Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New York > Long Island
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-10-2009, 04:21 PM
 
19 posts, read 45,351 times
Reputation: 13

Advertisements

Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-10-2009, 04:33 PM
 
551 posts, read 1,575,337 times
Reputation: 423
Building your own home is far more expensive than buying an existing home, even new construction, uless you are "building" buy buying into a new development that has undeveloped lots and existing home plans. Builders putting together a larger development can build homes cheaper by using the same (or similar) plans, and buying all of the basic lumber, siding, flooring, fixtures, etc. in bulk (and, usually, of mediocre quality).

Another problem with building on your own, which I am experiencing currently, is that you inevitably when given the choice are not going to want those contractor grade tiles, hardwood, vanities, cabinets, etc., and that adds up VERY quickly. A well-built custom home is going to cost $250+ per square foot, and that does not include plans, land, permitting, landscaping, etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2009, 05:17 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,665 posts, read 36,764,249 times
Reputation: 19880
I can't even imagine that you could find land, get the plans, and build a house in any of those areas for your budget. Like pp said, construction is about $250 sq/foot, so you are talking about a 1000 square foot house when all is said and done. Not really worth it, IMHO. Like pp said you get the most basic of everything if you go lower of that and it's not worth it - why build new and then put crap in for tiles, doors, cabinets, etc?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2009, 05:27 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,292,576 times
Reputation: 7339
Quote:
Originally Posted by BC1234LI View Post
Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Honestly, for what you want you need to significantly increase your budget. Plus take into account the property taxes are always higher on new builds.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2009, 05:51 PM
 
Location: Inis Fada
16,966 posts, read 34,702,389 times
Reputation: 7723
Quote:
Originally Posted by BC1234LI View Post
Hey everyone. I was hoping I could get some help/ideas/information from people here.

My husband and I have been looking to buy a home for the past 5 1/2 months - we have found a few places we liked and placed offers on 3 places. But for one reason or another, none have worked out.

Anyway, we are both getting a bit tired of looking, but are trying to be patient. We are both VERY picky and would LOVE a new construction home. We haven't seen too many available in 1) the areas we're looking at or 2) the price range we are looking at. Has anyone ever had a builder build a new home for them (not one they are building already)? How much does this usually cost? Do they find land for you? How did you find the contrators?

We are looking in:
Nassau (Wantagh, Seaford, Bethpage, Levittown, East Meadow, Massapequa)
Suffolk: (West Babylon, West Islip, Babylon, Islip, parts of Lindenhurst & will consider parts of Bay Shore)

Our price range is up to about $430,000 or so.

Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Does your $430K ceiling figure in for land? If not, have you checked out prices of vacant lots in those areas?
Taxes on new construction are typically higher than on existing homes.
As someone else has written -- when your in the thick of construction, you're going to find yourself wanting upgrades and it's going to add up.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-10-2009, 06:12 PM
 
19 posts, read 45,351 times
Reputation: 13
Thanks for the info. We didn't think it would be possible to do this, but wanted to find out some info anyway, since we're not having too much luck with homes that are already around.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 06:32 AM
 
270 posts, read 969,409 times
Reputation: 62
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but View Post
Plus take into account the property taxes are always higher on new builds.
This fact alone usually makes new construction on Long Island hard to swallow. As others have said already, complete custom building is going to require considerably more funding than what the OP is looking at. New development with pre-established plans are definitely less expensive, but the only developments like that are not going to be in the areas you're considering, or are going to be cost prohibitive if at all.

I bought into a new development with pre-established plans in another state, and after I added in all the options I wanted, the final price was 30% more than the base, and that was being very conservative.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 09:55 AM
 
1,386 posts, read 5,344,442 times
Reputation: 902
I haven't priced out getting someone to build me a house, but $250 sqft is high.

just going by the houses I've seen new construction for sale in towns by me, they hover in the 550-650 range and are around 2400 sqft. if it cost them $250sqft to build, then they're already at $600K without the land.

430K in those towns seems low for getting anything new construction. I seem to remeber seeing in west babylon new construction houses running in the mid-high 4s.

judgeing by the towns you picked it doesn't seem like you should have a real hard time finding something nice around $430K in some of the less expensive areas. From your highest to lowest area, I'd bet the swing on the same house would run 100K-150K
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-11-2009, 12:41 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,292,576 times
Reputation: 7339
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrisk327 View Post
I haven't priced out getting someone to build me a house, but $250 sqft is high.

just going by the houses I've seen new construction for sale in towns by me, they hover in the 550-650 range and are around 2400 sqft. if it cost them $250sqft to build, then they're already at $600K without the land.

430K in those towns seems low for getting anything new construction. I seem to remeber seeing in west babylon new construction houses running in the mid-high 4s.

judgeing by the towns you picked it doesn't seem like you should have a real hard time finding something nice around $430K in some of the less expensive areas. From your highest to lowest area, I'd bet the swing on the same house would run 100K-150K
$250sqft is not what it costs the builder to build the home. It's what the builder charges the customer. However, you could probably get it lower than that. My aunt got plans priced for a home she wanted to build out east on LI and it was $220sqft. It is less in developments because they are buying large plots of land and multiple fixtures, not single lots and enough fixtures for only a single house. So, as someone else posted here, if you want your spot built house fitted out with better than the typical "builder generic" stuff, you will pay more.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-04-2010, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Strong Island
128 posts, read 340,559 times
Reputation: 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by BC1234LI View Post
Thanks for the info. We didn't think it would be possible to do this, but wanted to find out some info anyway, since we're not having too much luck with homes that are already around.

I know how you are feeling. We saw atleast 50+ homes before we found our current home. There is so much garbage out there its mind boggling. New home construction, atleast in the areas you are looking, its kinda out of the picture. New homes, in a decent area, with builder quality, start at 500K. Keep your chin up you will find your home, but realize early, for your budget nothing will be perfect and some work will need to be done.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:




Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > New York > Long Island
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:42 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top