I'm considering trying to build a house,have a builder,guys is it worth it,I mean if I went and bought something for say $170K couldn't I build something really nice for that,and is it worth it,as far as cost savings?? Advice would be appreciated

last time that I looked into this (about 2 years ago), I could do much better buying a home than having one built. I checked several builders and the cost per sq ft for what I wanted was higher than i could buy already built. Now, if you have the time to contract the work out yourself, you might could come out saving some money.

You would have to do ALOT yourself to come out ahead building one... the trade off is that you can build EXACTLY what you want.

Building Vs Buying.

Building:
Get exactly what you want
You know the specs and quality of components
No surprises such as hidden damage, rot, etc
Exactly where you want it.

Buying:
Less or no wait
Less stress
Possibly less expensive
Less to no work

If you do your homework it can be worth it in a lot of ways.

I'm just lookin at building one for around $170k,and hopefully it will appraise for over $200k,and hopefully not having to pay PMI

You can usually buy more house for the money if you buy an existing home and remodel it. Get with a realtor and have them search for homes that are priced low per square footage. Typically you'd want to find $80/sq ft or lower. Probably a more solid built home from the 50's-90's that just never was updated, that's what I would do

Thanks to all of you for the advice...I appreciate,I feel like I can have one built for $70 sq.ft,but it's a tough decision,I'm worried more about where we (me wife,9yr old and 15 mo old)would stay while it was being built,but we will see I'm young 32,and wanna make the right decision

I've done both.

I'd build again, but do none of the physical labor.

Contract everything out yourself and you can build and save $.

I may be wrong, but $30k equity on a $200k home won't get you out of PMI.

As for price for SQ/FT. I can't imagine building anything for $70/sq/ft. At that price range you're better off buying a dated home and updating it while you live there. Once complete, refinance with a new appraisal and get rid of PMI that way.

Rember you get what you pay for at 70sq contact a reliable builder not DR Horton and stone Martin pm if you need some names

You wont get a built house for $70 sq ft.

I just got finished building one,I would have come out cheaper buying something but atleast when you build you get to make it like you want it

I would build. I also know I could come out ahead bc that's what I do for a living. Try finding a piece of property out of the city to build on so you don't have all the dumbass codes to follow. A man could go broke trying to afford all the straps required in mobile/baldwin county.

My parents finally built their dream house about 7 years ago. It cost them right around $167,000 when it was all said and done. Contract everything out yourself to find the best price. There's little things you can do that cut the cost like doing your own baseboard and crown molding, installing tile yourself in smaller rooms, and painting. All are relatively easy to do with a little know how and can save money. If you use a contractor talk to people he has built houses for. Their contractor walked off the job after the framing was half complete and left them in a mess at first.

Just FYI. If you plan on going with an FHA loan then it doesn't matter how much you put down on a house you have PMI for the life of the loan. This changed after 2013. So the paying 30% and recouping your insurance money is no longer an option. You could go with a different loan like a USDA or traditional loan. I know all this because I'm getting ready to do the same.

I believe the FHA loan was designed for new home buyers who couldn't afford 30% down. But new downside is the inability to get rid of PMI

Exactly what this says, you want to get a builder that does quality homes and not quantity homes. Also if you build in the city limits and have to get everything inspected the new energy codes are making homes cost a lot more.

I built my house in 05, and I paid cash to most of the subs and saved a lot of money. I also installed all the hardwood and did all the tile work myself. I put in all the doors, windows, all the siding, wrapped the colums on the porch, landscaping (trees and shrubs, planted grass, etc) I took 6 months, but I have a high end house for about $70/sq ft. It was a great learning experience. BTW, spend the extra money on higher end fixtures and appliances. Its worth it.
Good Luck.

Not using a contractor will probably save you 8-15% of the total cost of building. If you don't know what you're doing, it could add 8-20% more.

This...and also realize that dealing with subs can and will be a full time job. Specifically if you can't get someones sub list.

As an electrical sub I saw some of the biggest screwups by people trying to do it theirselves. Thing was they didn't even know it most of the time.