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Building a New Home / Renting out existing properties owned

C

Cope

Well-Known Member
I was inquire if anyone on the board has gone through the process of building a new home. We just started the process of building a new home this past week.

I was looking for tips, input, what to look out for, or suggestions on the process.





Also if anyone has ever had or has rental properties. We are potentially looking at renting out our existing house verses selling it as the market seems to be rebounding and looking at it as a long term investment. Any thoughts on this or tips is also appreciated.
 
We just bought a house that's under construction in Texas.
 
My advice is to make sure that the people setting the footings do it right. If they screw up, the foundation will be off, the framing will be off, the drywall will crack within a few years and you'll be left with a pos for a house. If you don't mind me asking, who is building it for you? Is it a small company or one of the big guys that builds 200 houses a year?
 
My company designs and builds about $30MM of homes per year and so I would definitely have lots of advice. Unfortunately, most of my advice is likely too late and relates to the construction contract.

Are you nearby where the home is being built?
 
Here's all you need to know about building a house:

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I'm in the industry, but it would be better if you asked specific questions so I knew what you're looking for. Who's your builder?
 
PKM said:
My company designs and builds about $30MM of homes per year and so I would definitely have lots of advice. Unfortunately, most of my advice is likely too late and relates to the construction contract.

Are you nearby where the home is being built?
Click to expand...

Really? What advice would you give someone about the construction contract (that is the stage we are at right now)? Thanks.
 
green said:
Really? What advice would you give someone about the construction contract (that is the stage we are at right now)? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Are you working from a fixed bid or cost plus contract?
Is it more of a production build or custom?

Most builders play too many games with budgets, change orders, etc. Too many loopholes to get you engaged on a small competitive profit/fee but with language that allows them to make more than it appears the agreement dictates.

The more custom the home (we only do highly custom) the more room for error in negotiating a strong agreement.

I'd be happy to look at something and advise if you're so inclined.

patrick@splitrockinc.com
 
On renting a property calculate in the fact you will most likely have some vacant months.
ALWAYS have the prospective pay for a credit report (you can credit them back on their first month's rent to ease this in). Don't rent to people with iffy credit. Unless you want to chase them down for your money.
Get a tough lease agreement and have a realestate attorney look it over. Most people won't read the lease agreement and this can help you out if you get a crappy tenant.
 
Sorry for the late reply as life has been crazy.

We are building through Castle Creek Homes and our new home will be on the Layton/Kaysville boarder.

This is an ideal location for us as its close to the freeway (1-2 minutes) but far enough away that you can't hear anything.

We've had 3 others that we know build and my wife worked with the guys wife that we are dealing with. We've signed the construction loan and put it in our name as he is giving us quite a few incentives by doing this. (Closing costs, interest, appraisal all paid as well as upgrade allowance).

What I'm looking for is what I can look out for during the process. We are sitting down to discuss the changing of the walls, moving the garages around, etc. but once they start digging what should I keep an eye out for. This is inbetween where we currently live and my work so I can swing by at anytime.


Also regarding the rentals, we easily qualify to carry both mortgages and the current home we are in is a starter home (Split entry built in 03). We've been in the home 6 1/2 years and even though I was set on just selling it, I'm reconsidering hiring a property management company to rent it out. If I refinanced the home our payment would be just over $800.00 with insurance and taxes. The home is about 1950 square feet on a 1/3rd of an acre with about 1300 finished (3 Bedrooms - 1 & 3/4 baths). It is completely updated with tile, newer carpet (4 years old), paint, etc as our house had a water issue a few years ago and we gutted it for the most part outside of sheetrock. I know we can 'make' money on it monthly even with a property management company handling it but I've also heard of nightmares when renting out homes.

Any feedback on this is appreciated as well.
 
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