Not a good sign for construction in My area.

[TAB]

So I went to look at a duplex today with a friend.

~1300 sqft 3 bed 2 bath for each unit.

long storu short, he bought it for atleast $20 less a sqft then I could build it for him( found a copy of the blue prints behind the water hetter, ) Thats just building the house and the fees, assuming the land is free.

If you take away the hook up fees, school fees and other fees that go with building a house.  it came out to less then $60/sqft.

That would just barely cover the materials.  I'm not even sure I could get it to the "weather tight" point for that price.  ( thats the 3rd draw of a standard 5 draw contract.)

   
Its not looking good   

[Timothy]

Two extremes right now...

In MA, 80K buys you about a one stall garage.....In Detroit, you can buy a complete city block of houses for 80K....

[Rastus]

....it came out to less then $60/sqft.

That would just barely cover the materials.  .........

Dang TAB, that is mighty high for materials.  A cousin built a upscale well-appointed 3,200 sq ft. heated/cooled (add the three car garage) single story house by himself for a lot less in Louisiana, includes concrete and brick too!  Now, he had the land, tractors, dozer and backhoes himself, but the actual materials, 150 yards of 5" washed gravel rock for driveway and fuel/electricty the total bill was under $100k.  It was a family project so labor was free, to be sure...but the dang thing has 10-12 foot ceiling throughout, higher in the living room, granite counter tops....like about 50 feet of them.

Methinks the California Gold Rush is in building materials.  There is no way with free competition that providers could keep prices that high without some opportunistic guys jumping in to cut them so....taxes applied through the system add up, don't they?  The prices I spoke about are Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma area prices that don't have the onerous business tax structure ya'll have.  

[fightingquaker13]

You are also forgetting the cost of fuel, real estate and labor Rastus. You can't pay Louisiana wages in California and the rent's a whole lot higher too.
FQ13

[jaybet]

I'm tuned in to this stuff TAB. The large inventory of existing construction with drastically slashed value means that very little new construction will take place in the near (2 years?) future. The only market will be remodeling, and that will be on very slim margin until it picks up enough for the remaining contractors to get busy enough to actually charge a decent price for the work. I worked that market hard years ago and had work through the bad times, but you're always competing against the guys with a minivan, hammer, and dog. And I didn't have the "south of the border problem" back then that now exists.

A perfect example is my younger daughter and her husband. They are making decent money, and because of the drop in CA real estate they were able to afford to buy a ranch style house. Now I'm helping them plan the upgrade to their 50's vintage kitchen. That's the kind of work you'd have to pursue.

[Sponsor]

[Rastus]

Dang TAB, that is mighty high for materials.  

 Now, he had the land

 but the actual ....and fuel/electricty

 It was a family project so labor was free, to be sure

What a person lacks in comprehension they sometimes overcompensate for in it's demonstration.

$31.25/sq ft materials only.

[fightingquaker13]

Rastus, I was talking about the expenses of the material suppliers. Stuff is more expensive in Ca. than La. because their overhead is higher via rent, wages, insurance and fuel. I thought I made that clear. Apparently not clear enough.
FQ13

[TAB]

What a person lacks in comprehension they sometimes overcompensate for in it's demonstration.

$31.25/sq ft materials only.

so he built a 2 story that used wood Ibeams and gluelams every where? 

You have to remember, this is a duplex, it has twice the mechanicals as a normal house.


the hook up fees here alone are just nuts.  sewer is just under 10k, gas is about 7k, power is about 3k, just to bring it from the pole(undergroundis a bunchmore),   water starts at 3k.   


no BS you can have 30k+ in just hook up fees.   Then there are things like school fees, where this house is located they are $37 per square foot     for a 2600 sqft house thats almost 100k.

[Rastus]

Dang TAB, that is mighty high for materials.  A cousin built a.... single story house ...... includes concrete and brick too!.....

so he built a 2 story that used wood Ibeams and gluelams every where? 

You have to remember, this is a duplex, it has twice the mechanicals as a normal house.

the hook up fees here alone are just nuts.  sewer is just under 10k, gas is about 7k, power is about 3k, just to bring it from the pole(undergroundis a bunchmore),   water starts at 3k.   

no BS you can have 30k+ in just hook up fees.   Then there are things like school fees, where this house is located they are $37 per square foot     for a 2600 sqft house thats almost 100k.

No, not glue...an executive home.  What we have here is an example of becoming accustomed to being taxed to death and not knowing any other way.  I hate that for you over there...but with all those additional costs how can anyone afford to buy a house?  I guess that way of life is OK so long as your economy brings in wealth from somewhere....doesn't look like that is working out so well for Arnold and, unfortunately, the citizens of California.

[Timothy]

I make a pretty good living here in Massachusetts but even still, I can only afford to buy a home here in 5 or 6 of the poorest communities in the area.  Of course the mortgage companies STILL say I can afford more home in a better area but the taxes, PMI and other extraneous expenses need to be considered.

We don't have the problem of school fees, actually I've never heard of something like that, anywhere.  That's what taxes are for, aren't they?

The industry needed this correction to bring things back out of the stratosphere, it's unfortunate so many people were affected by it.  Too many communities and states have priced the "Normal" population out of the market.  The reason Tom has to deal with so many assholes from MA is because the folks that work in and around Boston can no longer afford to live there.

Two or three years ago, a 1500 sq/ft ranch home inside the hub was going for over 1 million dollars and it was probably 50-60 years old.  Today, there are hundreds of half finished developements just rotting away, gutted of anything that people can steal.