Tampa Bay housing market on fire....still, in 2015! (construction, square footage)

[The Villages Guy]

I always prefer new homes over older homes, but one needs to be oh so careful when it comes to buying in a yet to be completed development.......especially here, which is why we own a 20 year old house now.

[Vannort54]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

I always prefer new homes over older homes, but one needs to be oh so careful when it comes to buying in a yet to be completed development.......especially here, which is why we own a 20 year old house now.

I would not buy a home here I have seen the shabby construction that go's on here right now I'm renting a townhouse built by KB construction and my landlord has a lawsuit aganist them now, It had to be taken down to the studs and be rebuilt because they put the insulation in backwards and black mold forming on the inside walls and the stucco finish outside. Im from a family of carpenters my father was one and my grandfather was a general contractor up north. It looks like the inspectors had blinders on here no way this town home should of even pass inspection. Poor excuse of a builder and the workmanship of the people they hired. The painters painted right over dirt on the baseboards.

[EngGirl]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

That is how it has been going for the last year in almost all communities but keep in mind the "best home sites" are gone right away in almost every community unless the location of the community is not as desired as some are not the best locations or wrong kind of models being build or as we have seen with Town homes without a garage and CDD and HOA fee which is a more difficult sell as well.

Builders are aware of this and know they will have to discount sites with power lines or weird angles on a lot, etc. so that will be expected in this community as well, UNLESS the demand is higher through out the period of selling.

The community location is very reasonable to major roads and the higher end approach may be working ...or not, we will wait and see but from the road this community is a nice adding to the area.

I agree with you, but let's make it clear. Best home sites cost money and considered to be premium lots. Both Standard Pacific at Seven Oaks and Taylor Morrison at Arbor Woods wanted from $15K to $45K for these lots (is it's a pie shape lot at cul-de-sac or backed up to conservation/preserved view). I was shocked to see the price ticket for one of these lots at newer Seven Oaks subsommunity (by Standard Pacific). This premium site ($30K) was pretty much backing up to preserve view.... and I-75!
Corner lots are also considered premium and builders want from $5K to $10K for it. So, it's not like first came, first got the best lot But yes, you have better choice for sure within the phase that is selling. Taylor Morrison for example releases in phasing so there are only so much you can chose from. Not sure how Ridge will roll it though.

As for Ridge community location, even though it's right off SR 56, you cannot make left turn from the community if you are heading towards mall/I-75. It has directional opening, not a full opening or signalized intersection. You must turn right, then do U-turn and head west. As of now it's not a biggie, but wait for SR 56 being extended to Morris Bridge/US 301, it will be totally different story. I feel the pain for future residents. The Ridge also has an access to Mansfield Blvd, not sure what kind of median opening, but this road is a nightmare as it is now - not enough lanes + heavy traffic + schools and college entrances. I bet the Ridge developer didn't want to play nice with Pasco County that's why the ended up with directional opening at the median at SR 56

[EngGirl]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

I always prefer new homes over older homes, but one needs to be oh so careful when it comes to buying in a yet to be completed development.......especially here, which is why we own a 20 year old house now.

Oh yeah, it might takes years to complete the development. Good example is Seven Oaks - they started like 12 years ago and still building. And it's fine (more or less), at least they are building. Take a look at County Walk - they started just slightly later and went bankrupt and just recently resold remaining lots ad still have years of construction ahead of them.

[EngGirl]

Originally Posted by Vannort54

I would not buy a home here I have seen the shabby construction that go's on here right now I'm renting a townhouse built by KB construction and my landlord has a lawsuit aganist them now, It had to be taken down to the studs and be rebuilt because they put the insulation in backwards and black mold forming on the inside walls and the stucco finish outside. Im from a family of carpenters my father was one and my grandfather was a general contractor up north. It looks like the inspectors had blinders on here no way this town home should of even pass inspection. Poor excuse of a builder and the workmanship of the people they hired. The painters painted right over dirt on the baseboards.

That's scary!!! Many, many builders are at fault and people have to waste time and money and sue them... And you would think builders are learning from their mistakes and do a better quality job? NOT THE CASE!!! They actually are protecting themselves from these lawsuits by revising contracts in their favor: add arbitration clauses, offer less warranty (Taylor Morrison sells $30K-$500K homes in Wesley Chapel and offers 1 year warranty on everything including ROOF and STRUCTURE!!!!). Most builders keep doing bad work, but you have less chances to go after them. Most homes build in 2000-s are not so good products.

[bentlebee]

Most developers have been selling the land over and over or being foreclosed on after the housing down turn and the County stepped in and bonds were sold causing higher CDD's for newer communities compared to the ones being build prior to 2006-2007.

It is very sad that County inspectors can't be held liable for signing off on permits while not even getting out of their cars and being part of the shady work that was performed by contractors and every builder had issues as I don't see any builder who didn't have some issue during that time frame.

No wonder when you load up some mowers (many illegal aliens as it was a daily scene on St Rd 54 of back of the trucks with workers who were dropped off at construction sites and most of them not speaking one word of English and most of them never having any clue how the work needed to be done but they just copied what someone else showed them and followed the pattern and that was suppose to be quality work.

In 2007 it was even worse as the market was going down fast and house were even build faster to get buyers to close in order for the builder not to loose money and I saw with my untrained builders eyes many windows that were not placed correctly and gaps were showing that were just caulked and we all know what will happen when it starters raining and water is seeping in.

Pulte just settled with another community and KB Homes re-stucco many homes without lawsuits after they were sued else where but we have seen almost every builder with issues.

If you now go to a home site you see workers who speak English and you can also see the shortage of qualified workers and anyone who is in need of a handyman knows it is hard to have them show up on time and find a decent ones and to watch out you don't get a criminal/sex offender in your house performing the work.

We conduct property management and it is difficult to get good workers for decent prices.

That on itself will cause an increase in price to build homes. In Trinity there was for a long time a sign up "plumbers needed" where new homes were being build.

My experience with builders is that you have to go over every paper and be on top of every step during the process of building as I'm involved in the process right now for a high end home to be build and already we have seen so many errors in upgrades, wrong items used, etc.

[EngGirl]

Builders are sneaky nowdays. They have their contracts in their favor and there is nothing buyers can alter - they either have to accept it or go elsewhere. I am not in real estate industry, but I saw few contracts recently and these were in builder's favor of course. There were certain restrictions regarding hope inspection during the building process and more importantly the language that allows builder NOT TO ADDRESS all concerns independent home inspector might list. Ridiculous!

bentlebee, I agree county inspectors must be liable for the inspections they are performing...

[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by Vannort54

I would not buy a home here I have seen the shabby construction that go's on here right now I'm renting a townhouse built by KB construction and my landlord has a lawsuit aganist them now, It had to be taken down to the studs and be rebuilt because they put the insulation in backwards and black mold forming on the inside walls and the stucco finish outside. Im from a family of carpenters my father was one and my grandfather was a general contractor up north. It looks like the inspectors had blinders on here no way this town home should of even pass inspection. Poor excuse of a builder and the workmanship of the people they hired. The painters painted right over dirt on the baseboards.

I have passed on KB homes at every chance, no matter the state.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

I have passed on KB homes at every chance, no matter the state.

I have seen homes from other builders with way more issues than KB Homes but of course I have seen the mess some home owners in these Town homes are dealing with that were build by KB Homes.

If you check around for homes and you see areas where balconies are almost falling off or other issues and many older homes have other issues like slab leaks, old wiring, etc.

If you look at all these items then I have seen over the years that it is not about one builder but you have to look at the house individually and judge as there are good and bad with all builders and so far I haven't been able to exclude any builder... unfortunately they all seem to have been part of the mess.

The house I was personally involved in that had the most blue stickers on the final walk through was a Westfield Home and at the time we were told we had no choice than to close when the list was down to 5 items and Westfield signed at closing a notarized statement these items would be fixed within 30 days after closing. Only when we mentioned a lawyer after 120 of no answer, is when 4 items were resolved and the 5th was structural and not able to be fixed as they claimed afterwards but not prior to closing.

In the end the 5th item never became an issue so it is not bad but it is sad to see how buyers are pushed with their back to the walls to close while items are not finished completely and the way the builders contracts are written is only more in their favor then before.

But the pro of buying a new home is full warranty for 1 year and 10 years on some items and items being build under new code requirements which can be beneficial like AC units, etc.

[Snoogler]

Originally Posted by EngGirl

If anyone wants a good laugh - here is the link to new community coming to Wesley Chapel (July 25th is their grand opening date). A little background - prices starts at $274,900 for 1913 sq. ft. houses. HOA is over $300 per months (not sure if it includes CDD).
GLHOMES - the ridge at wiregrass grand opening guidelines
I don't remember when I had such a good laugh last time Tampa market is on FIRE!!! LOL

The only thing I find funny about that is that you can travel 5 minutes from there and find bigger new properties with a much lower HOA fee for less money.