So, instead of further derailing Mikes home inspector thread, I started a new one.
Anyone know of any land in a sweet school district to potentially build a new home?
The other issue is I work in toanwanda. 30 minute commute would be desired max commute.
Grand island has very little to offer. so far only one possible lot and once a 220-250k home is constructed, the taxes are going to be insane.
There is a possible spot in Lockport/starpoint, but it’s not awesome and is still only ~1.3 acres or so.
That is not really much land.
Now, on to home sales.
Haas anyone ever sold their home on your own without an agent or MLS listing?
6% to list my house, call a few or “your” clients (that way you get both 3% commissions i’m guessing)
Houses in my neighborhood are selling higher than asking in 1-2 days. So the work load is minimal.
Real estate seems very deceptive. It might as well be a union.
Before the rants about great agents, I agree that they have bills to pay and do put in work with clients that amounts to zero.
On top of that, the broker they work under gets most of the commission.
I will also say that we are considering Ryan homes. cheap housing for a medium price. etc…
Essex would be the most likely builder if we find suitable land.
So, for all 25 NYSpeeders… Lets hear your perspective.
Funny you should ask, East Aurora schools just kicked butt again.
Just recently 2 very big pieces of land are being split and sold, The owner of Maple Heights farm and the owner of Camp Long Acres are both selling land. They may have flooded the market and driven prices down for a bit. The land is in the West Falls area which is in Aurora which is East Aurora school district.
I grew up in EA so I have always loved it but even in the past 10 years they have made it soooooo much better. The food co-op just opened last week, we have a farmer’s market, bars restaurants and just an incredible sense of community. Also… One of the best Boys and Girls Clubs in the country and a great Recreation Dept.
As far as agents go I would consider the idea that your house will sell for more when using an agent. And unless you refuse to sell to someone with an agent all you need is a 3% increase in sale price to break even, as youll be stuck paying the buyers agent anyways.
Are you stuck on building new? We looked into it and ended up buying an existing house. The whole reason we wanted new was to get that dream home with all the things we would want, however unless you’re going to GC the build yourself those mods turn into huge money. Every little layout change is money to both the architect and engineer, and you get nickel and dimed on every material choice change you make to the interior that isn’t one of the three styles they buy in bulk.
Additionally every new build model home we looked at was thrown together…all sorts of careless mistakes and shortcuts.
Just my two cents…I’d find a well built older home on the land you want and then make it your own.
I love Lancaster… Except my tax bill. I paid 200k for my house (stole it in foreclosure!), appraised currently at 230 and I pay just under 7K in taxes. When this place gets reappraised to 330K or more I am going to cry.
East Aurora was our #1 choice but we couldn’t get what we wanted at the price point. I love EA though.
EA’s a great place but if you work in the northtowns that’s a bitch of a drive every day, especially when the lake effect starts kicking up. Don’t expect another winter like last year for a while.
Lancaster is ok but as mentioned their taxes are bad even for WNY. Plus I had a good friend in Lancaster with Como Park as his back yard and driving there sucks from the northtowns. He bailed for NC but complained about it all the time and I complained about it every time I drove to his house. Unless you’re running up Transit between 10pm and 5am it’s always busy. Lancaster desperately needs an exit from the thruway somewhere between Transit Rd and Pembroke so not every person who wants to go to the eastern part of Lancaster has to go up Harris Hill or Transit.
I’m happy where I am in Williamsville off Maple near Hopkins but if I were going to do it again I’d be looking for a larger lot out in Clarence. Great schools like Williamsville but little easier on the taxes since they don’t have as many services to pay for as Amherst (especially a gigantic police force).
In Williamsville currently. Next move is to Clarence.
My only advice, I wouldn’t build a Ryan though. When building a house, “cheap” is not something I’m willing to consider. You’re going to pay $30-$50 sq/ft more for a Forbes, but there’s a reason.
If you’re interested in a Forbes, I’m friends with the GM of sales. He’d be happy to help you.
I would literally jack up my price the second we use an agent. Almost to the point where I could get what I initially wanted out of the house.
I also agree that I would likely get more money for the house if agents show it off.
We did tell the agent that has been getting us get home viewings that I would giver her the 3% if she has a buyer.
I’m really screwing up the natural order of how you are supposed to tackle the home ownership process.
I’m also likely to be homeless for a while with a family and house full of stuff displaced should I sell immediately with no land acquired
or offers made on existing houses.
We have been looking at houses for what seems to be forever. It’s amazing the state of houses people show.
The nice houses go right away for more than asking, and the ones that need a ton of work are priced as if they do not.
My current house was a pile when I bought it, and now it’s in the best shape it’s been in for the last 25 years.
All that effort, only to sell out makes me not want to repeat the process unless I can find a worthy (cheap) donor house.
I am a terrible buyer. Project manager, engineer, and ok DIY’er. (probably a terrible human as well)
On top of all that, the fam wants chickens.
Edit: I should add, that I currently live in a cookie cutter neighborhood, so I’m fine with Spec/standard option type houses.
I know all about the “pies and fries” of change orders. (P&F, zero profit on burgers, huge mark up on pies and fries)
All the builders we have spoken to figure in about 100k for their tiny lots and most people we know that went that route with tight budgets would never build their own home again.
You do get what you pay for in life. No way to change it, but I’m in the wrong tax bracket for a decent custom home.
^ This is really good advice. “If it’s a Ryan, you’ll be cryin”. I remember going to my buddies house warming party at his new build Ryan and just cringing at some of the stuff I saw when I (as a decently knowledgeable DIY guy) started taking a close look. Sure enough he’s had to replace LOTS of stuff since moving in. Ryan gets contracts because they offer the most Sq/Ft and curb appeal for the lowest price but they get there but cutting every corner they can in quality materials and behind the drywall.
Another friend had David Homes build his place on Grand Island and the workmanship was top notch. Not sure how it held up in the long term since he bailed for TX about a year after it was built though.
20 acres would be pretty big money in EA. You can get 3-5 acres for $40,000 to $60,000. Depending on where exactly 20 acres could be $150,000 to $300,000 or more. IIRC there was 15 acres on Knox for $300,000. West Falls would be considerably less.
There are a bunch of lots for sale by owner on Mill Road just south of Grover Road(Camp Long Acres property). I am not sure how big they are but they just went up for sale so you could maybe buy more than one next to each other.
Interesting topic, i feel like i want to build my next home. Im not a licensed electrician or plumber, would thatmean i couldnt do those things to it while its being framed?
I feel like i want to design the house, like sketch it up. I feel like i could probably do some of the frame work as well, but i just dont understand the process. Does my current home have to be sold first? When do i start paying for the loan on the bew build?
It’s alot of work to be your own general contractor.
Not at all impossible. One challange is dealing with you town of choice permitting and inspections.
Some towns and inspectors can be beyond difficult.
They will also likely need PE stamped drawings.
IMO building custom specification in the Buffalo region makes little to no sense unless you’re trying to drop over $700k or are willing to make sweeping concessions on features to the builder. It’d be better to find a piece of property you’re interested in at a fair market value for condition and change what you want to change as needed, ideally prior to occupancy. That’s my two cents though. Personally, I may build in the future but currently have only owned homes that are existing due to the fact that the economics never worked out in favor of building. The stuff you can get sub-$300k new is not worth buying new as previously stated (Ryan, et cetera).
That said, at the end of the day, if you’re planning to stay for a decade or more, economics kind of goes to shit because everything depreciates and changes over time in home style, so it just more or less becomes your propensity to stomach risk of investing capital to potentially lose out on sale proceeds. If your intention is to never sell, that’s much easier. I am way too much of a restless person to stay in one house longer than five years generally, so I prefer to find stuff with upside and profit on moving instead.
And if you like school sports here are more bragging rights…
The Prep Talk Program of the Year for the best overall athletic program was awarded to the East Aurora Blue Devils for the 2015-16 school year. Matt Librock serves as the athletic director at East Aurora.
East Aurora took home four individual Prep Talk awards Wednesday night: Noah Thompson for boys three-sport player of the year, Sophia Tasselmyer for girls cross country, Kenny Vasbinder for boys cross country, Jack McClaren for boys tennis.
2015-16 highlights included:
State championships for both the boys and girls cross country teams (both for the second straight year) as well as individual state champions
State finalist boys soccer team
Section VI championships for both the boys and girls outdoor track and field teams
12 Section VI individual track and field champions
Section VI boys tennis individual champion
Section VI finalist boys basketball team
Section VI finalist girls basketball team
ECIC champion and Section VI runner-up boys swimming team
