Building a new home in New Tampa or Fish Hawk - need advice (Sarasota: sale)

[rickyba]

We are relocating to Tampa in a couple of months. Might be working with a builder in the New Tampa or Fish Hawk area. Have already researched the area quite a bit, but am looking for any insight into the amount of negotiation room on new builds based on the market. I know they don´t like to budge much on advertised list price but we will be adding quite a few options. How much should I push for? Price range will be $275,000 - $320,000. Is a 10% reduction off of quoted final price realistic?

[housingcrashsurvivor]

It is hard to know how to price just about anything these days. A friend of mine bought a newly built retirement home in Sarasota in 2007, thinking he was buying after the crash. After adding all the bells & whistles, he got something like $40k off from the builder and was completely satisfied with his price, thinking he'd made quite the deal. Since then, this all crashed some more and he's now underwater on his mortgage (which he fully intends to pay). I just checked zillow which lists him at about 20% down.

His builder has two similar models available there, offered to build, one is 22% smaller than my friend's and asking (the "starting from" price) 46% less than what my friend paid for his new house. The other looks to be about 27% larger asking about 14% less.

I guess they only have so much wiggle room when it comes to the cost of materials and labor at this point as we haven't seen all that much disinflation in that regard. But I'd certainly be very cautious as to land costs, especially in New Tampa and Fishhawk, which I've looked into in other regard and found huge amounts of deflation there. I have no idea what your developments under consideration are worth but probably builders are trying to recoup some costs and I'd certainly hate to overpay for someone else's mistake.

At the very least, make sure to look at the resale value of recently sold existing houses in the areas you are considering and judge new construction, based on a $/sq ft, in part, by that. If Fishhawk is going for $100/sq ft (or whatever) for a home built in 2005, paying a builder $150/sq ft today will take that many more years to ever make that sale pay.

So basically I guess my advice, really, is simply don't be afraid to negotiate hard in hard times.

[rickyba]

Thats good advice. Yes, I wish I had some insight into how much it is costing a builder in Tampa on average sq ft to build a house. Then I would have a better idea on what to offer. I purchased a new home in another state a few years ago and was able to figure out after the fact about how much he had into it. I figured he made a lot less than I thought. In Florida where there are no basements and very small lots, it would seem like it would not cost much to put up a new house. But, the houses today being sold new still seem higher than what I expected them to be and overall still seem higher than a new house in an Atlanta suburb for example. So, my expectations on this buyers market were higher than what I am actually seeing at least in Fish Hawk. This is making me think I need to be more agressive than what a realtor will let on - they normally dont want you to negotiate much more than 5% but I am worried about houses continuing to depreciate after I buy.

[creedence623]

I contracted on a new build in Bradenton that was similarly priced back in June. They ended up taking $20k off the combined price of the lot and house, gave us $25k toward upgrades, and $9500 toward closing costs.

I'm not sure how the market has changed in the time since I contracted though. I do know the list price of my model has gone up $50K since June, so I would assume that is in response to greater demand for new construction.

In any case, I would say be agressive, the worst they can do is say no. Best of luck!

[marcopolo]

You've got to really want new construction versus "late model used" with prices the way they are, and plan on staying for a spell. The day you move in, your new place is "used" and competing in a glutted market. But if it is what you want and you can afford it, go for it.

[TampaKaren]

Please disregard...