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Depends on the laws in your local area. But many places where I live allow you to build your own home as long as you follow the building codes. But nothing's s

Depends on the laws in your local area. But many places where I live allow you to build your own home as long as you follow the building codes. But nothing's stopping you from buying one of these and hiring a professional to do the build. Would still be much cheaper than buying a property with a home on it already.

datavirtue 2y ago
Crazy expensive to build vs. buy. A modest 1600sq ft home is $400k+ to erect on your lot. You will have thousands out of pocket before you get there and if you carry a construction loan you are paying raw interest the whole time.
deleted 2y ago
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bityard 2y ago
I don't know where you live but in the Midwest US around medium-sized cities, it costs _significantly_ more to build vs buy unless you inherit or otherwise somehow luck into some cheap land. Building involves a surprising number of large one-off costs: clearing the land, excavation, running utilities, digging a well, installing a septic field, getting permits and inspections, legal fees for contract review, etc. None of these are reflected in the market price of a middle class SFH. This is the main reason housing developments are so popular, the developer is able to amortize these startup costs over 30-50 houses all at once which is the only way they can build new houses that are price competitive with the rest of the market.
- maxerickson 2y ago
  Aren't they all reflected in the market price of housing? It's just that a lot of existing housing is out of date (so prices below new construction) and people work to profit by reducing them below what an individual can achieve working on their own. In my small town, houses that are "move in ready" command a premium, because higher end buyers are less willing to put up with the typical condition of the aging housing stock.
- datavirtue 2y ago
  The newly built community homes are much cheaper. They are just commodities though. From what I have seen the construction is very poor and most people are going to want upgrades across the board ($50k+ more).
- kleiba 2y ago
  My father-in-law is in his 70s. He built a new house in 2016. He's a builder so he could do almost all of the work himself (apart from electrical and heating) with two hired helpers. The concrete was poured by a company. The roof trusses were designed and premanufactured, then delivered to site and installed by him and his guys. I think he had someone come in for some tiling jobs. Other than that, it was all off-the-shelf material. All in, he spent around $300k including the plot. Then COVID happened. Now, similar houses on his street sell north of 800k.
  - vel0city 2y ago
    > He's a builder so he could do almost all of the work himself So $300k plus a ton of skilled labor. That's a lot more than just $300k.
    - loandbehold 2y ago
      I'm sure that includes labor.
      - rhapsodic 2y ago
        [dead]

datavirtue 2y ago

Crazy expensive to build vs. buy. A modest 1600sq ft home is $400k+ to erect on your lot. You will have thousands out of pocket before you get there and if you carry a construction loan you are paying raw interest the whole time.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

bityard 2y ago

I don't know where you live but in the Midwest US around medium-sized cities, it costs _significantly_ more to build vs buy unless you inherit or otherwise somehow luck into some cheap land. Building involves a surprising number of large one-off costs: clearing the land, excavation, running utilities, digging a well, installing a septic field, getting permits and inspections, legal fees for contract review, etc. None of these are reflected in the market price of a middle class SFH. This is the main reason housing developments are so popular, the developer is able to amortize these startup costs over 30-50 houses all at once which is the only way they can build new houses that are price competitive with the rest of the market.

maxerickson 2y ago
Aren't they all reflected in the market price of housing? It's just that a lot of existing housing is out of date (so prices below new construction) and people work to profit by reducing them below what an individual can achieve working on their own. In my small town, houses that are "move in ready" command a premium, because higher end buyers are less willing to put up with the typical condition of the aging housing stock.
datavirtue 2y ago
The newly built community homes are much cheaper. They are just commodities though. From what I have seen the construction is very poor and most people are going to want upgrades across the board ($50k+ more).
kleiba 2y ago
My father-in-law is in his 70s. He built a new house in 2016. He's a builder so he could do almost all of the work himself (apart from electrical and heating) with two hired helpers. The concrete was poured by a company. The roof trusses were designed and premanufactured, then delivered to site and installed by him and his guys. I think he had someone come in for some tiling jobs. Other than that, it was all off-the-shelf material. All in, he spent around $300k including the plot. Then COVID happened. Now, similar houses on his street sell north of 800k.
- vel0city 2y ago
  > He's a builder so he could do almost all of the work himself So $300k plus a ton of skilled labor. That's a lot more than just $300k.
  - loandbehold 2y ago
    I'm sure that includes labor.
    - rhapsodic 2y ago
      [dead]