Building a New Home in Madison (Brighton, Columbia: sales, lenders, home builders)

[Lakebcrew]

Good morning everyone,

My husband and I are in our late 20's and we are finally ready to become homeowners! We are currently living in Madison and would like to stay in this are. We are looking into new construction and have recently checked out some Jeff Benton Homes. We would like to stay in the 250,000-300,000 range and want upgrade options like granite, hardwood, nice crown molding, etc. I have a few questions (below) and welcome any advice that you think would be helpful for someone in this position. Thanks in advance!

Louisa

Questions:

1. Who are the reputable home builders (in our price range) in Madison?
2. Should we secure pre-approval at our own bank before we look into applying with "preferred lenders"?
3. I have seen a good number of new neighborhoods go up in the area. Can anyone give me recommendations on which ones we should look into?
4. Are all the school zones considered equal? If not, which three schools (elementary, middle, high) should we try to be close to?
5. In our price range, is it better to purchase a pre-owned house?
6. Any builder incentives I should be aware of or any tactics I should know before starting this process? We don't want to be taken advantage of.
7. We want a quality constructed home, any builders we should stay away from?

[LCTMadison]

The two most successful builders right now in Madison are Breland and Jeff Benton Homes. However, both are down to very few lots in both Crown Pointe (JB) and Stillwater Cove (breland). Stillwater Cove is probably 3-4 months from the next phase and JB is a bit further (about 5-6 maybe). You will see a price increase from phase 1 to phase 2 for both builders more than likely. Breland either just opened the next phase of Brighton Park or is about to. It is going to be low to mid $200's, a good step below Stillwater Cove.

You would easily be able to build a home in both neighborhoods from about $250k to about $300k with the most popular amenities and a good amount of square footage (they will price out average around $90/sft, sometimes lower).

The preferred lenders that most of the builders use are pretty reputable...but I would still check with 2-3 to see which will give you the best deal.

Breland will run "specials" from time to time....Jeff Benton as well. With Breland, you have more amenities included that you have to "upgrade" with JB, but they are pricing out pretty competitively. JB has more selections, but takes much more research with pricing in their design center (BEFORE contract) to make sure you can stay within your budget. Just to give you an idea, my average JB build is around $40k in options...Brelands are pricing higher as a base price but less to upgrade so it levels out).

You need to purchase what YOU want...both resales and new construction in that price range are selling very well in Madison. There are benefits to both, you just have to weigh which are more important to you.

The Madison City system as a whole is great. The "new" schools tend to be favored and we do see a bit higher sales in those districts (Heritage, Columbia, Rainbow, Mill Creek) BUT I have friends/clients with kids in every Madison school and I have never heard anything but positives about all of them. Madison Elem. and West Madison have older buildings, but a much smaller class population and the teachers are fantastic at both. My suggestion is to tour the schools (Madison is very accomodating) and talk with those who you know with kids in the Madison schools. My opinion is that you really can't go wrong with any of them. Crown Pointe is zoned Columbia (my son went there, loved it!) and Stillwater Cove and much of the rest of the new construction Breland is doing is Mill Creek (its only a few years old but a very impressive school).

GET YOUR OWN AGENT! One builder in particular can be pretty prickly to work with (well, the onsites anyway) but you ALWAYS need your own representation. Remember, the onsite agent represents the builder, not you, and can and will work to your detriment if it benefits their client (the builder). They build your trust, make you like them by being super sweet and helpful, but still their loyalties and fiduciary responsibilities lie with their client.

[Lakebcrew]

LCTMadison,

Thank you so much for the response! Very helpful! How does one go about getting a reputable agent who will work on their behalf? Is it word of mouth or is there a good online resource? Are there certain agents who work with certain price ranges?

[RatSnake]

I am in the same price range as you. I was torn between many agents. I tried to boil my selection process to the following:

1. Knowledge of local area (in my case, Madison City)
2. # of clients agent already has
3. Years of experience
4. Rapport with me

These are not ranked ... ultimately, #4 was the deciding factor for me.

Yes - there are a few agents who seem to cater to the ubber nice homes.
As for me, I've got BMW tastes but a Kia budget... so I steered clear of those. I felt I would get treated as 'small fry' ... chump change.

This board has some excellent realtors -

[LCTMadison]

RatSnake...unfortunately, there ARE agents who only deem those worthy of their time if they are in a higher price range. The agent I hired when we moved here was like that, and passed me off to a new, very inexperienced agent on his team once we arrived on our househunting trip. He actually LIED to us and told us he had a "family emergency" but the buyer agent told us in reality he didn't personally work with buyers less than $500k. Needless to say, that is something I have taken with me as I moved my own business to Madison....it DOES NOT feel good to be treated that way, like you are "beneath" them or "unworthy". It really doesn't matter what price range you are in....EVERYONE deserves equal representation and a high level of customer service. You treat people right, and it always comes back to you tenfold.
Several years ago I had a very sweet first time buyer who purchased a home under $100k....and then referred her boss who purchased a half a million dollar home. That is how our business works, referrals are what we desire and we get them by outstanding customer service. Referrals make up about 3/4 of my business, and you don't get them by treating people like they are "beneath" you.

[Mr. SAP]

Originally Posted by Lakebcrew

LCTMadison,

Thank you so much for the response! Very helpful! How does one go about getting a reputable agent who will work on their behalf? Is it word of mouth or is there a good online resource? Are there certain agents who work with certain price ranges?

Use LCTMadison, she does know alot. In the process of using her now for building a Jeff Benton within your price range and I've been very Happy..... .

[RatSnake]

This board is full of excellent realtors ... enough said.

[RatSnake]

Just to let you know, though I did NOT use any of the realtors here (at least I think I did not as everyone is anonymous), the realtors on this board seem level headed, fair, very knowledgeable about the local market and street smart.

[Lakebcrew]

Thanks! Found someone great!

[RatSnake]

Try either one.

They have higher finishes - more upscale look and feel yet price / sq ft. is lower (after negotiations).
They are very eager to sell.

For Valor - you get excellent community facilities.
For Savvy - you can get Madison schools at Hardiman.

I am about to sign a purchase agreement with one of them.