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CONSIDER THE TREES ON YOUR LOT WHEN YOU PICK A SPOT FOR YOUR HOUSE

mwilhite - Monday, April 22, 2019
CONSIDER THE TREES ON YOUR LOT WHEN YOU PICK A SPOT FOR YOUR HOUSE
Unless you picked your lot for farming too, chances are good that you liked the lot because of the trees and landscaping. A grand oak tree that has been there over 100 years can be really beautiful and provide lots of shade. But if that grand oak is in the middle of the lot, near where you wanted to build your new house, you may need to talk to the city or county to find out your options. Each municipality…

REPUTATION MATTERS WHEN YOU HIRE A HOME BUILDER

mwilhite - Monday, April 15, 2019
REPUTATION MATTERS WHEN YOU HIRE A HOME BUILDER
The rule of thumb when you are buying anything expensive is to “get three quotes and check references.” If you are planning to build a house on your own lot, you probably want to go one step further and make a checklist: How long has the builder been in business? Is the builder financially stable? If the builder requests excessive deposits up front, that could be a red flag. Does the builder have good relationships with financial institutions? Is the…

GUIDE FOR BUYING LAND AND BUILDING A HOUSE, PART TWO

mwilhite - Monday, April 8, 2019
GUIDE FOR BUYING LAND AND BUILDING A HOUSE, PART TWO
You are pretty sure that you want to buy your own lot and build a house on it. What is the next step? We have put together a list of articles to get you started: Financing: What is a construction to permanent loan Buying Land: How to pick the right lot: How to choose the right lot to build your home on in Tampa Bay 3 tips to choose the perfect lot to build your new house Building a new…

GUIDE FOR BUYING LAND AND BUILDING A HOUSE, PART ONE

mwilhite - Monday, April 1, 2019
GUIDE FOR BUYING LAND AND BUILDING A HOUSE, PART ONE
Affordable single family homes in the Tampa Bay area are a hot commodity these days. If you have grown weary of searching for that perfect house, you might consider purchasing an empty lot or a lot with a teardown and building your dream home instead. We put together a list of articles to help you decide if building a house on your own lot is right for you or not: Rent, buy existing or build a new house? Why building…

ALL STATE HOMES WINS BUILDER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

mwilhite - Monday, March 25, 2019
ALL STATE HOMES WINS BUILDER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
All State Homes was one of 184 builders from across the country to win the prestigious Builder Achievement Awards in the Foundation Builders category, awarded by 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty. 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty is an industry-leading provider of new home structural warranties and systems and appliances coverage for new and existing homes. According to their website, the Builder Achievement Awards Program “is a special program designed to acknowledge outstanding performance in the home building industry. Every year, 2-10 HBW selects…

BUILDING ON YOUR OWN LOT IN HISTORICAL NEIGHBORHOODS

mwilhite - Monday, March 18, 2019
BUILDING ON YOUR OWN LOT IN HISTORICAL NEIGHBORHOODS
The City of Tampa has designated Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights and Ybor City as historical neighborhoods and provided District Overlays with strict rules for new structures. Ybor City and Tampa Heights still have some beautiful, affordable vacant lots, as well as lots with teardowns available. So how do you navigate the requirements to build a new house on one of those lots? The first step is to understand why there are District Overlays. Take Ybor City for example. The city says:…

QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU SELECT A BUILDER FOR A NEW HOME ON YOUR LOT

mwilhite - Monday, March 11, 2019
QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE YOU SELECT A BUILDER FOR A NEW HOME ON YOUR LOT
The National Association of Home Builders has a list of questions to ask home builders before you select the company to build your dream home. We have listed the questions to ask the builder that apply to building a home on your own lot in Florida, along with the All State Homes response to each question: Will the builder give you references of recent buyers/occupants? All State Homes has been building homes since 1955 and can provide you with a number of…

PRIORITIZE YOUR NEEDS BEFORE YOU CHOOSE A FLOOR PLAN

mwilhite - Monday, March 4, 2019
PRIORITIZE YOUR NEEDS BEFORE YOU CHOOSE A FLOOR PLAN
Chances are good that you had a floor plan in mind before you even bought a lot to build your dream home on. Maybe you walked through a model home in a new subdivision, or you found a plan online, or your friends have the perfect house and you want to duplicate it. Before you commit yourself to a floor plan, you might want to consider the following items, and rank these in the order of importance: Each person in…

WHAT IS A CONSTRUCTION TO PERMANENT LOAN?

mwilhite - Monday, February 25, 2019
WHAT IS A CONSTRUCTION TO PERMANENT LOAN?
A construction to permanent loan (also called CPL loan) is one loan that allows you to finance the construction of the house and then converts to a permanent mortgage loan. It functions as a line of credit to pay for the construction costs at each stage of the building process, and you pay interest on the amount you have drawn out. When the house has been completed and you have your occupancy permit, the loan switches to a monthly mortgage…

THE RIGHT LOT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY WHEN YOU BUILD YOUR HOUSE

mwilhite - Monday, February 18, 2019
THE RIGHT LOT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY WHEN YOU BUILD YOUR HOUSE
If you have not yet bought that perfect lot to build your dream house on, you may want to give some consideration to the following items that could save you money: Building in a flood zone will cost more. When you build a new home in a flood plain, the home has to meet a particular set of building requirements to prevent damage during a hurricane. At a minimum, the building has to be elevated above the 100 year Base…