NCEPR: New build vs. resale home

[anodyne]

Apr 25, 2017 9:06:46 GMT -5 pisces said:

H and I bought a lot and built our house. It was a huge pain the ass and it caused a lot of stress.

I would personally go for the resale.

I can't tell you how many marriages I see pushed to the brink when building or remodeling.

If the existing house has most everything you want in a home I would jump on it.  

[bowies]

The plot thickens.

The resale home has gone under contract twice with one buyer - cold feet both times. Seller is done with them. Seller is also expecting a baby and either wants to close ASAP or delay into summer. Delaying into summer would be perfect for us.

A house nearly identical to ours (only with a bigger kitchen, less square feet, less efficiency updates) went on the market today in our neighborhood for $30K over what we would list.

[heyjude]

Re Buying a house to be more "green" there was this maddening House Hunters episode where this boomer couple decided to sell their giant home so that they could move across the country to buy another giant home that was "more green." They were insufferable. Don't be like these people.

[anodyne]

Apr 25, 2017 11:16:58 GMT -5 bowies said:

The plot thickens.

The resale home has gone under contract twice with one buyer - cold feet both times. Seller is done with them. Seller is also expecting a baby and either wants to close ASAP or delay into summer. Delaying into summer would be perfect for us.

A house nearly identical to ours (only with a bigger kitchen, less square feet, less efficiency updates) went on the market today in our neighborhood for $30K over what we would list.

Make an offer with a late in summer closing date.  This will give you  time to get your house in order.  Good luck!

[pixy0stix]

Apr 25, 2017 11:18:29 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Re Buying a house to be more "green" there was this maddening House Hunters episode where this boomer couple decided to sell their giant home so that they could move across the country to buy another giant home that was "more green." They were insufferable. Don't be like these people.

Let me guess, it was in a new build area, too.

[lightbulbsun]

Apr 25, 2017 9:30:31 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:05:07 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Exactly. We put in new windows, more insulation, a new furnace/ac unit in our 1961 ranch. Plus changed the landscaping around, and hey presto we're one of the most efficient houses in town. Not only that, but since we didn't build on the outskirts of town, we're in a primo location close to everything we could want.

"Green builds" are usually nothing more than a selling tactic builders use. They're not any more efficient than any other new builds.

Can I ask about your insulation changes?
We bought a 1962 ranch in west Denver in the fall and this is something we'd like to improve. Our utility bills haven't been much different vs our previous home (new), but you can feel the difference between exterior and interior rooms, and especially the basement (which was more recently finished with better insulation). I was investigating the spray foam type that can basically be retrofitted (since we don't have the budget or time to tear out and re do drywall or anything), and possibly just adding a bunch of regular insulation to the attic. What did you go with? Do you mind sharing the process/cost?

A few years ago H and I contacted a company which did an energy audit of our house and then provided solutions for the inefficiencies they found.  They ended up adding insulation in the attic, sealing and insulating our crawlspace, replacing the rubber seals around our exterior doors, insulating some pipes, and installing a vent for our water heater.  It ended up being $8k (not including a $2k tax credit).  Since then our bills have been lower by 1/3-1/2, and we've noticed that the heater and a/c cycles less frequently.  Also, our house is less draftly, and there is more temperature consistency between floors (we have a split level).

[bowies]

Apr 25, 2017 11:18:29 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Re Buying a house to be more "green" there was this maddening House Hunters episode where this boomer couple decided to sell their giant home so that they could move across the country to buy another giant home that was "more green." They were insufferable. Don't be like these people.

Well, none of these houses are considered giant by today's standards.

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2017 9:30:31 GMT -5 fuckyourcouch said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:05:07 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Exactly. We put in new windows, more insulation, a new furnace/ac unit in our 1961 ranch. Plus changed the landscaping around, and hey presto we're one of the most efficient houses in town. Not only that, but since we didn't build on the outskirts of town, we're in a primo location close to everything we could want.

"Green builds" are usually nothing more than a selling tactic builders use. They're not any more efficient than any other new builds.

Can I ask about your insulation changes?
We bought a 1962 ranch in west Denver in the fall and this is something we'd like to improve. Our utility bills haven't been much different vs our previous home (new), but you can feel the difference between exterior and interior rooms, and especially the basement (which was more recently finished with better insulation). I was investigating the spray foam type that can basically be retrofitted (since we don't have the budget or time to tear out and re do drywall or anything), and possibly just adding a bunch of regular insulation to the attic. What did you go with? Do you mind sharing the process/cost?

We added about $350 worth of insulation to ~1000 sq ft of attic space (didn't add above the garage), essentially doubling the R value for very little cost. Highly recommended. I actually don't have before and after utility bills because we did it when we first moved in but we only need to run the AC for a few weeks a year. (We never re-did our walls because the insulation seems pretty good already in our 1966 ranch.)

In the end, we decided to do traditional insulation instead of blown because we have a whole house fan that draws through the attic (and is part of the reason we rarely need to run the AC) and that would theoretically move the blown insulation bits around where we didn't want them. If you don't have a whole house fan, the blown insulation is supposed to be the best. You can rent the blower at major hardware stores to do it yourself.

I would definitely start with looking at the attic to see how much insulation you already have before going for the walls.

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2017 9:44:43 GMT -5 winecat said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:40:02 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I didn't do the pricing for materials, as that was dh's job. When we first moved in, we added several inches of insulation to the attic which helped immensely. Then we tore out the walls to the bathroom and kitchen upstairs and added insulation. The other rooms we haven't added wall insulation. Really, if you can stop the heat from escaping/getting in from the roof, that's the most important part.

I need to do new attic insulation. 

I dream of putting a new home on my lot and have been looking at prefabricated homes because they're supposed to be more efficient and less wasteful builds. I'm ready for CEP to ruin this for me. 

This is not my expertise area but I have heard that some prefabs using things like SIPs (http://www.sips.org/about/what-are-sips) can reduce energy/environmental waste compared to other modern builds. However, there's no getting around the fact that tearing down an existing structure and rebuilding embodies a massive amount of energy no matter how green your build. (I'm not saying I'd never do this, just that I wouldn't try to justify it via environmental reasons.)

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2017 9:01:05 GMT -5 juliej said:

Apr 25, 2017 8:50:25 GMT -5 @lindy said:

Oh I know. As a homeowner though it is attractive to some people due to the utility savings.

And that can really, really depend. Our house is over 100 years old, but it's solid brick vs. stick built, so it's easier to cool and heat because the temperature inside stays fairly consistent. Established trees also mean we get good shade in the summer. Instead of double-paned windows, we have custom inserts in our original windows; the air space between the panels and windows is slightly larger, so they're actually more efficient than double-paned windows. We did some HVAC work when we moved in so our furnace/AC and water heater are more efficient, we use third-party "tools" like smart thermostats and home automation and LED bulbs, etc. And the net is that our utility bills aren't substantially different than they were in our modern townhouse that was half the size. 

This is an important point that new construction can't compete with.

I was so sad when the woodpeckers destroyed the beautiful 50-year-old maple that provided shade from the south side of our house so we had to get it taken down or risk it falling on the house. There isn't a way to fix that loss save waiting decades.

[WanderingWinoZ]

Another vote for existing house- building, no matter how smooth, is always stressful.

[eddy]

Another vote for the resale. I am assuming the neighborhood is already established and that would be a big deal to me. The part that makes me nervous about new builds is when a whole neighborhood is being created around you. You never really can be certain what you are going to get.

Plus I am lazy lol. Building sounds awful.

[winecat]

Apr 25, 2017 11:54:50 GMT -5 aurora said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:44:43 GMT -5 winecat said:

I need to do new attic insulation. 

I dream of putting a new home on my lot and have been looking at prefabricated homes because they're supposed to be more efficient and less wasteful builds. I'm ready for CEP to ruin this for me. 

This is not my expertise area but I have heard that some prefabs using things like SIPs (http://www.sips.org/about/what-are-sips) can reduce energy/environmental waste compared to other modern builds. However, there's no getting around the fact that tearing down an existing structure and rebuilding embodies a massive amount of energy no matter how green your build. (I'm not saying I'd never do this, just that I wouldn't try to justify it via environmental reasons.)

I don't think I can add on to my house. I don't have a basement or a garage which drives me nuts. I want to stay urban but prices are insane.  It's a ways off though so maybe there will be some correction.  I'm not trying to justify building as being the greenest choice I can make but if I do, I want to be as efficient as I can. If I sell and buy another home, I'm 99% sure my house will be torn down. 

[pisces]

Apr 25, 2017 11:16:57 GMT -5 anodyne said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:06:46 GMT -5 pisces said:

H and I bought a lot and built our house. It was a huge pain the ass and it caused a lot of stress.

I would personally go for the resale.

I can't tell you how many marriages I see pushed to the brink when building or remodeling.

If the existing house has most everything you want in a home I would jump on it.  

Yeah, it wasn't fun and I wouldn't do it again.


Plus, after we got situated in the house, we realized we made mistakes building our 'perfect home' and had a long list of things we would change.

[sunshineluv]

Perks of the resale. It has been painted ($4K-$5k) it has window treatments (even if you hate the curtains you can change them but don't have to hang curtain rods ($1k)

Also, a better lot is really important, for when you use it and when it comes to resale.

Go for it!

[bugandbibs]

We built our house and didn't have any problems.

That said, I would choose the resale house in a heartbeat if you can get it. We spent so much extra money on landscaping, fences, curtains, raised beds, patio cover, shed, etc... You are really saving money if you buy a home where any of this already exists.

[wawa]

Apr 25, 2017 11:57:41 GMT -5 aurora said:

Apr 25, 2017 9:01:05 GMT -5 juliej said:

And that can really, really depend. Our house is over 100 years old, but it's solid brick vs. stick built, so it's easier to cool and heat because the temperature inside stays fairly consistent. Established trees also mean we get good shade in the summer. Instead of double-paned windows, we have custom inserts in our original windows; the air space between the panels and windows is slightly larger, so they're actually more efficient than double-paned windows. We did some HVAC work when we moved in so our furnace/AC and water heater are more efficient, we use third-party "tools" like smart thermostats and home automation and LED bulbs, etc. And the net is that our utility bills aren't substantially different than they were in our modern townhouse that was half the size. 

This is an important point that new construction can't compete with.

I was so sad when the woodpeckers destroyed the beautiful 50-year-old maple that provided shade from the south side of our house so we had to get it taken down or risk it falling on the house. There isn't a way to fix that loss save waiting decades.

Yeah, we had a huge tree shading our house from the south too, but it had been damaged years ago and was rotting out from the base.   There was a significant different in our cooling costs when we took it down. 

Count me in the fairly efficient 50's home with upgraded insulation crowd.  We were doing a full house reno (gutted the original damaged 50's bathrooms, refinished all the wood floors and reconfigured some of the layout) so we went ahead and did blown in insulation in the walls that we hadn't torn out (which required two holes in each stud bay), new batts in the walls we did tear out, and then more importantly several feet of blown in insulation in the attic.  And new roof venting.  Oh...and a new geothermal HVAC system which dumps waste heat in the summer into our water heater.  We're pretty consistently just a few ticks above the "most efficient' in our area as per the monthly emails we get from our local utility.  We'd be closer to the "most efficient" with some new appliances.  And getting rid of the beer fridge would help probably.  We just unplugged it for two weeks to defrost it and clean it after an incident, so I'm curious to see if the difference shows up in the utility bill.  

anyway - the already existing home would be my choice hands down.  I dont' know anybody who built new that didn't have an assortment of delays and hassles beyond the usual closing pains in the ass with any home purchase.

[atarianna]

I dealt with almost the same situation.

We only went to the resale home because I wanted to see the floor plan we intended to build in person. The lot isn't better, but does have more trees than the (entirely cleared) lot in the new neighborhood.

What ended up pushing us toward our decision is that the new build neigbborhood was so new, we would have construction for 5ish years as they built out all the phases. Also, the established (by 3 years) neighborhood was one of the most sought after in our area.

We ended up going with the resale home because of those reasons, but also to save about $50k and 6 months of stress.

I am so happy we did. I didn't even know our neighborhood had so many amenities when we purchased. Also, I have friends in the other (new) neighborhood now, and almost three years later they still don't have a pool.

[bowies]

The neighborhood is an established community. There are trees! I love trees. A builder didn't buy a plot of land and bulldoze everything. The land is coming from private owners who sat on it for years and are now taking advantage of the market.

I've built a house before and enjoyed the process. :/ So apparently I'm also a sadist lol.

But we're looking at the resale in a couple of hours.

[bowies]

Update: We're offering on the resale. Eeep.

[aurora]

Apr 25, 2017 17:15:09 GMT -5 bowies said:

Update: We're offering on the resale. Eeep.

Good luck!

[AAM2012]

Apr 25, 2017 17:15:09 GMT -5 bowies said:

Update: We're offering on the resale. Eeep.

So your DH is cool with it...or is he like mine and knows it was already a done deal? :-)


Keep us posted!

[bowies]

Apr 25, 2017 21:09:10 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

Apr 25, 2017 17:15:09 GMT -5 bowies said:

Update: We're offering on the resale. Eeep.

So your DH is cool with it...or is he like mine and knows it was already a done deal? :-)


Keep us posted!

He's freaked out at the pace but knows this house is it. It was even better in person. All he needed to hear was "covered gutters" and he was sold.

[mryrcn]

bowies, - Awesome. I'd love to see it. Since someone has dragged me down the real estate rabbit hole tonight.

[bowies]

Apr 25, 2017 22:34:09 GMT -5 mryrcn said:

bowies, - Awesome. I'd love to see it. Since someone has dragged me down the real estate rabbit hole tonight.

When/if we go under contract I'll share a picture. I'm superstitious!

[doglove]

Does this mean you aren't making the move to NC anytime soon??

[bowies]

Apr 26, 2017 8:06:22 GMT -5 doglove said:

Does this mean you aren't making the move to NC anytime soon??

No.

We made the decision based on the political fuckery going on, and H getting continuously snubbed by companies after multiple interviews.

I'm not that far away though (and technically will be 30 minutes closer).

[gerberdaisy]

Good Luck, hope you hear soon!

[doglove]

Apr 26, 2017 8:16:19 GMT -5 bowies said:

Apr 26, 2017 8:06:22 GMT -5 doglove said:

Does this mean you aren't making the move to NC anytime soon??

No.

We made the decision based on the political fuckery going on, and H getting continuously snubbed by companies after multiple interviews.

I'm not that far away though (and technically will be 30 minutes closer).

Aww bummer, but I definitely understand. 

[bowies]

So far this isn't going very well. :/