Pre-Construction home sale inquiry (The Villages: HOA fees, mortgage, appliances)

the pro's : you get to obviousely pick your options and upgrades and move into a home that has been partially designed by you. You also get to save some money while it is getting built.

Brand new home...with brand new roof, wiring, appliances, A/C.....very very low cost of maintenance for the first 10 years.

The con's : not knowing who your neighbors will be.

If in a rural area, expect to pick up mail from the post office until more people move into the area and the post office starts delivering.

Miscalculated property taxes escrowed in your mortgage, resulting in next year's mortgage to rise several hundred dollars due to negative escrow/shortfall.

if there are minor repairs/adjustements that have to be made....having to be home to allows the workers to come in and do what they need to do.

My previous homes have all been pre-construction and I am glad I bought "new" houses. Newer houses just have much better floor plans and are just overall so much better in my opinion.

Good luck !

One problem is not knowing exactly what will be around you. The builders paint a rosy picture, but what will the roads sound like? Will there be a streetlight shining in your bedroom? How close will the neighbors really be? What will you home really be like? How about noise at night?

Is this home near or in The Villages? How do you know nearby land will not be a shopping center or new access road? All things to carefully consider.

It is very hard to picture what a home will actually look like until you see it for yourself. How long has this builder been around? Make sure you check them out with the BBB and see if there are any complaints. The building dept is another good place to check them out. If this is a first time builder you are taking a big chance. Then how about the area? Schools, shopping, hospitals, tax base, cable tv, phone providers, garbage collection. If this is a gated community HOA fees. I worked in New construction for years and years. Lots of different things to consider. Do your homework!!! Good Luck!

I would not buy pre-construction. I know a lot of people have done it and it has worked out well while others have lost big time. In Florida you always have to worry about the builders not completing what they tell you. What if you buy in and they never finish the neighborhood. Don't forget this is a very bad time for construction and the housing market. I would be extremely worried. I want to see, touch, and feel what I am buying.
Can you tell, I don't trust what anyone promises?

Good Luck and be careful.
Lisa

We would possibly consider building if we could get what we want ( or close to it ) at the price zone we'd like to be in. We're looking at resales and have been in a pretty large ( 100K either direction ) margin of price although have up to recently only focused within a fairly narrow range. We've thought about increasing our scope about halfway to that 100K extra at least to see if what we want is more available in that range than what we've been looking in.

But then it seems that we just may be in the zone of having something built. Perhaps not with the ultimate of ammenties that we want but again, maybe close enough to look into building. We asked a realtor for any contacts she may have in the event we choose this area to build in ( a definite possibility) and we plan on calling them for a short discussion as soon as time permits.

One of the more frightening aspects is what others have mentioned such as not knowing what the neaighborhood will turn out to be, neighbors etc etc. Another is what does one do if the building suddenly stops, and the builder stops answering the phone? Getting lawyers involed at that point is a given , I suppose but when they are maybe not answering their phones because they're going out of business.....what's the lawyer going to do?

Eeek, when then?

Take a look at this article:.

Things to Consider When Building a House: [URL="http://www.floridathesunshinestate.com/florida-mortgage-lenders/florida-construction-home-loan.php"]Florida Construction Home Loan[/URL]

I spoke with my bank today who told me that a fixed mortgage is NOT available for building a house. Only an ARM which would have a guarantee for 5 years.

I don't like that but then again I'm not looking to have any mortgage in 5 years so it's not that important to me. But it should be to most people if that's the case everywhere.