Price to build a new house

amother

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:00 am

My questions is how so many families can afford to build. I am basically one of the only ones on my block not building right now. We definitely can not afford it. People who I would think wouldn’t either be able to afford are building. I just don’t get it.

amother

Aubergine

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:04 am

Expect to pay 250 per square foot minimum including legal fees. Plus land. basic to a bit upgraded. Always add 100k for unexpected expenses.
DH works for a contractor and apparently not all people building houses can afford it.

amother

Oxfordblue

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:07 am

amother OP wrote:

You never know what is going on behind closed doors. People who you think have no money, may be doing very well and people that you think “have money” may be in debt. Many people build and overspend and put themselves into debt. Don’t be jealous of ppl with big houses - many of them may be in debt or are very tight.

On the flip side, bh there is A LOT of money in the frum community. People are very successful even if they don’t show it.

amother

Hyacinth

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 8:23 am

amother OP wrote:

There will never be an answer to the question… how do other people afford xyz?
Everyone earns, spends and saves differently. Everyone has different wants and needs.
Don’t try to figure out others budget. Figure out your own and see what’s the max you can afford for house and then see your options.

amother

Stoneblue

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:33 am

Are you renting now? Or you own?
A lot of ppl borrow against the value of their house.
I know someone who had a lot but no money to build. They're making a duplex and the people that bought with them are paying for some of the construction.
Can you do that?

amother

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:50 am

I own. My property is not graded for duplexes. I should just be happy with what I have. It’s just hard when most of your neighbors are building. It’s kind of in my face all day.
I can pay all my bills comfortably right now. I slee at night bh. Do I want to sacrifice that?
I don’t need a huge house but something that’s more Jewish and child friendly.
Oh well.
I was thinking of moving out of Lakewood likely to Jackson but I do not want to give up my neighborhood in Lakewood

amother

Dandelion

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 9:53 am

amother OP wrote:

I own. My property is not graded for duplexes. I should just be happy with what I have. It’s just hard when most of your neighbors are building. It’s kind of in my face all day.
I can pay all my bills comfortably right now. I slee at night bh. Do I want to sacrifice that?
I don’t need a huge house but something that’s more Jewish and child friendly.
Oh well.
I was thinking of moving out of Lakewood likely Jackson but I do not want to give up my neighborhood.

NY?

what neighborhood

amother

Mimosa

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 10:39 am

amother OP wrote:

As the old saying goes, Location, Location, Location. If you are happy where you are, and can afford it, then stay there. I know its difficult not to notice that everyone else is building, but if finances are ok for you now, put money away & save up, so that in the future you will be able to expand at your own pace, and hopefully your property price goes up & so that you could borrow against the extra value. Put the money away for your childrens & houses for them!
Most people building do not have the money - they either go into tremendous debt, or they have rich parents/grandparents.

mizle10

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 11:06 am

amother Cyan wrote:

Correct. The first and second floors total a bit over 5,000 sf. I’m not minimizing its size, and I’m so beyond grateful to be able to have a house this size. I am just saying that when building in Lakewood, it’s not considered massive.

Wether you do chessed or not is irrelevant. A 5000sq foot house with an aditional finished attic and basement is a MONSTER sized house! To say it’s not massive is just silly.

amother

Pearl

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 7:03 pm

We’re going to build soon and I’m uncomfortable about it. We can well afford it but everyone thinks we are poor-ish, which is a perception we are used to and comfortable with. Once we do our house everyone will know that we actually do very well and I’m finding that awkward.(even building a modest house takes a lot of money)

amother

Lotus

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 7:31 pm

I'm curious if you've considered doing an extension. We recently extended our house. We went from 1500 sq ft to 3300. Costed about 400K.

P.S. We did not go past budget (maybe 5k over). If you are determined not to overspend, you can manage it.

amother

Green

Mon, Feb 05 2024, 7:33 pm

amother Pearl wrote:

I think if you just build a normal nice house not a poke your eyes out house, and continue to be humble and modest in the way you behave (and dress and speak) and do chesed in your house by hosting ppl etc no one will begrudge you

amother

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 5:42 am

amother Lotus wrote:

Is this recent prices?

amother

Lotus

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 6:41 am

amother OP wrote:

Is this recent prices?

Yes. We just completed our construction.

People don't realize how much they can save by extending instead of building from scratch. You save on wood, roofing, sheetrock and more.

We also kept in mind that our house has to suit our own needs (not our neighbors and friends).

amother

Viola

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 7:06 am

amother Lotus wrote:

Did you build up or out? Which contractor did you use?

amother

Lotus

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 7:21 am

We built a 2 floor extension on the side of our house. This allowed us to keep our old part intact (including roofing). We did reconfigure the old part a bit but we had the freedom to keep a nice amount of our old section intact. We repainted, put in new flooring and even the old part of the house looks almost completely new.

amother

Mimosa

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 2:53 pm

amother Lotus wrote:

Is this in Lakewood area?
Using a new contractor is a huge risk - but that is probably why you got a good price too.
Actually, you paid $222/SF, which is on par with market rate. Pretty good for smaller end of new construction.
There are advantages to building from scratch over building extension - all new wiring, plumbing HVAC; one contiguous building, no seam from old to new - especially at roofing, etc, but main advantage is that you save all the cost of rebuilding all the existing house when it is probably in good shape.

amother

Lotus

Tue, Feb 06 2024, 3:04 pm

amother Mimosa wrote:

Yes, Lakewood area. Our contractor wasn't brand new - I agree that would be a huge risk. I doubt we paid much less than the average contractor charges. We chose someone who has been around long enough to have the right connections but not one of the major builders around town. I found we were able to personalize our needs more because of it (stay in the house longer during construction, etc).

If you are doing a tremendous extension (like one that will cost 600k or more), I would think that pricing wise it may make the most sense to knock down and build. Our extension was decently large but not tremendous and we got away much cheaper because we did not knock down. We could not have done it any other way. For someone who is dreaming of more space and can't afford to build from scratch, extending can be exactly what you need.