We're moving...build vs. buy, what say you?

rcalexander105

rcalexander105

JV Wheeler
Joined
Nov 3, 2017
Location
High Point
We're likely moving sometime in the next few months. I've got a job offer that I'm accepting with Pike Electric in Mt. Airy and we're going to be moving from Charlotte to the Winston-Salem / High Point area soon. I'll commute probably 3-4 days a week to Mt. Airy and 1-2 days a week I'll go to downtown W-S. Specifically, we would like to be in Davidson county but not in the WS or HP city limits (thinking property taxes here). We're looking at the north Davidson county area essentially from 52 west, to the Union Cross area east, from Wallburg north and down to about Ledford Middle (Lexington Ave. / Old Greensboro Rd.) south.

My wife is more or less dead set on buying an existing home on the market and I'd really like to build. We went through an insurance reno with our kitchen a couple years ago that my father-in-law and I did the vast majority of the work so she is hesitant to go through the stress of dealing w/ subs and all the decisions that come w/ building (not to mention we spent 10 weeks in a hotel with our 1 and 4 year olds so I think that alone just brings back some bad memories for her:handed:).

My cousin is a GC in the area and I worked w/ him through college so between the two of us we would likely bird dog my build if we went that route. My wife grew up in Wallburg and went to Ledford (her parents still live there) and my parents are in Thomasville so we know the area pretty good (ultimately, this is the reason we're headed back up...to get closer to family). The Willow Creek area is pretty appealing to us but I'm not dead set as I'd like to have at LEAST a 1.5-2 acre lot (the more the better as far as I'm concerned).

So...who knows the area that can offer up their $0.02? I'm essentially looking for any advice y'all can offer (especially on ways to convince the ole lady to build :smokin:). Outside of the obvious (building allows to pick it all out / buying existing is move-in ready) what's everybody's opinion on building vs. buying. There seems to be some people on here that have built lately and some builders as well so definitely looking to hear from y'all.

From what I understand, building materials have gone up a good bit lately. I know it depends on what we're looking to build but what's a ball park price per sq. ft. I should budget if we decide to build (I've heard it's up to about $175/sq. ft. here lately)? We're not looking for super fancy custom but we will be going with some higher end features (granite, etc.). I'm a CPA by trade so I'm a tight/cheap/frugal (take your pick of label) sumbitch, but I also like nice things and will spend money where it makes sense to. For reference we're probably looking for ~3,000 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms, nice, large kitchen, bonus room for the kids, 3 car attached garage and room for at least a 40x40 shop.

So NC4x4...what say you? Any and all comments/advice welcomed. Thanks in advance! :popcorn:
 
We just finished building a 3000sf 4br, and moved in back in June. Kind of what you said...not custom, but what I call "a little bit better" than average. I would not hesitate to do it all over again.

You are welcome to bring her by here sometime for a tour and to pick our brains.

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2 years ago when we were buying, we couldn’t find what we wanted, so changed gears for about 2 months and decided building would be the way to go...it wasn’t for us. All said and done, I could buy more house for the money than I could build. Seemed like to do what I wanted, I needed an additional 50% of what was budgeted to cover the stuff I didn’t think about. Couple that, since we’re both 32...didn’t figure it was worth the stress and headache to build since it probably wouldn’t be our ‘forever home’.
 
Buy an existing house. Rent for a year or two if you have to while looking. Building one was the most miserable experience of my life.
 
Consider Randolph county, it won’t put you too awful far away. Cheaper taxes, plenty of land available, close to everything.
I can be in Winston in 30, Greensboro in 20, High Point in 10, and Mt Airy in an hour.

As for the build, even if you went with an “off the shelf” new build, you’ll have brand new appliances, brand new roof, and you can control little things like how the house is oriented to the sun (big deal I found out after purchasing my home) and how your driveway is shaped. Those are small, barely cost changing things that make a big difference, you can choose all the obvious upgrades too like trim work, granite, tile etc. But to me even just picking out a basic plan and sticking with it nets you all new stuff that you shouldn’t have to worry about for a long while. Nothing sucks like buying a 15 year old house only to have to replace several appliances and a roof within 2-3 years.

Also, I HATE, and I mean HATE my tile floor in our kitchen. If I build a house in the future, I don’t care if it’s a fancy $300k house with granite and stainless and gold gates, it will have linoleum floors in the kitchen due to easy cleaning! Not to mention easy replacement.
 
77GreenMachine said:
Also, I HATE, and I mean HATE my tile floor in our kitchen. If I build a house in the future, I don’t care if it’s a fancy $300k house with granite and stainless and gold gates, it will have linoleum floors in the kitchen due to easy cleaning! Not to mention easy replacement.
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Marmoleum.
 
In addition, I’ll give my opinion on buying also instead of building. Me and the wife have looked a few houses that had 10-15 acres for less than $250k. Given they needed some major upgrades, but we are talking about $20K or so that could potentially be done over time if we were willing to do it that way, OR get a construction loan and knock it all out at once.
My point is, buying existing older homes sure did allow for a lot more land than say, 2-3 acres and a new home. We priced one new construction home in a sub development a couple years ago that would have been on a 1 acre lot, just under 2000sqft with attached 2 car garage, stainless appliances and granite for $199k.

I’m not sure if we will buy 5+ acres and then build a few years after we get it paid for, or buy an older home on more land and remodel. Either way we are just saving for now and seeing what comes up. But Jeeps and Jeep parts keep coming up....
 
77GreenMachine said:
Nothing sucks like buying a 15 year old house only to have to replace several appliances and a roof within 2-3 years.
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Home Warranty...buy it. Yeah yeah, it’s a scam and doesn’t pay off indefinitely, but it’s paid out for me a couple times. Different coverages, but every house I’ve bought told them I wanted coverage on everything up to and including a zombie apocalypse. Costs me like $80/month. First house I bought was 15 years old, had an A/C/heat pump that needed to be replaced...cost me a $100 diagnostic fee (above my monthly coverage), put in a unit that woulda cost me $4k. Current house is 8 years old...prior owners left their garbage Cabrio washer/dryer (2-3 years old) decided to run them until they crapped out. 3 months in, trans went out on the washer, got a check for what it cost new, got a $500 check for something I was planning on replacing anyway. Like insurance, they’ll drop you as soon as you cost them too much, but just like you said, I like having that peace of mind for 2-3 years and figure that’s about the break even point. Similar to buying a used vehicle, always expect to sink a few hundred/thousand in to it the first little while you have it. If I can spend $2-3k in premiums over 2-3 years to have someone else pay $4-5k in replacing stuff, I’ll do that every time.
 
@UTfball68 that’s true, I didn’t think of that. Which is odd cause when I bought this house over 2 years ago we scored a free home warranty thanks to an oversight by the sellers agent and her trying to make a mistake right (long story). I had to use it within 3 months. They tried to weasel their way out of replacing the evap coil in my air handler but I had my ducks in a row thanks to a killer home inspection report, and they had to pay up $2200 for the replacement and I paid $69!

I did not renew when it ran out, but was sure glad I had it for that first year. So I would agree to getting it, for at least the initial purchase.
 
kaiser715 said:
We just finished building a 3000sf 4br, and moved in back in June. Kind of what you said...not custom, but what I call "a little bit better" than average. I would not hesitate to do it all over again.

You are welcome to bring her by here sometime for a tour and to pick our brains.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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That's awfully nice @kaiser715, where are you guys at now?
UTfball68 said:
2 years ago when we were buying, we couldn’t find what we wanted, so changed gears for about 2 months and decided building would be the way to go...it wasn’t for us. All said and done, I could buy more house for the money than I could build. Seemed like to do what I wanted, I needed an additional 50% of what was budgeted to cover the stuff I didn’t think about. Couple that, since we’re both 32...didn’t figure it was worth the stress and headache to build since it probably wouldn’t be our ‘forever home’.
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I'm 32 as well and wife is 31 so this likely won't be our forever home but we intend on staying for the next ~20 years until the kids are good and gone out of the house then we'll probably downsize again (but who the hell knows what will happened b/t now and then). It seems like as @tknopp has alluded to...it's going to be cheaper to buy existing right now than build. As mentioned, I've heard building materials have gone through the roof lately.
drkelly said:
Buy an existing house. Rent for a year or two if you have to while looking. Building one was the most miserable experience of my life.
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You're certainly not the first to tell me this exact same thing (re: be patient and rent until you find what you want).
 
I'm in Meadowlands

We're building next year. Not because we cant find a home we like. We have that. We desire to be the hell away from everyone, but still in wallburg.

I'll come back to this post monday when I've got more time to elaborate
 
77GreenMachine said:
Consider Randolph county, it won’t put you too awful far away. Cheaper taxes, plenty of land available, close to everything.
I can be in Winston in 30, Greensboro in 20, High Point in 10, and Mt Airy in an hour.

As for the build, even if you went with an “off the shelf” new build, you’ll have brand new appliances, brand new roof, and you can control little things like how the house is oriented to the sun (big deal I found out after purchasing my home) and how your driveway is shaped. Those are small, barely cost changing things that make a big difference, you can choose all the obvious upgrades too like trim work, granite, tile etc. But to me even just picking out a basic plan and sticking with it nets you all new stuff that you shouldn’t have to worry about for a long while. Nothing sucks like buying a 15 year old house only to have to replace several appliances and a roof within 2-3 years.

Also, I HATE, and I mean HATE my tile floor in our kitchen. If I build a house in the future, I don’t care if it’s a fancy $300k house with granite and stainless and gold gates, it will have linoleum floors in the kitchen due to easy cleaning! Not to mention easy replacement.
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Randolph has certainly crossed our mind, but taxes still aren't as cheap as Davidson. I think it'd be easier for me to get up to Mt. Airy too from the area we're thinking about.

And totally agree w/ you on all the "new" when building and designed everything the way you want. That's kind of where I stand w/ the wife. Our house in Charlotte was built in '59 and we've done a good bit of remodeling. Frankly, I'm about over all that at this point. I'd rather spend time w/ the kids and make more time for things I actually enjoy (I really wanna make it up to Harlan/Windrock/et al as I've never been) not to mention I can't tell ya the last time I've been hunting/fishing/snowboard/etc. just because I've let career work and house work consume my time along w/ the kids. I'm all for the "get the headache out of the way up front and then it's all new and much less to worry about". That said, there will always be something when you own a home.

I couldn't agree w/ you more about tile in the kitchen. I've found about a 4,500 sq. ft. house my wife loves that's on about 5 acres w/ a 2 car attached and 32x26 2 bay detach where we're looking. Downside is it's 4,500 sq. ft. (too much IMO) and would need some updating (built in the early 2000's) and TILE IN THE KITCHEN! Hardwoods throughout ftw!!!

Here's our current kitchen after the remodel (it wasn't quite finished but close).

20170114_100430.jpg



20170114_100405.jpg
 
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In Wallburg also. Buying my mom's house so we will be here for at least another 5 years I would guess, but eventually plan to build in Pinnacle.

I graduated from Ledford in 03'

As for school systems, Wallburg is still good best I can tell (my son is in kindergarten now), but from what I hear Ledford has kind of gone to the crapper. A police officer friend said the High Point PD has been called over there numerous times. I had more typed out but I'll keep it to myself haha.

Oak Grove school district is the new hot item in the Wallburg area though.
 
UTfball68 said:
Home Warranty...buy it. Yeah yeah, it’s a scam and doesn’t pay off indefinitely, but it’s paid out for me a couple times. Different coverages, but every house I’ve bought told them I wanted coverage on everything up to and including a zombie apocalypse. Costs me like $80/month. First house I bought was 15 years old, had an A/C/heat pump that needed to be replaced...cost me a $100 diagnostic fee (above my monthly coverage), put in a unit that woulda cost me $4k. Current house is 8 years old...prior owners left their garbage Cabrio washer/dryer (2-3 years old) decided to run them until they crapped out. 3 months in, trans went out on the washer, got a check for what it cost new, got a $500 check for something I was planning on replacing anyway. Like insurance, they’ll drop you as soon as you cost them too much, but just like you said, I like having that peace of mind for 2-3 years and figure that’s about the break even point. Similar to buying a used vehicle, always expect to sink a few hundred/thousand in to it the first little while you have it. If I can spend $2-3k in premiums over 2-3 years to have someone else pay $4-5k in replacing stuff, I’ll do that every time.
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Couldn't agree more w/ this. Some say not worth the paper they're written on...others say worth their weight in gold. I tend to fall on the latter vs. the former personally!

CasterTroy said:
I'm in Meadowlands

We're building next year. Not because we cant find a home we like. We have that. We desire to be the hell away from everyone, but still in wallburg.

I'll come back to this post monday when I've got more time to elaborate
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That'd be great if you don't mind...very much appreciate it! We've looked a decent bit in Meadowlands (as well as right down the road on Act Dr.) and the wife really likes it (not to say I don't...the homes are nice). My only downside is (i) the lots aren't quite as big as I'd like and (ii) too damn close to my neighbors (goes back to point numero uno). The wife likes the idea of being in a neighborhood for the kids (and I don't disagree at all); however, I'd also like to be able to a little further away from my neighbors (i.e., be able to yell at my kids and not have a bunch of snowflakes call the cops on me...although I'm probably a lot more at risk of that here in Charlotte than in Davidson county). I also want to get the boys dirt bikes and/or four wheelers in the not so distant future so the idea of a little bit of acreage is nice.
 
drkelly said:
Buy an existing house. Rent for a year or two if you have to while looking. Building one was the most miserable experience of my life.
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X100!

Imagine what you think it will be like to build a house, then add in every single bad interaction you have had with someone in the last 10 years.
That is what you deal with building a house....
 
junkxj said:
X100!

Imagine what you think it will be like to build a house, then add in every single bad interaction you have had with someone in the last 10 years.
That is what you deal with building a house....
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One simple goal we set when we started our project -- to still be friends with our contractor when it was all done (I have known him for years). Easily accomplished.

During the build, he answered every phone call, or called back within 5 or so minutes. Still does.

I caught several things his subs screwed up or didn't do the way I thought was right, and he got it straightened out right away with no BS. A few things I didn't get exactly the way I wanted, but he had a darn good explanation why not to do it that way each time. He caught and fixed some stuff that I totally missed, and most any other contractor would have let slide and hope I never caught. Like on the back side of the house, 3 windows were 1.5" off center from being centered inside the room, after the windows were set (but before brick veneer).

Of course...he knew I had a backhoe and several acres. ;)

Like I said, I may be at the tip of the bell curve, but absolutely no regrets about doing a design/build.
 
Sure you can buy a tract home, move in ready, for $110/square ft. But, those are cheaply built houses that you’ll be miserable with. It’s like the pugeot of homes. They are 5 years late on the trends, use cheapest materials and labor possible, and have useless and mostly gawd awful architectural features.


If you buy, I’d buy something older and renovate yourself in lieu of these cheap tract homes builders are putting up nowadays. Or build and get exactly what you want and need.
 
I'd just not prefer Davidson County, or at least parts of it.
 
rockcity said:
Sure you can buy a tract home, move in ready, for $110/square ft. But, those are cheaply built houses that you’ll be miserable with. It’s like the pugeot of homes. They are 5 years late on the trends, use cheapest materials and labor possible, and have useless and mostly gawd awful architectural features
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Curious what specifically this means...cheap materials/labor and ‘miserable with’. I know diddly about home building...ignorance is bliss. But id imagine cheaping out for the sake of margins isn’t a new concept...just that the cheap shit has been fixed/replaced some time in the last 30-40 years. We looked at everything from the $200-500k range, brand new to 100 years old. Yeah the 100 year old house ‘felt’ more solid, but it also had crooked door frames...haha. Only other things I noticed in any of them was the intricacy in the mouldings, hollow core doors or not and whatever ‘pretty stuff’ the wife told me to look at. Beyond that, I couldn’t have told the difference outside of how outdated a house was. Just trying to gauge financial requirements for actually building...if it’s going to cost me 30-50% more to build exactly what I bought, plus an even higher premium for ‘quality’...that’s insane.

Edit...I guess what I’m getting at is, does it matter. Like the insulation thread...is an extra $2500 for ‘good’ insulation worth it...does it pay off in the end, maybe not. I wouldn’t have even thought about raising the question about what kinda insulation I should use. If you’re talking about falling through the floor...I get it.
 
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WARRIORWELDING said:
I'd just not prefer Davidson County, or at least parts of it.
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There are absolutely certain parts of Davidson county I wouldn't want to live in. I think the north east corner is pretty nice though. I'm just curious at this point whether the schools are any better just north of there in Forsyth or Guilford, say around the Sandy Ridge Rd. / Bunker Hill area in Kernersville or Colfax. If the schools and area are that much better I'd be willing to pay more in taxes.

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To me, timing is a big factor here too. With the current market you are looking at 1+yr to build a house, if you're not doing it all yourself. Do that means you stay where you're at and commute or rent or stay with family.

I would rather find a place and Reno while you live there for the next yr.
 
rcalexander105 said:
There are absolutely certain parts of Davidson county I wouldn't want to live in. I think the north east corner is pretty nice though. I'm just curious at this point whether the schools are any better just north of there in Forsyth or Guilford, say around the Sandy Ridge Rd. / Bunker Hill area in Kernersville or Colfax. If the schools and area are that much better I'd be willing to pay more in taxes.

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My response and opinion comes from my wife (school teacher)and a friend (police officer).
The general blanket statement....really large school districts and schools, more over all crime and drug stuff.

The specifics are relative, mainly just more folks. The drug part however is most of Davie counties really bad stuff comes from that direction. As for school my wife taught 12 years in a very large county system similar the theirs....she highly urges you to speak to very specific schools. (edit: the teachers, and parents)They tend to absorb the surrounding and it's problems. Like Iredell they combat that by redrawing districts and bussing kids......so don't just assume one school isn't effected by these policies.

Teaching 12 years in public schools has taught her one thing.....if you can afford it and make sure to socialize your children: home school.
 
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