Question for anyone who has lived in a new construction neighborhood (for sale, real estate)
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I am considering a neighborhood where the builder is just breaking ground and planning on 250 homes. And around the area hundreds of other new home developments are going in too.
Where the construction is going on it's dusty and dirty and of course much of the forest is being scraped from the landscape. If we decide to have a home built then we'll be the first in and the neighborhood won't be built out for 3-5 years.
Has anyone here lived in this kind of situation before? Did the construction noise, trucks going past leaving dust on the windows, and overall disarray get to you after a few months - so much so that you wished you had just purchased in an established neighborhood?
We can get a really nice house for the money in this area by a reputable builder. But we've always lived in quiet neighborhoods with plenty of trees. I know it would be a huge adjustment for us, but I'm sure it is for everybody.
If anyone here can give feedback on this I'd appreciate it. If you've lived in a new neighborhood being built from the ground up, how did you manage the hurdles?
If you like the peace and quiet, and maintain a home based business, entering this development now that will continue to be built around you for the next five years will seem like and eternity. Yes, you got it, dust, dirt, noise, nails, etc. But, if you get up early and leave for work most of the time, you probably won't need to worry about noise and construction traffic, at least in the evening and most weekends.
The upside, of course, is that being in a first phase in an appreciating market (if that's the case in your area) means that by the time you are ready to move in, say, five years (on average, the time most people move out of a place), then you should have racked up some potential profit. Providing the market appreciates and that the builder has more buyers paying for successive phases while steadily raising the price of each phase.
I think you might want to visit current phases in development that have been occupied by other first phases elsewhere. Visit such developments in the morning, afternoon, night and weekends to get a feel of the traffic. And once the neighboring properties area built, you'll probably acclimate fairly well. The one thing I do like about established neighborhoods is that the lawns, trees and general foliage is already grown in and the neighborhood doesn't feel like a sterile landscape. You also get a feel for your neighbors in an established neighborhood.
Just remember, construction people aren't always the most tidy of people, especially from what I've seen here (in L.A., there are a lot of rules about keeping areas clean and free from nails on the common road, etc.). But, if the development is successful, and you grow tired, you can always put your home up for sale at a potential profit since others who must wait for a phase to be built, might want to buy something already settled in.
What's the name of the development and where, btw?
Our development is still being built. Noise, dust, red mud, trash and workers driving fast past your house are a few of the things to look forward to.
The workers in our development think nothing of working nights, holidays and weekends. In the summer they'll work right up until 9:30 at night and start as soon as the sun comes up.
Our house, cars and outside belongings are covered with red dust sometimes.
Weekends when I'm trying to hang outside and there are people walking past and around us carrying stuff is a little annoying but it's only until they get the houses around your immediate area complete. It happens pretty fast though.
I'd say that in the 7 months we've been here they've built 40 houses and 2 condo type buildings. They're almost done with our immediate area and once they move a full block away there will be less of an impact on our day to day lives. The houses directly behind mine are being built now and in probably another 4 months they'll be done and the quiet will return.
Would I do it again? Absolutely. I like the activity. I like watching the homes being developed and built. Best of all I like the appreciation that my home has taken, the more they build, the higher the prices go.
I bought in a new development twice.
Negatives: Noisy (usually starts at 7am), dirt everywhere, loud music and hard for many delivery people to find you as your address is not in most maps, so get good at giving directions.
Theft. Vandals and thieves seem to really enjoy new construction neighborhoods. Sure they get a rent a cop out there but it doesn't seem to do much. Not many mature trees to shade your new home. Be prepared to change your air filters in your home and vehicle constantly. You won't know if your new neighbors will take pride in their new homes. We had a family that lived close by who thought their driveway was a pit stop for NASCAR. Cars everywhere, oil and rust stains, oversized trailers and junk in front of their neighbors houses etc. Of course they fought with the builder and the builder won...until the builder completed the subdivision. Thankfully we left before this happened....but the neighbors who stayed weren't so lucky!
Positives: In my own experience I have found the bond with the neighbors in a new neighborhood seem to be stronger than in an established one. Of course there are exceptions to the rule. But then 2 years later 30% of them move and it's an ordinary neighborhood again. You can make changes to your new home to meet your needs. Typically I have seen good appreciation on new homes $$$$$. I agree with Markh, it is fun to see the neighborhood come alive. New homes have all of the modern conveniences, important to us home based business people. It's tough when you don't have DSL or only a couple of phone lines and it will take a lot of $$$ to get it installed in an older home. Usually a builder will fix things after 1 year of being in the home. Older homes you are on your own. I guess it's a 50/50 give and take. What matters most to you should steer you in the right direction.
These were my experiences, hope this helps and good luck!
Oh by the way, I am a mortgage loan broker and just because you buy the 1st phase of new construction does not mean you will automatically make $$$. I have several clients who purchased first phase homes in California only to find that the builder lowered the prices by $70,000 on the same model home (which had previously sold for $425,000) in phase 2 and dropped it again for phase 3 by another $5,000. Needless to say we have some angry people out there. I am not saying that you won't profit, you probably will but understand it depends on the market and the inventory of new homes available. If it's your home and you plan on living there for many years and don't have a need to access your equity in the form of a mortgage loan then don't worry about it. Buy it because it's a place you want to call home. If you plan on bailing in a couple of years, do some research of new homes in that area and how fast (or slowly) they are selling.
Googdluck! I live in a 2 year old development! it is really bad, have got 2 flat tires "NAILS "1 cracked windshield, 1 $2,000.00 damage to my new pick up truck! The builders do not care! all they want to do is sell homes!
The builders do not care! all they want to do is sell homes!
Good point Fire-Guy..
Something else to consider. Down south they do things a little differently than up north. Up north, utilities were brought to the house during construction, phone, cable, electric etc are all buried and then connected at the street.
Here the utilities come to the street and stop, it's an after thought to bring them to your house. Our phone line connects to a box about 5 houses down from us. Unfortunately it was 5 unbuilt houses down the street and in total our phone line was cut 11 times. It was run across the road, under the road, buried, run around back yards etc but someone always managed to find it and cut it.
I've run out of my house yelling as I see my phone line hanging from bucket of a back-hoe. Remarkably nobody speaks english at the time I'm yodeling at them.
Finally the houses are built now and it hasn't been cut in a while. Cable, electric and gas tend to be buried deeper so less of an issue with cutting those.
If you do buy the first house in an addition measure the water pressure. If it is too high put on a restriction valve. This happened to us 20 years ago. Lucky we didn't blow out all of the soldered joints (we had copper pipe).
I had a week day off and for the first year of so it was noisy during the day. Dust and dirt was also a problem. Glad it wasn't red dust or mud! Buy a power washer.
Like Fire-Guy I found some stray nails also. Have a tire patch kit!
We have built/bought 3 new construction homes in newer areas. Yes, it is true the workers start at the crack of dawn and have no respect for my beauty rest, but the equity position I've been in with all 3 pays for the nails in my tires (only happened 2 times and I sold new construction real estate, so not too bad), the relentless hammering and the loud music, the dust all over the cars and houses. You're hearing will come back, the dust washes off and tires can be patched, but thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of dollars doesn't come around everyday.
You're hearing will come back, the dust washes off and tires can be patched, but thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of dollars doesn't come around everyday.
This... in NC??? I know in the last bunch of years in CA, but here? We gotta talk cuz if that's true, I wanna talk about investing in some of the more popular areas.
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