TOPIC: M/I homes

Any inputs about M/I homes in Overlook at Amberly west cary?
Thanks

They are pricey from the fact that they are NOT true single family homes. They are cluster homes. They have around 20 out of 30 homes in inventory and they are trying to sell since Apr of this year. In this hot real estate market and for m/I homes as builder it should have been a piece of cake to sell. I think people are not liking the closeness and the pricing of these homes.
Will have to wait and see if this gets accepted by the people.

I agree with newhomebuyer views.

Cluster Homes are really good.M/I Homes are not going only with one reason , Location. No body want to go end of the earth.

They are way too overpriced even for normal market. Stay away in this market!!

I agree with rtpsane they are way too overpriced. But I think the builder would have done all the calculations like what is available in west cary etc etc. As of now this community is the only available ones in west cary area.
Even being pricey the builder is confident and not negotiating on the price.

Their pricing was based off of 3.5% mortgage rate, rates now are at 4.5%. Hang in there, they will have to adjust pricing accordingly, with 20+ inventory homes its just a matter of time. They must have hit their numbers for first 2Q but wait for 3rd and 4th, then real fun begins when Fed stops printing money in 2014.

Have patience guys

Hello rtpsane,
What is the good per square ft rate for these cluster homes ? Or what is a good per square ft rate for the west cary area ?

Thanks

Its hard to tell, several factors goes into it, schools, quality of the builder etc, but for general west cary area I would say price should be in the range of $100 to $110/sq ft for cluster homes $95-$100

I dont think we can go blindly by just price per sqft. I can build lot more sqft by cutting all the costs in all other aspects of home building as a builder. So we should not go just by price per sqft.

For me, home price depends on the Community look/finish, Lot, Amenities, Const Quality, Home design and Upgrades/features added to the home. On top, having all best schools assigned to home is important.

Overall, West Cary is hot and crazy which I think every one agree. I seriously tried to go little far from West Cary to get for little cheaper. When I see certain things, it is becoming difficult for typical desi life. For everything starting Food, Indian Grocery, Temple, Desi Movies and what not, we need to come to West Cary and I have to come to RTP for work. So I decided to find something in this area only to be close to all. So I would suggest, do some research and buy what it works best for you and to your family needs. Again, I am not asking folks to pay crazy. I mean to say dont get stuck on small extra $$ as your home carrys those small extra $$ at all times.

Shyam
Those extra $$ which you paid due to hyped price will NOT be carried along with your house. Once the market normalize or goes down those extra $$ will be lost. As a first time buyer I am think 100 times before investing into these cluster homes. Have it being detached SFH I would have bought by now.

Just to clarify, even I dont like clustered or cookie cutter homes. I am looking for bigger lot size, nice elevation and amenities in our West Cary. On top, I am looking for East or North facing lot as I have some personal preference.

Coming to $$ carried with home, I dont agree with your comment and I stick to my view of they does carry. If market goes down, even home that folks buy at the correct prices also will go down in the same percent and home with 10-15% in West Cary also will go down in the same rate. But here is the catch....

I have my close friends in NJ and CA areas where they are in the City like our West Cary in their places. Cupertino, Fremont Mission, Oak and West Windsor areas has Desis crazy. The extra prices what our desis paid in those specific markets like Cupertino & Mission in BayArea CA, Iselin, West Windsor in NJ never lost the prices too much. The homes are not in the market for long even in the down turn for sale. They went fast. The small percent of folks who wants to buy in down turn will only buy in crazy markets and they dont even look to buy homes where desis doesnt like. If we have a friend who owns home in BayArea or NJ Areas, we can check on this point. US runs on History and Statistics most of the time. So use history here.

I agree with Shyam when in case of a first time home buyer and not for investment.

But these builders are cashing based on the overwelcoming demand and people interests like - Indian neighborhood/East Facing/Schools etc which Americans don't look for.

Also they are creating the sellers market by releasing only handful of lots and not all and price increases everytime when they sell the set of handful of lots.

We again, they are running out of space in west cary too, so It would be nice to move to Apex/Holly Springs and hopefully few more Indian restaurants & grocery stores come up there as well.

All in all this is not the good time to buy the house since market is bullish and builder here in Cary atleast are creating more bullish environment.

Americans do care for schools. In the down turn, the markets which has all three best schools, best looking neighbournoods retained values. In other words, when rest of the areas went down by 10-20%, the homes that has best was down only 3 to 5%. Also they came back fast than others areas. Check how Mission, Cupertino, Plano areas came back now. I have several examples for this or ask any friend who has homes since quite sometime. Also, homes that are far from job locations(our desis doesn't even think of those locations), went down by even 30-35% and more. So dont go too far for cheaper price. They wont appreciate much and has high vunerability per history and first to go down when economy doesnt do go. Also, we just came out of recession, so it will take another 5 years to go down again. It is all 7 to 10 year cycles in US.

Coming to not best time, I am not sure. While I dont advise for not buying now, it is up to the persons situation to buy or to wait. Time is more than money for all which I think everyone agree. What is the point of waiting for 3/5 years and staying in an apartment and buying at 20K less. If you are not interested in buying for various reasons, or it is for investment then it is a different story. Is the home enjoyment that you lost with not buying for 3/5 years worth just 20K? What if the interest rate goes another 1% which is likely. You will pay lot in just interests over a period of time. Main point here is, you will loose yearly tax credits on the interests that you pay to Mortagee in all these 3/5 years of waiting. So think in long term. In other words, do what makes sense for you and to your family members if you are planning to buy for living. Again if investment, it is different. Dont get stuck on one hard impression. This is my 2 cents.

M/I sold bunch of these cluster homes earlier this year. They must have made their numbers for first 2Q, wait till end of this Q to check back, you might get lucky there.

Also, I see Builders and City are approving communities with only small size lots in the West Cary as it is the crazy spot of Triangle. So no wonder why M/I, Pulte, Lennar etc are building only clusterred and Cookie cutter homes from now on. That is the reason why the big size lots available in the current market today going at premium price.

rtpsane wrote: M/I sold bunch of these cluster homes earlier this year. They must have made their numbers for first 2Q, wait till end of this Q to check back, you might get lucky there.

Yeah I think waiting is the key. M/I homes are encouraging agents to push buyers so that they can clear up the inventory.

Prices go up during summer season because people like to move into new home during that time and settle down before school year. You get better deals in fall and winter on inventory homes.

Thanks sounds funny when you say we came out of recession. What we have seen is nothing including the one in 2007.

CHECKING OUT THE ANALYST VIEWS ON RECESSION.

As someone said before, save your money and keep them handy for the BIG GREAT RECESSION ahead.