So, I've decided that living in the life of an apartment is getting old, and I'm going to move back to the Raleigh area.

I'm a single guy - and I work from home. I do like nice things, who doesn't? Finding the right balance in a place I spend so much time, is important to me.

The tract homes I've been looking at is from M/I and Lennar. They seem to have stepped it up a bit considerably versus the previous neighborhoods I've seen. They still use manufactured wood floors, and the return vents are in stupid places like the railing going upstairs. biggest pro is I would be saving 60-80k on a house. It has some nice upgrades already, gas stove, etc.

The custom home, is just damn nice. real wood floors, and would be a half a million + if it was in Raleigh. Uses the reclaimed wood stuff in parts of the house, and is just amazing. Cons, is mostly the cost and HOA.


I know some folks have dealt with custom homes, and tract homes...if you bought either...what have you learned from the experience you can share?

1/22/2014 10:11:35 AM

Obviously custom is the way to go for quality and getting what you like.

So the real discussion is about pre-planned housing, and really, it comes down to the contractor. For the most part, the large national/regional builders are OK quality; cookie-cutter and right on top of each other, to the max. Upgrades tend to be very expensive. I looked at several of these homes, and while some look nice and have features, I could never get over some of the bad quality work and lack of space, not to mention the monotony of the communities. Also some of these contractors are going to cut any corner they can and/or try to cheat you a bit. Unfortunately, you have very little control and recourse over these guys.

Horror stories:

-placing insulation, getting an inspection, and then removing it & drywalling
-after 1 year and it's time for the 1-yr walk-through, a representative of the contractor sees you in the neighborhood and asks how things are going and counting that as your walk-through.

That being said, I went with a pre-planned home via a local contractor. It's not perfect, but I feel much better about it and know how it was built, as I watched and corrected them This also gave me better access to the contractor and crews. And it's somewhat cookie-cutter, but there are just enough house plans and enough space to break it up (1 ac lots min). Upgrades were mostly close to actual costs. Also had the flexibility to make changes to the floorplan, lot, etc. as nothing was done until after the contract was signed (not even clearing).

Also, something people don't tend to think about, but the large home builders typically come in, mass grade/flatten everything and clear out every bit of existing vegetation, which really sucks and looks bad IMO. My neighborhood has elevation to it and lots of existing vegetation present; it looks more natural, that's for sure.

So, the question is, would I do it again? Probably not. I'd find a pre-built custom home, if I couldn't afford to build one myself. Even though I was on-site for most of the build on my new home, I couldn't be there enough and didn't have enough say so on how things were to go (unless I wanted to whip out a lot of cash, even if it didn't really impact the builder's direct costs).

[Edited on January 22, 2014 at 1:14 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on January 22, 2014 at 1:15 PM. Reason : .]

1/22/2014 1:13:25 PM

so i guess you are only interested in new homes?

500,000+ for a single dude seems excessive, but I guess if you have $$$ do whatever you want.

1/22/2014 3:11:24 PM

I work as a builder for a production home company.

My advice, go custom...dear god go custom.

1/22/2014 5:21:17 PM

I've worked for custom builders and production builders. There are some decent products out there by big builders, but custom is still better. And I definitely like the look of neighborhoods built by custom builders vs the crammed pack feeling of pretty much any production builder.

1/22/2014 5:52:27 PM

owned two tract built homes in the past, and live in a 22 year old custom home now.

the tract built homes were fine for what they were-- a means to get equity without overextending myself/ourselves financially. none of the downsides of tract homes matter if you're in 'em for 5-10 years other than not being able to impress people if that's important to you.

The custom built home is very clearly nicer in every measurable way, build quality, materials, detail work, architectural style, etc. But I wouldn't have bought this place if we weren't in it for the long haul. They cost lots of money, and i'm not convinced it's gonna be the best ROI.

personally, i don't think i'd be extending myself to the order of $500k of Raleigh housing as a single guy even if i had the kind of income/cash. That's a lot of house to heat/cool and maintain.

1/23/2014 12:29:42 AM

Plus the female is going to come in and fuck all your plans up

1/23/2014 12:46:29 AM

The home I want is roughly $300k. I believe there are a few houses for $200+ up from the custom builder, but I'd have a 50k premium for the land.

I'd love to find some land in Johnston County (5-10 acres), and build a $250k custom home. My biggest concern is getting a 30+meg internet connection...and this is actually harder to find than you'd think without going into a neighborhood.

Some upgrades I'd love to have for example, staggered studs, a larger bathroom, with a walk in shower, decent kitchen upgrades.

I was commenting that this home I'd love to have would cost $500k if it was in Raleigh.

1/23/2014 3:00:54 AM

Quote :

"personally, i don't think i'd be extending myself to the order of $500k of Raleigh housing as a single guy even if i had the kind of income/cash. That's a lot of house to heat/cool and maintain."

it really depends on the type of home. As you well know, the higher end, more custom home is going to skyrocket in $/ft² so it doesn't have to be very large to carry that pricetag. Our current suburban tract house in SC (where tract housing is dirt cheap) is almost 2500ft² and was less than $200,000. It fulfills our needs but obviously nowhere near my style or dream home.

I recently considered a custom, contemporary home near our downtown as well as completely renovating a custom mid-century modern home built in 1968 and both were coming in somewhere around $350,000-$450,000 (and ultimately more than I wanted to spend at this point in time since we may move for our company or something), but one was 1890ft² and the other was 2000ft². So they were both significantly smaller, just much more well built and much nicer architectural finishes.

Custom homes are the way to go for the long haul, but imo probably aren't worth building the custom home from scratch unless it is somewhere you are planning to live for a long time. Basically, when you aren't worried about return on investment but enjoying a well-built and aesthetically pleasing home. Hence why we pinched our nose and bought a tract home 4 years ago for well below our budget.

[Edited on January 23, 2014 at 9:23 AM. Reason : ]

1/23/2014 9:20:58 AM

I third the idea about longevity. If this is a <15 yr house, then find a more affordable, already built custom home or get a tract home. I'm guessing I'll be in mine <10 years.

And if you're fairly certain you'll be in a house <15 years or better yet, <10 years, it's worth looking at your finances to see how you should approach your down payment, etc. Many home buyers don't see the benefits of paying more upfront until after 10 years or so; thus if that's your time frame, it's likely best to spend as little money upfront as possible.

[Edited on January 23, 2014 at 9:53 AM. Reason : .]

1/23/2014 9:52:04 AM

We got the best of both worlds. We found a small community in Durham (between RTP and Southpoint) with no HOA and the houses are really well built. I pay the same to heat the 2500sqft house as we did for the last 1000sqft apartment because the house is so well built and insulated. The place next door is for sale, and we get good TWC internet and are about to get Uverse (it's 1/2 mile down the road so not quite here yet).

1/23/2014 4:24:06 PM

hook me up with an address...I'm up to looking


these are gorgeous

http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?idx=1&t=889882

1/23/2014 8:19:35 PM

PMed you the link to the listing, since I can't trust some of the shady mofos on this board to leave me alone.

1/24/2014 1:16:33 PM

A true custom home will prob cost you $115/ft. Add that to lot cost and there you go.

[Edited on January 24, 2014 at 6:57 PM. Reason : Derp]

1/24/2014 6:55:35 PM

dang, that seems low, even factoring in lot cost. is that an average, or on the "low end" of custom homes?

1/24/2014 10:01:29 PM

That gets you some pretty nice finishes. I built mine for $87/ft. This is in Raleigh not including lot. I would say they are mid range finishes and that number includes a 15% GC fee.

When I talk about building a custom home for a spec I figure $100/ft.

1/25/2014 2:29:17 PM

right now I found a custom home I really like/love

it's priced at $150 a sq ft. but the finishes are pretty outrageously awesome.

Lot of wood in most places.

2/8/2014 10:15:56 AM

how much of that is the lot?

2/8/2014 9:39:28 PM

heated: 2,100 sq ft
Lot:4,791 sqft

still have a nice big garage, unfinished room on top of that.

2/9/2014 12:18:46 AM

0.11 ac? are you not going to be pissing in your neighbors window? why pay custom price on cramped grounds?

[Edited on February 10, 2014 at 9:12 AM. Reason : .]

2/10/2014 9:11:43 AM

Clearly, your best option would to be to go with the best of both worlds: buy a custom house that looks like tract housing.

2/23/2014 6:38:50 PM

Like panthersny

2/23/2014 9:51:09 PM

No way I could live in a house on .11 acres unless the location was truly exceptional (we're talking ITB or similar).

2/24/2014 8:37:54 AM

my downtown house was on .088

we just upgraded to .15 lol paid $1.5m/acre

[Edited on February 24, 2014 at 7:59 PM. Reason : ha]

2/24/2014 7:58:00 PM

Yeah, and you had a great location ITB. That's the only place I could be and deal with a smaller lot like that. I house sat a place in Cary that was on a crazy small lot (.08 or something) and it was miserable. Neighbors that would have otherwise been fine were all up in your business because it was impossible to not notice was was happening in the yard next door. One neighbor noticed our new grill and started using it while he was drunk and we were gone. We told him I had food allergies, and the mofo got marinade I'm allergic to all over it and then left the burners on so the tank was empty and it was a mess the next time we tried to use it. A couple weeks later his daughter was practicing pitching and knocked one of the handles off the grill. You might as well buy a townhouse with a lot that small, and then they take care of the lawn and exterior for you.

Now we have a .44 acre lot and the difference is amazing. We've stopped by when the neighbors were having garage sales or outside to introduce ourselves, but the feeling of privacy is definitely there. It helps that the builder wasn't an idiot that took all the trees off the lot like most of them do now.

2/25/2014 7:32:54 AM