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Building a House in Florida can be a difficult process, especially if you have not gone through the process before. There are 3 types of builders, Tract Home Builders (Taylor Morrison, Neal Communities, M/I Homes, Lennar, etc), Production Builders, and finally Custom/Private Builders.
All these builders have their own pros and cons. In this episode we are going to be talking about Tract Home Builders and what to look out for when you are looking to build a new construction house. I, myself, went through the building process with one of these Tract Home Builders in Sarasota Florida and will be sharing some of my experiences about the building process in future episodes.
If you are looking to build a new construction house and want to work with an experienced real estate team reach out to us TODAY as our goal is to make the building process for you as smooth as possible (Even if you are out of State). We are also partnered with an amazing private builder that can help walk you through the process of building a house if you decide to go that route.
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Noah Ward is a Licensed Florida Real Estate agent that specializes in New Construction and Real Estate Development. Over the past couple years he has grown a large social following by focusing on helping both future homeowners go through the new construction process and also investors with building houses at scale.
Noah is a Managing Partner at JN Development Group Inc, where the primary focus is providing the highest level of service for custom house builds and also helping real estate investors maximize their profits through real estate development.
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So you're looking to build a brand new Construction house here in Southwest Florida specifically in the Sarasota Florida area and you want to build with One of these Community track home Builders such as Neil communities Taylor Morrison Mi Holmes Lenard Dr horn tol Brothers and there's a few other ones Out here in the Sarasota area well in This podcast episode we are going to be Diving into the five things that you Really should know before buying a new Construction house with one of these Track home builders here in Sarasota I Myself recently went through a new Construction and a new build with one of These track home builders I will be Getting into more of those details in Future podcast episodes but for the sake Of this podcast episode we are just Going to be talking about some things That you really should look out for some Of the things that I learned through the New construction process so that you Guys can kind of avoid those headaches So the first thing that you first want To look out for is R when you drive into One of these communities please know That when you walk into these model Houses that they are decked out to the Fullest and what I mean by that is the Whole point of these model houses is to Catch you know a buyer's eye and these Are not the base models so to speak
Right so the price that these sales rep Hand you are not the price of what the Model houses are those model houses are Most likely 20 to 50% higher than what The base price is just because there's a Lot of variables in upgrades and one of The biggest things that you know I see Walking through these new construction Communities and these model houses and The sales reps admitted as well is that Many of these features that are in the House in these homes in these Model Homes they're not available for when you Want to decide to build your house with One of these Community Builders in fact A lot of The Woodworking detail like the Woodwork the beams the wood beams the Built-in desks the built-in cabinets and All of that you have to hire out for a Third party once your house is complete And these Community track home builders Will not do that any of the wood working For you for example if you walk into one Of these model houses and let's just say The base price is 600,000 you have to Remember that that does not include the Lot price or any upgrades so the good Way to you know estimate what the you Know price range is going to be for that House is depending on the community Builder so if you are building with Neil Communities typically their Lots range Anywhere from 15 to 60 Grand and then if You build with Taylor Morrison those
Lots range from anywhere from 30 to 90 Grand um it just really depends on you Know the lot selection if you are on Water or on a pond or on a lake whatever That may be the prices do vary so you Have to remember that base price of the House that you see that they give you That does not include the lot prices and Then upgrades so upgrades are really Going to be dependent on you know the Specific person and sales reps have said You know among all these communities is That the average is between 20 to 25% of The base price people spend on upgrades So that's just another thing to keep in Mind when you are looking at buying a House and just seeing like home prices Starting in in at $400,000 that's not going to be your Final price most likely that final price Is going to be closer to $600,000 so Just know that when you are going into These model houses and knowing that they Are fully decked out so now the second Thing that you should look at before Buying a new construction house is know That there's not as much flexibility When you build with one of these track Home builders versus when you build a Custom house and what I mean by that is How the track home building process Works is that you go to one of these Communities you pick one of their Lots Once you pick one of their Lots then you
Pick you know one of their floor plans In that given series that fits on that Lot that may be you know three to eight Different models that you can choose From within that given series then once You choose the floor plan then what they Do is they send you to the design center Now I would say that Neil communities Probably gives you the most amount of Options and then Taylor Morrison will Give you the next most amount of options The the Builder that gives you the least Amount of options is Dr horn because What Dr horn does is they give you six Different packages to choose from and These six different packages include you Know carpet colors the color of Countertops what kind of cabinets and It's all in one package right so if you Don't like one aspect of each package They're not going to switch it out you Just have to pick the package that you Know works the best for your family so That is the downside with like building With like Dr Horton however Neil Communities and Taylor Morrison probably Have the most variety of of things to Choose from when it comes to building They give you different options so for Example you know for your flooring You're going to have different options Relating to you know what kind of tile Floor do you want do you want tile Flooring do you want lvp luxury vinyl
Plank flooring um do you want engineered Hardwood they give you those options and Then they give you a variety of colors To choose from and different levels and Variables so you know depending on it You know the material that you're Choosing from they give you levels 1 Through 7even one being the cheapest and Level seven you you know 89 being the Most expensive just depends on what You're looking at they do the same thing With the countertops do you want Granite Do you want quartz and then they give You these different levels and different Colors to choose from you know going Through the the the design process it's A it's a several hour process so be Aware of that um especially if you're Building with like Neil Taylor Morrison Mi homes all those because they do have A lot more selections than other Builders such as DR Horton however if They don't have a selection that you Really want like say you go find Something something at a local granite Shop or you know you see like oh I Really love this quartz countertop these Track home builders are not going to Substitute anything like that so if you Don't see it on their showroom floor They're not going to be able to supply It so that's the one downside and you Can't make changes throughout the build Process say if you want a wall changed
Or anything like that these Builders are Not going to do that they're just going To stick with the floor plans that they Have been continuing to build and after Going through the new construction Process myself this is when I started Really leaning into the private sector And kind of the more custom House Route Is because going through you know the Track home building process I learned That there was a lot of different things That you know would it would have been Nice to change right wall sizes you know Floor layouts um some different colors Um some you know quartz countertops that They didn't really offer that would have Been nice to have but you would also Have to go with a private Builder Because then you could do change orders And stuff like that you cannot do any Change orders with any of these Community Builders and that was the Downside that I saw with building one of These track home builders and that's Kind of why I leaned a little bit more Into the private sector and why I'm Focusing on the custom House Route and Helping other people kind of learn more About the private Market versus going to These track home builders and now that Kind of leads into the third thing that You should know when building new Construction and that is going to be the Build times so the build times are going
To vary depending on the community Builder that you choose however you know Now that we're going outside of the Pandemic we you know we're past the Pandemic now you know construction times Are getting a little bit more um you Know you can time them a little bit Better cuz during the pandemic it was Just up and down up and down you know With delays product delays and Everything like that labor shortages and Stuff like that um now they're getting a Little bit easier to time however you Know just be aware that these Builders You know they they do their very best to Build a house as fast as possible Because once the house is finished That's when they get paid so they want To build the house as fast as possible However just know that there are going To be time delays and shortages moving Forward like for example like when we Were building our house you know they Told us oh it's going to be a 7 to 8mon Buildout however it turned to be about a 12-month buildout actually it was a 12-month buildout so just know that the Timings are going to vary um it's just Going to you just have to know that Going into the into the process is that Say if your closing is November 10th That it most likely won't be November 10th it's probably going to be a little Bit late later um just in the current
Market that we're in now not to say that In a few months it's going to be a Little bit different but as of November 2022 that is kind of where we are seeing Things moving towards and to go along With the extended building times and you Know Builders wanting to build them as Fast as possible that also leads into Our fourth thing that you should know And that is you need to get home Inspections done and when I what I mean By that is you know talking about Point Number three is that Builders want to Build the house as fast as possible Because that is when they can get paid Right however they could cut Corners They could make some mistakes so it's Always good to get uh a private home Inspector so what I recommend is that You do several Home Inspections Throughout the build process obviously You want to consult with your sales rep Just to let them know hey I'm going to Have a private Builder or a private Inspector come out and I want them to You know do inspections throughout the Build a lot of these track home builders Are more than happy to do that and more Than happy for you to have their your Own inspector come out look look at it Just to make sure it's a peace of mind Kind of thing right um and so the best Way to go about it is you know once all The studs are up all the walls are up
Like the studs that is when you want to Have an inspection done so that you know Your inspector can come come by they can Measure all the 2x4s uh and make sure That all the studs are correctly spaced Make sure that there's no rotten wood Because I have CAU some you know some 2x4s that were completely rotten and I Could kick them off um so that is just One thing to look at so you have that Inspection and then you want make sure That they're looking at the electrical The plumbing and all that making sure It's all good to go because once drywall Goes up it's a lot harder to find Electrical and plumbing issues versus When all the sheetrock is down it's a Lot easier to change there's less mess And there's less headach so if you can Catch it as soon as possible even though The county does come out there are a lot Of discrepancies when the county comes Out to inspect um so that is just one Thing to know is having a private Inspector come by and do a really Thorough check it makes you have a lot Better peace of mind when it comes to You you finally sitting down at the Closing table and signing over to buy That new construction house and also you Want to do a a final inspection walkthr Right before you're about to close like The day before you're going to close or If you're closing later in the day it's
Always good to have a final walkthrough With an inspector to make sure all the Final details are completed and that You're happy and satisfied when you go To the closing table and that brings us To the fifth and final thing that you Should know before buying a new Construction house with one of these Track home builders and we are going to Be talking about the Builder warranty so Here in Florida the Builder warranty is One year that is standard so the Difference between these track home Builders is how they are going to fix it Some of these track home builders are Just going to completely replace Whatever it may be While others may just Make a simple patch make a simple fix There's no really legalities behind how They how they repair it um some track Home builders are better than others so If you want to know the difference Between all these track home builders Just so that you know that that you're Building with one of the better track Home builders here in Sarasota reach out To us on Instagram and we'd be more than Happy to create a podcast episode kind Of breaking down the pros and cons of Each of these track home builders since We have walked through many of the model Houses and have helped other clients Build with some of these track home Builders as well we are going through
The warranty process and the warranty Period with our track home builder we Are our warranty is going to be up January 2023 so we are getting very Close since it is November 2022 at this Moment and we are still dealing with a Laundry list of stuff that still needs To be done so hopefully we can get an Extension on that warranty but right now We are dealing with mold remediation so I will talk to you guys a little bit More about that on future podcast Episodes um but right now we are going Through the entire mold remediation Process in our house due to water Intrusion um just because there was Maybe some discrepancies of how the House was built so that is why it's also Very important to get a home inspection To to make sure that everything is up to You know you know everything is up to Code even though Sarasota County comes To check it out it's always good to have A fresh and private set of eyes um come Look at the new build as well but going Back to the Builder warranty so you have One year with the builder warranty if Anything is wrong they will come out and Fix it you know the warranty process may Be a little bit longer and it may be a Little bit of a headache however just be Very patient with them as there are a Lot of houses that these track home Builders are building and there's a lot
Of things that need to be fixed in these Houses a lot of it's just B very Cosmetic like paint touchup paint on Hinges paint on door handles stuff like That stuff that can be cleaned off um You know a popping of a tile or Something along those lines something That's very simple to fix um just be Patient with them that's the one thing That I have learned going through this Process is that there's a lot of people Going through the same thing that we're All going through right and that is the Process of having a house for the first Year because in the first year that is When the house settles the most so There's going to be the most amount of Issues within the first year just Because the foundation is settling so There may be some cracking and stuff Like that however during the warranty Period your Builder will they will fix Any of that um it just depends on the Kind of fix that they do with that so Just be patient with the builder Warranty um but just note that you know Once you close on your house it's not The final it's not going to be the final Time you're going to talk with the Builder um you are probably going to be Talking with them for the first year After you build as well so that kind of Wraps up and some THS up the five things You should know before building a new
Construction house with one of these Track home builders here in Sarasota Florida just like I mentioned before I Did go through the building process with One of these track home builders and I'll get more into that with future Podcast episodes with you and kind of Talking about the pros and cons of kind Of my experience of that as well but I Hope you guys found a lot of value in This video and kind of some things that You may have learned um if you guys want To know more about different different Topics stuff like that stuff that you Want to hear please reach out to us on Our Instagram we're more than happy to Create podcast episodes that you guys Are interested in podcast topics you're Interested in and all that kind of stuff And don't forget if you want to see all Of us behind the scenes with new Construction you know real estate Development go check out and follow us On Instagram go check out our YouTube And go check out our Tik Tok as we are Posting every single day behind the Scenes and everything like that but Thank you guys for listening to this Podcast and we will catch you guys all Next week
