By Marilyn Kennedy Melia
CTW Features
Some buyers have their heart set on newly built home.
Increasingly, that means buying even before construction begins.
“For about 15 years now, builders have been moving away from building on ‘spec’, or without a buyer,” says Tim Costello, president of Builder Homesite Inc., an Austin, Texas based group of large home building companies.
Even in large -scale ‘production’ subdivisions [the industry name for more affordably priced homes that are not individually customized], builders now offer buyers lots of choices, like whether they want a two or three car garage, or an unfinished loft or extra bedroom, and then don’t start building until they have a buyer’s wish list, Costello says.
Consumers relish choice, he says.
In addition, building companies aren’t risking constructing a home until they have a buyer who indicates what they want.
Because there’s recently been a scarcity of inventory for sale – both for existing and newly construction homes – in many markets, more buyers are pouncing on getting a place in a development as soon as the builder announces a new community, Costello says.
“Most of my new construction buyers know before they started looking for a home that they prefer new construction, and were waiting for certain new construction communities to open,” notes Maryam Amiri, a Redfin real estate agent in Orange County, California.
The early bird may also nab a relative bargain, Amiri says, specially when a subdivision proves popular, builders are apt to raise prices for homes built in later phases of the development.
In a yet-to-be built subdivision, a model home might have a trailer on site, and maybe a model home or two, Costello says.
But in many communities, technological advances have eliminated the need for any physical presence at the sites, with builders strictly offering interactive floor plans online, and virtual reality tours, Costello says.
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