New Home Building Articles | Home Construction Tips

Every one of us has a dream home. If you have your own home already, you might think that it always needs something more. As your needs change, it is inevitable that you would become unsatisfied with your house. You would think that your house is losing its functionality. To solve this, you can opt for house construction and do some remodeling jobs to your house.

A lot of old Americans are now seeing their houses as unfit for their retirement plans. Of course, their houses were initially built to be safe for babies and growing children. However, as the children grow up and eventually leave the house, the house turns into a seemingly inappropriate piece of property.

Some Americans consider moving out and finding a better home, one that is fit for their new lifestyle as a retired couple. However, all the hassles involved in moving out can be so tiring. You have to pay attention to real estate matters, changing addresses, adopting to a new community, and literally starting anew all over again. Why not get your hands dirty and start on a house remodeling! A lot of older Americans would go for the second option, for a lot of reasons.

Twenty-five percent of Americans who are 45 and above live in houses that are not fit for aged people who need to easily move around the house. Moreover, less than 10 percent of houses in the US even have features that are inaccessible to older people. This requires house renovation, to make the unit fit for whoever is living in it.

Anyone who has lived in a house for a long time would find moving very difficult. There is a lot of emotional stress involved with it, and very few actually find it nice. To be able to modify your house and make it fit for your current needs, it is important that you allocate money for construction. Especially in such a time of economic slowdown, you have to wisely spend your money and allocate funds properly.

Home renovations entail different modifications to make your home adapt to your changing needs. These include your everyday activities in the house, such as cooking, going from one room to another, climbing the stairs, taking a bath and other functions.

Going through a house remodeling is definitely a better option for you if you are a senior American. Aside from getting rid of all the hassles involved in moving, you also get to preserve the excellence and improve the overall condition of your house.

Last February, new house construction experienced a decrease in spending, again. This is the fifth straight month that spending for construction has dipped, proving that the house building industry has been in its slowest in five years, and its lowest in 11 years.

Experts see the drop as the result of increasing number of foreclosed homes. With the rise in the number of properties being sold, new home construction gets fewer and fewer. To add to that, lenders have been extra strict on approving loans and other forms of credit, making it hard for people to start building homes, and even commercial establishments.

To compensate and cope with this scenario, home builders are offering new house construction at very affordable rates. This is to attract more buyers to solve the slow selling this spring.
Lennar Corp recently announced that a 30-year fixed rate mortgage has 3.625 percent interest rate. This is the best deal yet among all other offers from lenders. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc, on the other hand, give a 3.99 percent interest rate for home buyers.

Likewise, Toll Brothers Inc., a luxury home builder, was giving a 3.99 percent interest rate for its developments around the country. Although this offer has caused quite a stir and drove traffic to the company’s website, there was not enough action from consumers who were interested in new home construction.

More and more lending companies are offering other perks, aside from low interest rates. Some give complimentary all-expense paid tropical vacations. Some even subsidize the closing costs, while others even offer layaway plans.

For buyers of new homes, the offers of lenders and home builders seem to be very great deals. However, they should still be very careful in dealing with such. They should consider other factors other than the costs presented by the home builders. For instance, Lennar Inc. is actually giving the 30-year fixed interest rate only on select homes. This means that if your new home exceeds $417,000, then you are not qualified to avail of it.

Still there are some home builders that choose to veer away from the popular strategy in the market. KB Home, for instance, focuses instead on giving smaller houses or properties that are priced to compete with foreclosed homes. This strategy has helped the company get more new house construction projects.

Tax credits have once again shown its magic by increasing the house construction sales in California despite the state being one of the areas hardest hit by foreclosures.

Data from the California Research Bureau showed that foreclosures in 2008 were 84,600. However, California foreclosures are expected to reach 237,200 in 2009 and 1.1 million for the period 2007-2012.

The metro area of San Bernardino-Riverside posted a foreclosure rate which is the sixth highest across the country, with one in every 80 properties at auction, in default or repossessed.

These figures did not bode well for the housing market in California. However, one good thing that has come out of this foreclosure crisis is the dramatic decline in prices that spurred a surge in house construction sales.

According to California Building Association President Robert Rivinius, tax credits have done their job of attracting homebuyers which contributed to the increase in house construction sales. Rivinius hoped that the tax credits will continue to have a positive effect on the house construction industry.

In February 2009, house construction sales in Southern California remained in the same level as with previous year, for eighth consecutive months. DataQuick reported that the median home price in Southern

California stopped its 10-month decline in February.
In San Bernardino County, house construction sales last February increased to 2,324, reflecting a rise of 87.1 percent from the same month last year.

Meanwhile, in Riverside County, house construction sales increased by 59.3 percent.
DataQuick noted that bargain hunting homebuyers flocked to California’s affordable neighborhoods. It added that the supply-and-demand in the housing market is starting to normalize.

California offers a tax credit of as much as $10,000 for first-time homebuyers and federal tax credit of $8,000 for new buyers.

Meanwhile, the government-guaranteed FHA mortgages accounted for almost 38 percent of the total purchase loans last month, an increase from February 2008’s 6.4 percent.

On the other hand, despite the increase in home sales, California Association of Mortgage Brokers’ Inland Empire Chapter President Wil Herring warned against hoping too much that the house construction industry will make its recovery now.

California Building Association’s chief executive officer of the Baldy View chapter Frank Williams noted that recession has given home builders the chance to reflect on the strength of the market. He added that the home building industry is starting to stand up again.

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