All Forum Posts by: Paul Sofia

Proceed with caution.

What was initially agreed upon?  Did you agree on a price, if so, did the builder break it down the cost of materials and labor separate? He could use that credit card to buy materials for another job.  You should be paying him in draws as the work is done, materials and labor included.  If he cannot afford to do it, I would certainly find out why.

I would find another builder.

I would also like to add that my cost to build is based on a crawl space.  You can go cheaper with a slab.

I might be wrong but you may have an issue due to the additions.

 : )

Construction costs will be reflective of the current market you are in.  Based on where you are, I doubt it would cost you that much per sf to build.  I am building homes 30 minutes outside of Charlotte and am not paying anywhere near those amounts.  These are approx 1400 sf and the bigger you go, the cheaper per sf it will cost.  I am building homes with granite tops, upgrade cabinets at under $65/sf.  Call a local builder.

Contact planning and zoning first to see what the requirements are, ie. minimum size lot to build, set backs and road frontage requirements.  If you meet that criteria, check with lender and see if they will release.  They may require you to pay down the note a bit unless you have enough equity to satisfy them.

Pull your own from creditchecktotal.com.  That should give them good initial information before they do any hard pulls.  I always have prospects pull their own first.  If you are looking in that part of Virginia, let me know.  I know  a private lender in that area that you can meet with face to face.  He would need a little background information(experience) as well.

David, 

Is the land and home deeded as one?  What is the year of the home and is there a visual data plate, ie. on back of cabinet door, laundry room wall or closet wall?