Buying a home

[jeep-N-montero]

When I was looking for a house before we moved out here, all of utah looked back practically, only a couple areas that looked good to me were where my brother lives in draper (up on the mountain near the temple) and where we ended up living as far west as you could get in west jordan.

black_ZJ, does your brother own his own company or just know how to build houses?

My brother is a contractor and currently lives in North Dakota, he sold most of his equipment before leaving Maine 1.5 years ago but is slowly getting things going again. He works for an oil company at the moment but has a few bigger building projects lined up for spring on his days off. If you saw some of the custom log homes he has built you will see where he really shines, that became his niche and was building 2-3 a year before he left Maine. His degree was in residential design and construction and was very good at what he did before the economy took its toll.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Our garage is going to be large enough to park my tow rig in it with the trailer attached, no need to park it on the grass, that's where a pig and cow will be grazing for slaughter each year.


If my neighbor was raising livestock and butchering their dinner, I'd feel I've made poor choices. Lived in the Ironbound section of Newark and the Portuguese peeps were always hacking away at some animal that would become dinner... never again... it was so 3rd world.

Dude, I was mostly pulling your leg, but we may decide to raise a natural and hormone-free pig or cow each year to send out for butchering and alternate each year what we raise. It's not like we are going to be killing it ourselves and cutting it up, too much work.

 

[blznnp]

My brother is a contractor and currently lives in North Dakota, he sold most of his equipment before leaving Maine 1.5 years ago but is slowly getting things going again. He works for an oil company at the moment but has a few bigger building projects lined up for spring on his days off. If you saw some of the custom log homes he has built you will see where he really shines, that became his niche and was building 2-3 a year before he left Maine. His degree was in residential design and construction and was very good at what he did before the economy took its toll.

Ah, I was gonna say if he is local and has a company, I could go look at his company and see what models they have. We would like to build but what I want and my wife wants are not the same, well, property wise. So that means I have to go with what my wife wants.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

Ah, I was gonna say if he is local and has a company, I could go look at his company and see what models they have. We would like to build but what I want and my wife wants are not the same, well, property wise. So that means I have to go with what my wife wants.

I would avoid a mass producing builder like the plague, find a smaller company that builds it exactly how you want it instead of making you choose from a pamphlet of "custom floor plans", knowing full well that those plans already have a list of materials to go with them that are sourced from the cheapest places possible. I'm very glad that my wife and I agreed on the style of home and type of lot we want, we just need to sit down with my sister in law when the time comes to design it.

 

[Maverick]

The best neighbors are ones you never hear from and occasionally wave to if you happen to catch their glance.

To each his own I guess. We love our neighborly neighbors. It's why we are still where we are.

 

[mbryson]

Ah, I was gonna say if he is local and has a company, I could go look at his company and see what models they have. We would like to build but what I want and my wife wants are not the same, well, property wise. So that means I have to go with what my wife wants.

Good friend of mine is a GC. PM me if you want his phone #. He does mostly high end stuff, but you could catch him during a needy moment

 

[Gravy]

Bountiful. or southern salt lake: draper, west jordan etc.... living downtown-ish sucks.

Avoid Rosepark, West Valley (the eastern most part) or Millcreek if you like your stuff....

I love my house. So glad we bought a place. You'll love being a homeowner.

 

[DevinB]

If you want to build, I do the drafting for a smaller home builder in Utah County. We have a few lots left in a subdivision right off the alpine highway in Lehi if that's not too far to drive or we can build on your own lot wherever. We have a few houseplans that are popular but can also do full custom.

 

[jackjoh]

Joan and I have been taking our money out of CD's (1-2%) and buying homes to rent. So far it has been a good decision. In our one year of looking at property we have come to these conclusions. All the good lots in the valley have been bought up by developers and they take the profit out of the land when they build or sell just the lot and sometimes jack up the lot price to get the profit as if they had built on it. Short sales are the best bet for getting a good profit but they can be time consuming and a headache. Prices seem to be going up for what I believe is for no apparent reason. The old saying, Location-Location-Location still holds true. For instance prices in South Jordan are 20 to 30 thousand higher then in surrounding areas. We like western West Jordan, Riverton, Harriman and South Jordan. We do not like the Day Break area as they are mostly squeezed together and have artificially high prices. The quality seems good and if you like living in a home that feels like an apartment building you would be OK. Know your limits on what you can afford, have at least a 10 to 20% down payment. If you do not have the down payment rent something cheap and save until you do. Do not rent your dream home, it is too expensive unless you can afford it and that is your life style. I hope this helps.

 

[Tonkaman]

Thank you for all the replies they are very helpful. I've narrowed it down to Sandy, Draper, Herriman, South Jordan, West Jordan. I'd prefer a good size lot so that will likely narrow it down fast