New constructions bidding wars?

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

That's how Florida is now. Cookie cutter houses slopped together with big price tags.

Back in 1992 many of the homes were still custom.

Those days are mostly gone you design your own home. Most of these custom houses I see are like the ones you see in Port Royal for multi millions.

We considered going custom in 2017, to get a larger lot moreso than the build quality, but back then they sold for ~$1.2M including lots and add-ons. We may have gone for it, but some were building McMansions on those larger lots, which still meant inadequate spacing between the homes, so we bailed on the custom home idea.

We live in a mass builder community, & have heard of very few significant issues. We have not had any Cat2+ tropical storms yet either, so check back w/ me after one passes by. That is the true test.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

We considered going custom in 2017, to get a larger lot moreso than the build quality, but back then they sold for ~$1.2M including lots and add-ons. We may have gone for it, but some were building McMansions on those larger lots, which still meant inadequate spacing between the homes, so we bailed on the custom home idea.

We live in a mass builder community, & have heard of very few significant issues. We have not had any Cat2+ tropical storms yet either, so check back w/ me after one passes by. That is the true test.

Hopefully the inspectors did their job. Remember Andrew the homes were "supposed" to be built to code BUT many builders didnt build them to code like they were supposed to and inspectors turned a blind eye. After the destruction it was noticed many of the homes were not built to the code at the time.

I was surprised at hurricane Michael how well many of those brick homes withstood the storm.

I prefer brick home but very few of those in south fl. We get the ugly stucco.

[Atari2600]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

That's how Florida is now. Cookie cutter houses slopped together with big price tags.

Back in 1992 many of the homes were still custom.

Those days are mostly gone you design your own home. Most of these custom houses I see are like the ones you see in Port Royal for multi millions.

There are still a few builders that do custom work for middle-class homes... David Weekly is one that has some pretty nice homes. The neighborhood I live in was completed in 2007, and all the homes are Craftsman, Arts & Crafts, Queen Anne, Queen Victorian, Federal, Cape Cod, Tudor, and a few others. Most of them have front porches that wrap around the entire front of the home... these will generally have a driveway that goes down the side with a detached 2 or 3 car garage in the back yard, or... there is an alley behind the home with a 2 or 3 car garage facing the alley.



This was done intentionally for this neighborhood so that all the people living there would hang out in front of their house on the porch and talk / BS as people walk by. Many of the homes also face a park to help bring the community aspect back to the neighborhood.




But yeah, I don't see that too much down South, but I do see it more central and north. The building standards are different, obviously... but even more so now. I don't even think you can have a wooden second floor in South Florida anymore, the entire home must be solid concrete... and not even CBS, they require poured walls for the main foundational walls, and CBS must have rebar and filled with liquid cement.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Hopefully the inspectors did their job. Remember Andrew the homes were "supposed" to be built to code BUT many builders didnt build them to code like they were supposed to and inspectors turned a blind eye. After the destruction it was noticed many of the homes were not built to the code at the time.

I was surprised at hurricane Michael how well many of those brick homes withstood the storm.

I prefer brick home but very few of those in south fl. We get the ugly stucco.

Since Andrew (I lived in SE FLA back then) the building codes have been strengthened at least twice. Most of the homes in Homestead were very cheap military housing that got blown away like a house of cards. Today's FLA homes are much much stronger. Apples and Oranges.

I had an excellet project manager build our home...by luck. I rewarded him accordingly.

Homes in my community are in bidding wars 100% of the time over the past year or so. I'm not in DR Horton or any other cheap builder community.

If you live in a Kolter, Neal, or Taylor Morrison community, your odds are decent that you have a safe home.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Since Andrew (I lived in SE FLA back then) the building codes have been strengthened at least twice. Most of the homes in Homestead were very cheap military housing that got blown away like a house of cards. Today's FLA homes are much much stronger. Apples and Oranges.

I had an excellet project manager build our home...by luck. I rewarded him accordingly.

Homes in my community are in bidding wars 100% of the time over the past year or so. I'm not in DR Horton or any other cheap builder community.

If you live in a Kolter, Neal, or Taylor Morrison community, your odds are decent that you have a safe home.

I didn't know they allowed bidding on new homes in most of these mass developments.


Mine is almost complete now, not sure how they sold them if they allowed bids or not.


When I moved here in 2015 the houses built new were cheap, like less then half the price they're now. I saw one guy in the model home probably late 50s, maybe 60 from Long Island smiling and saying he was paying cash to the rep for the house. At that time it was probably 220k. Probably less than half of his 401k.


Amazing how cheap houses were in 2015 in Charlotte County. Mine has probably double in value. We did consider the Pasco County area, but mid 2015 the house prices up in the Tampa area were starting to increase.


My cousin is a construction HVAC inspector for Collier County so he gets to go in and inspect literally all the building types.


Even the expensive houses in Naples he said he finds issues as well sometimes when inspecting.


If I paid 800k for a new house I will be damn sure to be up their arse if I saw stuff not to my liking.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

I didn't know they allowed bidding on new homes in most of these mass developments.

Mine is almost complete now, not sure how they sold them if they allowed bids or not.

When I moved here in 2015 the houses built new were cheap, like less then half the price they're now. I saw one guy in the model home probably late 50s, maybe 60 from Long Island smiling and saying he was paying cash to the rep for the house. At that time it was probably 220k. Probably less than half of his 401k.

Amazing how cheap houses were in 2015 in Charlotte County. Mine has probably double in value. We did consider the Pasco County area, but mid 2015 the house prices up in the Tampa area were starting to increase.

My cousin is a construction HVAC inspector for Collier County so he gets to go in and inspect literally all the building types.

Even the expensive houses in Naples he said he finds issues as well sometimes when inspecting.

If I paid 800k for a new house I will be damn sure to be up their arse if I saw stuff not to my liking.

The bidding thing is happening everywhere with new construction. I truly believe it's a new business model for builders in this market. I've seen it here in Florida as well as in western states, one of which I own a second home in.

I have never been "up their arse" when building a house, just checking to make sure construction documents and specifications are met or exceeded. If not, I'll point it out to the builder/super. The house we built with Morrison some years back had the super and salesperson tell us after the final punch was done that we were the toughest buyer they had ever worked with. We pointed out that we did nothing more than make sure they complied with the terms of the contract and met the specifications. We didn't ask or expect anything more. They agreed.

It also makes me wonder how many of the homes in the neighborhood weren't built to standards...

RM