Building a house

[foofighter74]

We will hopefully be building with Ryan Homes here in the Syracuse area as well by the end of the month.  Not using NVR mortgage though.  We really didn't add much in terms of upgrades, because as was pointed out, you're increasing your property tax bill in this area. Where we are, the taxes are astronomical as it is.  In addition, the upgrades are so overpriced that you then need to worry about the appraisal when the house is built. So we added a morning room. Every other upgrade we could probably pay for in cash if we needed to - kitchen island, recessed lighting, etc.

[tooleman694]

Our builder, Highland Homes only builds in Texas.

[Autumnslight]

I hear you on astronomical property taxes! The one upgrade that I found to be a good value for the cost was the finished basement. For us, it works out to like $20/sq ft, which is less than we could have it done for. I'm sure that varies by location though.

[tooleman694]

Property taxes in Texas are crazy, we are paying 2.5 percent a year.

[Autumnslight]

The area I'm looking at is about 3.5%. And it is by no means extremely "upscale" or wealthy. :/

[foofighter74]

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@Autumnslight wrote:

I hear you on astronomical property taxes! The one upgrade that I found to be a good value for the cost was the finished basement. For us, it works out to like $20/sq ft, which is less than we could have it done for. I'm sure that varies by location though.

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We were thinking about that as well. Ultimately, I decided I wanted to do it myself.  We actually have to get the loan first - we were pre-approved after the mortgage company looked at our credit reports, W-2's, pay stubs, tax returns, etc...but we have to wait until the middle of this month to actually fill out the loan app because we are waiting out my wife's 2 year bk discharge date. 

Our initial deposit has already been paid, and we're still trying to squeeze out a little more closing cost help from them in the meantime in exchange for adding a few upgrades after my wife received a $15,000/year promotion. lol.

[tooleman694]

Wow 3.5 is crazy, at least here in Texas we do not have income so im kind of ok about the higher property taxes lol

[foofighter74]

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@Autumnslight wrote:

The area I'm looking at is about 3.5%. And it is by no means extremely "upscale" or wealthy. :/

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Same here.  Thank God for Star tax credits!

[rubu]

Not to make Upstate folks feel bad. Ryan homes does cheap work. Please avoid the pain. I work for a huge company here and all had bad experiences. Try to go with a local builder. They do much quality work than Ryan homes which does cookie cutter homes. I am not saying mine is better than Ryan but I have heared loads of horror stories.

[MovingForward_2012]

My grandmother was born in Rochester, NY! I have family out there but never had the chance to go out there to see them so they are the family that I never met.

Lennar offers some sweet upgrades! There are a couple of other Lennar communities nearby and the prices start out at $450K base price. We went driving through those neighborhoods one day and all I can say is WOW! 4 car garages! OMG! :-O We probably couldn't ever afford that but they were definitely eye candy. LOL! :-) I imagine the ones they build in CA are priced pretty steep too.