Cinco Ranch (sales, real estate, neighborhoods)

[dtshd]

I found a floor plan that I like in Cinco Ranch. But the sales person is only giving me the standard discount and a specific amount of free upgrade at the design center. When I pushed for more, I was told since I will be building the house from scratch, there is no more room for discounts, especially because this is the last section. If I am buying an inventory home, there might be able to give more discount. Is that really how it works?

[descovy]

Pretty much... Yeah that's the way it works.

Make sure you don't pay too much either inventory or dirt build. Don't just look at their sales sheet. Look at the price per square foot. How does it compare to already built homes? Don't overpay for new. Once you buy it and move in, you are on equal footing with the rest of us.

Consider doing the simple cosmetic upgrades on your own instead of paying through the design center. For example, let them put in builder grade carpet (free) and upgrade the floors later yourself. Also don't get too carried away with aesthetic options. The decor, tile, etc... You pick today will be outdated in 10 years whether you pick level 1 or level 4 colors.

We found that inventory homes were "fully loaded" with pretty upgrades whether we needed it or not. For example, the most expensive backsplash or wood in the office. Even with the "substantial" discount the builder offered, we did better by choosing a dirt-build and putting in less expensive finishes. We spent our upgrade money on structural upgrades and not aesthetic upgrades.

In the end, 5 years later... Homes are bought and resold, and yet all go for roughly the same price per sq ft in the neighborhood. One might have level 1 granite, the other might have level 4, but in the land of real estate they are worth the very same

[jtothemak]

It is all supply and demand. If they are building houses at a rate the builder is comfortable with they will not give more discounts. Get a Realtor if you are not making progress and need to figure out if there is more room for discounts.

[cheryjohns]

Originally Posted by descovy

Pretty much... Yeah that's the way it works.

Make sure you don't pay too much either inventory or dirt build. Don't just look at their sales sheet. Look at the price per square foot. How does it compare to already built homes? Don't overpay for new. Once you buy it and move in, you are on equal footing with the rest of us.

Consider doing the simple cosmetic upgrades on your own instead of paying through the design center. For example, let them put in builder grade carpet (free) and upgrade the floors later yourself. Also don't get too carried away with aesthetic options. The decor, tile, etc... You pick today will be outdated in 10 years whether you pick level 1 or level 4 colors.

We found that inventory homes were "fully loaded" with pretty upgrades whether we needed it or not. For example, the most expensive backsplash or wood in the office. Even with the "substantial" discount the builder offered, we did better by choosing a dirt-build and putting in less expensive finishes. We spent our upgrade money on structural upgrades and not aesthetic upgrades.

In the end, 5 years later... Homes are bought and resold, and yet all go for roughly the same price per sq ft in the neighborhood. One might have level 1 granite, the other might have level 4, but in the land of real estate they are worth the very same

True this.

Usually, dirt build will always be the worst bargain, but I have seen 2 builders that don't deviate much off inventory. The majority will deal on inventory, and you wind up having a lot more equity.


It's easy to get carried away at the design centers. I always feel like Debbie Downer when I am there with clients. People just naturally get excited and start piling it on, when it could be down cheaper later.

[descovy]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

True this.

Usually, dirt build will always be the worst bargain, but I have seen 2 builders that don't deviate much off inventory. The majority will deal on inventory, and you wind up having a lot more equity.


It's easy to get carried away at the design centers. I always feel like Debbie Downer when I am there with clients. People just naturally get excited and start piling it on, when it could be down cheaper later.

Haha! And I ain't even no Realtor.

[dtshd]

Unfortunately, there is a premium due to it is cinco ranch. I did the math, just the cost of the house alone works out to be about $99 per sq ft.

[norman94477]

I am building in Cinco Ranch right now for about $100 per ft2 so your cost is comparable to mine at least. Seemed reasonable to me after looking at the resales in the area which seemed to be generally $90 - $100 per sq2. For me, building is on the high end of that range obviously, but having something new and with the designs I picked out is what sold me.

Good luck!

[davidrod8]

You can build a much larger home with a larger lot for 20-30% of the price if you build in one of the many neighborhoods surrounding Cinco... I estimate that on our house, that number pushed north of 35%, and we wouldn't be able to get the oversized lot... We are still surrounded by Cinco and have to drive through it anyways...

[RPS13]

Originally Posted by davidrod8

You can build a much larger home with a larger lot for 20-30% of the price if you build in one of the many neighborhoods surrounding Cinco... I estimate that on our house, that number pushed north of 35%, and we wouldn't be able to get the oversized lot... We are still surrounded by Cinco and have to drive through it anyways...

Yep, I'd say that 20-35% range price premium is accurate for Cinco Ranch vs. the "nicer" communities surrounding it. That figure goes up a little higher for the other communities which aren't as nice in my people's eyes.

Resales in Cinco are strong, but looking at the math of initial cost vs. resale seems like you're paying for the increased resale up front and then some in most cases.


The cost to get into a neighborhood is variable depending on how built out the neighborhood is. It seems like the cost to buy the same house steadily increases throughout the buildout until you get to the very end where the builder just wants to closeout the development and get it off their books.

[davidrod8]

When we sold our house in Cinco at the beginning of the year nobody cared that whether we were in Cinco or the surrounding neighborhoods... all 4 real estate agents we talked to looked at numbers per sq ft in our zip code... it didn't matter whether it was Cinco or another subdivision, just like it didn't matter if we had a sprinkler system, all brick (No siding) or an oversized lot. We did take those items into the equation when setting up a price, and I feel like perhaps it wasn't as hard to sell IF we had been in another neighborhood.

Of course that was then, it feels like January was a long time ago and now the market for used homes is a lot better. Everything in our old street sold for better prices than ours did... Oh well... can't win them all...