Demolishing and Building strategy?

greatname

New member
I would like to live in a new house but there are not too many new houses where I would like to live (Turtle Rock). I am thinking of buying a very old house for like 1.5 M and demolish and build a new house. If that will cost 1 M, it will still be cheaper than a new house. I have no experience in this at all. So, I appreciate if someone can talk me out of it or into it. Thanks.
 
Plan on spending $400/sf or more on your hard costs alone.  I am told the customs you see in Newport Coast/Shady are costing over $600/sf.  Friend used Rodeo Homes to built his custom.  Very happy with the quality of work.  I suggest you get an idea of what it would cost all in - demo, soft costs, hard costs, landscaping.  Might be higher than you anticipate.

That said, you may decide it's worth the extra $$ to get the house you want.
 
Perhaps consider a significant remodel rather than outright demo and new construction. I've not had any experience with this personally, but I've heard that permitting/approvals are easier to get that way and it might be cheaper to do it this way as well. Consider it semi-custom.

Otherwise $400/sqft sounds about right. I'm sure it will hurt to buy a house that you have to demo since you just paid for it, regardless of how outdated it might be. I'm surprised to hear new constructions would cost up to $600/sqft as the above poster mentioned.
 
I would talk you out of this.  Without going into many details, I would say that if you have 2.5M to spend on a house, there are better options. 
 
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