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Hi all, we've been down to the area about 4 times so far and definitely understand that basements aren't as "usual" in NC as they are in Massachusetts (but you can certainly find plenty of homes with them if the land is right). What I would like to know is are there any builders/developments where you can get a basement without adding $100k to the house price? We've been to about 20 developments and that seems to be the going price for a finished basement.
In our current home, which we built in 2004, we have a full walk-out basement with about 1000 square feet finished (3 rooms plus full bath) and another 800 square feet of storage, which cost only an additional $28,000. It just seems a bit high to pay 20% of the home price to get a finished basement.
So we're considering a finished 3rd floor instead ... are there any opinions about which is 'better' to have for resale value? What if a home doesn't have either? Only a crawlspace and storage over the garage, for example? Is that a resale issue?
My husband and I are MA transplants also. Where are you from?
We are also basement-obsessed and were simply SHOCKED at the premium these new developers were tacking onto new developments.
You can do a basement search on realtor.com
I can tell you that basements in the South -- from what we learned-- are not in high demand. Crawlspace is a preference from what I gather -- easier for plumbing, fixing pipes, and more suitable for the climate -- they have termites and other critters here.
I think the best option for your buck (and resale value) is a finished attic or bonus room, but if a basement is what you desperately crave here are some builders that we found that offer basements in the triangle: Orleans, Pulte, McCar and KHovanian. The subdivision of Breckenridge in Morrisville was built in the late 90s earlys 2000s and has some older homes with basements. Hope that helps! And please update me if you find any reasonable basement homes as well.
I was really surprised by this too. And the apparent lack of concern about a garage. We looked at several homes approaching $1Million which did not have garages. The realtor kind of shrugged and said yeh, weather's not bad here so it's not that important. I don't know about anyone else, but for me the garage has always been less about the CAR going in and more about STUFF going in (bikes, trikes, boxes which haven't been opened in 10 years...that sort of thing!).
Wow. $1M homes with no garage. That does seem odd. We're having some garage issues as well as we both ride Harleys and want a 3rd car garage for the bikes and "bike shop." Finding developments with lots big enough for a 3-car garage and in the price range we want to spend ... it's eliminated a lot of developments. Especially if you want to stay closer to "town" and not have septic and well. There are a lot of really nice developments with really nice homes on larger lots farther out but for some reason I like the city water/sewer thing.
Claresmom, we are currently in North Andover but I consider myself a North Shore Girl (Beverly and Salem) and my husband's originally from Minnesota ...
I think all the newer homes have garages. Mainly it was much older homes (1920s or so) Inside the Beltline in Raleigh. Some houses had put on garages...others had not (even when there was room to). But there were certainly plenty to choose from w/garages as well, so don't worry!
The soil here is completely different from what you knew up north. It's mostly an expansive clay soil. Hard to dig in, squishes around when it gets wet, and holds water up against your foundation. So houses are more typically propped up on a block foundation giving you a crawlspace. Full basements here are uncommon and high maintenance compared to up north.
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I'll have to change my ways!
