Building a home today is challenging enough working through the complex credit and loan issues, finding the right lot in the right area, and negotiating a good price, and then finding a good builder who can build your dream home at a price within your budget. It can get real complicated if your builder is a discount builder who doesn’t tell you all you need to know before you sign the contract. Watch this short video on the subject.

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Building a new home or a custom home?   What a buyer’s market this is for you, both the lot and in hiring a home builder.   But there are discount home builders out there who are sharing less than the whole truth in their advertising.   In fact, many home builders are leading with what I believe is unquestionably deceptive advertisting or what you could call fraudulent advertising.   Here’s a short video intended to help you avoid a nightmare.

Be so careful who you hire for your next home builder. You’ll be glad you were.

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Homes and Land are still selling, albeit at a slower pace.   The northwest region of the U.S. has been one of the strongest real estate markets nationwide.   In Pierce County, for example, the median price of homes appreciated from $151,900 in 2000 to $254,221 in 2008.   In 2008 those sames homes are worth only 8% less than they were in 2007.   This is pretty darn good, all things considered.

Home builders are hurting across the country right now as the demand for homes has decreased, and the devastated mortgage market has not helped.   But there is good news in the silver lining here for people who have been planning to build their next home.

The good news is that the cost of building materials are down, and subcontractors have been shaving their bids down, too.   On top of that, the price of lots has been dramatically effected by the slow down, more so than existing homes.   Interest rates are low, and combined with the low cost of land and building, there has not been a better time to build a home in many years.

Some builders are offering incentives.   For example, Rick Anderson of Anderson Homes in Port Angeles, Washington, is offering referral fees of up to $2,500 to those who send him business.   Builders are also very competitive with their bids and the services they offer.

So what are you waiting for?   The bottom?   By the time the bottom of the market is officially recognized, interest rates will already be climbing above where they are now, and builders will be getting orders, and material costs will find a new, higher, equilibrium.

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A Port Angeles or Sequim custom home might be built with the highest quality materials and workmanship . . .   or NOT. Here’s the challenge. The average person does not have the trained eye to be able to distinguish the two.

I wish they could.   I wish we all could.   Take the room in the photo to the left.   Was this home built with the highest quality materials and the skilled hands of framers, finish carpenters, electricians, plumbers, sheetrockers, and painters, none of whom took short cuts or skimped on materials and labor?

I realize it’s hard to tell anything from a two dimensional photograph, but if we were walking through this room could you tell?   Few could.

What a difference it will make when you live in your home for many years, or the rest of your life.   I hear this testimony again and again from many people.   Perhaps a real life example will make the point best.

(more…)

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You’re going to hire a home builder to build your next home.   Should you hire a small builder or a large builder?   There’s much more to this question than meets the eye, and this short article addresses assumptions that good people often make.   By the way, for purposes of Sequim and Port Angeles, I’m considering a small builder as most people do, a contractor who builds one to six or seven (plus or minus) houses per year.   There are a number of contractors who build one to four houses each year.

Can a small builder provide greater personal service or quality?   Not necessarily.   The reality is that many small builders:

1. do not have the skills offered by specialized subcontractors hired by a larger builder;
2. do not have a good bookkeeping system and good financial management;
3. do not have the financial strength or security of a larger builder;
4. do not have good project management;
5. do not get the substantial quantity discounts of larger builders on materials; and
6. do not have well oiled systems in place to handle construction from beginning to end.

Having practiced real estate law for 20 years, I repeatedly saw these issues come up with small builders.     These are real issues that are true more often than not.   Consider each of these important issues, and you can imagine how much they can impact the quality of your home, the cost per square foot and the timeline.

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Are you building a new home or a custom home in Sequim or Port Angeles? If you’ve decided to build your next home, this article answers the question, “What is the next step.”

(This article written by Rick Anderson and posted by Marketing Consultant Chuck Marunde.)

The Series:
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 1 of 6)
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 2 of 6)
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 3 of 6)
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 4 of 6)
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 5 of 6)
Read Building a New Home or Custom Home (Part 6 of 6)

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• Sequim Home Builder: Price Guarantee
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