ᐅ Homebuilding Forum – Would You Choose to Buy or Build a House Again?
Created on: 11 Dec 2015 11:09
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xycrazy
Hello,
we are about to sign the contract with the developer but have started seriously reconsidering whether we should go through with it.
We negotiated for 8 months and were quite sure about it. However, towards the end, some issues arose regarding the contract and other matters, which we managed to resolve.
It now looks like we would be paying a third of our net income to the bank for 22 years. I think we can afford it. But when you are used to paying monthly rent of about €800-900 (divided by 2), this is quite a different level.
With a house, it’s not just the loan payments; there are ongoing maintenance costs as well. From what we’ve read, this is roughly €2-3 per m² (about 0.2-0.3 per sq ft) per month. So that’s another €400-500 per month. And, of course, there is much more work involved too.
Admittedly, this is stressing us out quite a bit, especially my partner. She is worried about the heavy financial burden each month. Is that justified?
We don’t want to live just for the house; we want to go on vacations, avoid problems with children, and so on. As I said, the current situation is manageable, but we wonder if we might be underestimating the costs.
So here’s my question to the community: looking back at everything you know now about loans, maintenance costs, upkeep, and so forth, would you buy or build a house again?
If yes, why? If not, why not? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts! And were there any surprises—positive or negative—that you didn’t expect?
Regards
we are about to sign the contract with the developer but have started seriously reconsidering whether we should go through with it.
We negotiated for 8 months and were quite sure about it. However, towards the end, some issues arose regarding the contract and other matters, which we managed to resolve.
It now looks like we would be paying a third of our net income to the bank for 22 years. I think we can afford it. But when you are used to paying monthly rent of about €800-900 (divided by 2), this is quite a different level.
With a house, it’s not just the loan payments; there are ongoing maintenance costs as well. From what we’ve read, this is roughly €2-3 per m² (about 0.2-0.3 per sq ft) per month. So that’s another €400-500 per month. And, of course, there is much more work involved too.
Admittedly, this is stressing us out quite a bit, especially my partner. She is worried about the heavy financial burden each month. Is that justified?
We don’t want to live just for the house; we want to go on vacations, avoid problems with children, and so on. As I said, the current situation is manageable, but we wonder if we might be underestimating the costs.
So here’s my question to the community: looking back at everything you know now about loans, maintenance costs, upkeep, and so forth, would you buy or build a house again?
If yes, why? If not, why not? I’m really interested to hear your thoughts! And were there any surprises—positive or negative—that you didn’t expect?
Regards
We also spent a long time considering building a new house. We were actually quite far along with a contractor and had almost everything planned out. When we later told him that we decided to buy a house instead of building one, he remained very polite.
He said, “They’ll still be around in 10 years. Maybe you’ll want to build then after all.”
He took it very well and wasn’t upset with us. That’s just part of the risk when giving advice beforehand.
Although we didn’t build with him, my wife’s cousin ended up building with them based on our positive experience, and they were satisfied.
So being courteous can pay off, and the time spent with us wasn’t really wasted.
PS: For us, it was also a gut feeling that led us to say no to building new, because it would have been significantly more expensive financially. In hindsight, we are quite happy with the decision we made.
He said, “They’ll still be around in 10 years. Maybe you’ll want to build then after all.”
He took it very well and wasn’t upset with us. That’s just part of the risk when giving advice beforehand.
Although we didn’t build with him, my wife’s cousin ended up building with them based on our positive experience, and they were satisfied.
So being courteous can pay off, and the time spent with us wasn’t really wasted.
PS: For us, it was also a gut feeling that led us to say no to building new, because it would have been significantly more expensive financially. In hindsight, we are quite happy with the decision we made.
B
Bauexperte15 Dec 2015 11:37Hello,
Currently, with each potential client, we generally have 5 conversations plus site visits and reference checks—not infrequently involving specialists such as geotechnical engineers—until only the option to sign remains on the table. That means they know absolutely everything needed to make a decision, including a fixed price based on a detailed bill of quantities.
In the past, the rule of thumb was: conduct 10 negotiations with 3 appointments each and “1” client becomes a customer. For the past 2 years, that “3” has become “5+,” and this year until the end of Q3, many clients were involved who, on closer inspection, should have been politely declined upfront. They took, absorbed, used information and then went to the cheapest competitor, equipped with valuable insights.
Serious consultation until the end of Q3 was mostly not appreciated by potential builders; thus, since we are certainly not the only ones with these kinds of experiences, I can well understand why many salespeople are frustrated and sometimes need to vent their anger. We all know that not every conversation leads to a contract, that we have to invest a lot upfront, and the chemistry has to be right—but what has happened this year… I sometimes simply have no words.
What I cannot hear anymore is “it says on the internet, it was written…”—in the past, I recommended signing a contract vetted by consumer protection; nowadays, a contract from the internet.
Now you come back with:
xycrazy schrieb:Let me offer you the other side to consider…
My conclusion: Building with a general contractor / developer? No thanks! If we tackle this topic again, we’ll go the architect route. I’m really done with conversations like these, haggling over every dollar like at a market, and the constant blaming. We’ve now looked at 9 different general contractors, talked, negotiated, hoped, worried, got annoyed, were frustrated, and so on. After 14 months… I’ve had enough for now!
Currently, with each potential client, we generally have 5 conversations plus site visits and reference checks—not infrequently involving specialists such as geotechnical engineers—until only the option to sign remains on the table. That means they know absolutely everything needed to make a decision, including a fixed price based on a detailed bill of quantities.
In the past, the rule of thumb was: conduct 10 negotiations with 3 appointments each and “1” client becomes a customer. For the past 2 years, that “3” has become “5+,” and this year until the end of Q3, many clients were involved who, on closer inspection, should have been politely declined upfront. They took, absorbed, used information and then went to the cheapest competitor, equipped with valuable insights.
Serious consultation until the end of Q3 was mostly not appreciated by potential builders; thus, since we are certainly not the only ones with these kinds of experiences, I can well understand why many salespeople are frustrated and sometimes need to vent their anger. We all know that not every conversation leads to a contract, that we have to invest a lot upfront, and the chemistry has to be right—but what has happened this year… I sometimes simply have no words.
What I cannot hear anymore is “it says on the internet, it was written…”—in the past, I recommended signing a contract vetted by consumer protection; nowadays, a contract from the internet.
Now you come back with:
xycrazy schrieb:Thank you very much!
And sadly, I have to say, every salesperson is the same. You can’t trust anyone in this industry.
We contracted the trades separately. I noticed that working with the individual craftsmen was quite different from dealing with the general contractor (GC) or main contractor (MC) companies we consulted. Although I didn’t have as negative an impression as xycrazy, it was discouraging enough for me to decide against using a GC or MC for this reason.
However, you should allow plenty of time for planning and evaluation, and have access to reliable expertise when preparing the tenders for the main trades. In addition, it’s generally helpful to know at least a few professionals in many of the trades (civil engineering, electrical, plumbing, heating, carpentry, etc.).
However, you should allow plenty of time for planning and evaluation, and have access to reliable expertise when preparing the tenders for the main trades. In addition, it’s generally helpful to know at least a few professionals in many of the trades (civil engineering, electrical, plumbing, heating, carpentry, etc.).
@Koempy: It was exactly the same for us... the quoted amount, the associated obligation, and what was actually delivered didn’t match up 100%. We probably wouldn’t have had a problem if, at the final stage, we had been made to feel that they genuinely wanted us as customers. But instead, every dollar was haggled over like at a market. That wasn’t fair. You can negotiate firmly, but still be fair in the matter. For eight weeks, we felt that certain charges were being slipped in without transparency. And, as it turned out, for example, the rainwater tank was suddenly no longer included, even though we had always been told it was part of the package. Just like that, 5000€ (around $5,400). There were a few other issues, too. When we politely asked for clarification so we could understand better, he got angry. I think to myself: if you already claim your philosophy is "building relaxed," then you have to make the customer feel that way, too. When we said we didn’t feel good about it, I would have taken the approach as a salesperson — especially knowing that friends of ours were also about to sign with them — and said: look, this happens to many people with your company... but once you’re in, you forget all the stress. And I promise you, we will do everything to make sure something good comes out of it. That one sentence could have eased all our doubts and basically helped us cross the finish line. Instead, we got a semi-outburst and wild accusations. That only confirmed our feelings even more. Now, although we’re left without a house, we are also debt-free and have stayed true to ourselves.
What good will come of it, we will see later.
What good will come of it, we will see later.
I believe this reveals the problem I have recently noticed.
You want a transparent quote to have cost certainty before making the biggest investment of your life. This requires a lot of upfront work from the provider, with the risk that it may not lead to a contract. It’s understandable that the motivation for this is limited. However, without this effort from the provider, I personally wouldn’t even reach the point where I can say yes or no.
So far, we have two quotes that differ completely in scope. Combining both might provide all the necessary information and a basis for decision-making.
I think both sides could have plenty of reasons to complain if things simply don’t fit.
You want a transparent quote to have cost certainty before making the biggest investment of your life. This requires a lot of upfront work from the provider, with the risk that it may not lead to a contract. It’s understandable that the motivation for this is limited. However, without this effort from the provider, I personally wouldn’t even reach the point where I can say yes or no.
So far, we have two quotes that differ completely in scope. Combining both might provide all the necessary information and a basis for decision-making.
I think both sides could have plenty of reasons to complain if things simply don’t fit.
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