Does the asking price on a cleared lot two streets over mean anything?
There's a cleared lot two streets over from a subdivision that finished last year. Asking 78k, flat, water and sewer in the street per the listing. I've never built anything. I've been reading this room for a month and I still don't know what question to ask first.
What I have: the asking price, a plat map from the county site, and photos. Houses in that subdivision closed between 430k and 480k last year, 1,900 to 2,300 square feet. So my napkin math was 78k lot plus something like 250k to build equals 328k, sell at 450k, and that felt too good, which usually means I'm missing most of the costs.
What I'm unsure of: basically the entire middle. I don't know what "soft costs" covers. I don't know if the lot being cleared means anything about whether it drains. I don't know if a builder quotes me a price per square foot that includes the driveway, the well or connection fees, the appliances. I've heard material prices are still climbing a few percent a year and that nobody can staff a crew, so I assume any quote I get today isn't the quote I pay.
The decision actually in front of me: the seller wants an answer in two weeks and there's a soil and survey guy who'd charge me around 2,400 to look at it before I commit. That's real money to spend on a lot I might not buy. But paying 78k for a lot I can't build on economically is worse. I don't know how people decide which unknowns are worth paying to remove and which ones you just accept.
Also, honestly, I don't know if a first project should be ground-up at all.