Why a Buyer Would Choose to Build A Custom Home

In this world of real estate right now, there's a lot of back and forth. Should I buy a resale? Should I build a new home? There are so many questions.

I am super excited to share my conversation with one of my favorite people in the world, someone I have known for more than 20 years, my good friend Andrew Pear from Franklin Building Group.?

We kicked off the conversation during a recent Wake Up! With Haley episode with this question:

Why do you see homeowners choosing to build their own home and what conversations around custom home builds are you hearing?

"We've been in real estate for a number of years, and we've seen many ups and downs, but we haven't really seen a shift in the requirements of the buyer."

But what's happened with recent events in this world is that people have realized that their homes, which are so beautiful, don't perform for them in a situation where they have to stay in them for a long time. What I’m seeing is a lot of specialty items and lifestyle changes that are kind of dramatic things, like private gyms at home or second kitchens for cooking, two offices, and even golf simulation. All the things that if we, heaven forbid, ever went into a lockdown again, people will have all of these facilities that they really enjoy.

It's not a one size fits all solution though.

If the buyers are choosing to buy a resell, it's probably because of location or they don't have the timeline to wait for a new build, they're still wanting to go in and customize it.

What are the benefits of being involved in the building process from your perspective, for the buyer and the consumer??

It's not about just selling a home and moving in anymore like it's been for years. The choices that we've enjoyed for years and years are being depleted. People are really struggling to find lots at the right price. In our building process, we've got a structure and a process, which is the foundation of customer service. We sit down, we talk about, is there an engagement? Can we fulfill your objectives? Then if people commit to the design process and the building process at each stage, they work with an expert. We've got architects on staff, we've got interior designers on staff, pool designers. We've even got our own warranty.

There are so many pieces to the building process from the consumer's perspective. It can be one of the most stressful experiences for the buyer because there are so many logistics and pieces going on. We also, as a buyer, get emotionally tied to it. And then we have expectations about timelines in the building world. It's much like the design world and all of the other pieces in our world as a whole right now that we don't have a lot of control over because of delays and supply chains, et cetera.

To watch the full episode of Wake Up! With Haley, click the video below.

When your team starts the process of the creative phase, how does that really flow through and affect the final decision?

I think it's fair to say that people generally, in my experience, want to know two things. They want to know how much and how long? And those are questions that two years ago we were able to provide relatively quickly. Unfortunately, with everything that's going on in the market, the commodities, it's taking us a little longer to get to those two answers. So we've got a process in place where you can engage us to do a design working within your parameters. And I'm talking about how many people there are in the home, what price you're budgeting for this home, and all the facets that really go into a home search. We are able to design a home, in real-time. So you're actually working with a team. They're moving the home around. They're showing you the drawings. We use the latest and greatest software which allows people to have 3D views of their homes. The client knows what it will look like.

Our responsibility to every buyer is to make sure a lot of people buy our homes for a return on investment and that they're built to the highest echelons of residential construction. Buyers should always be aware and educated that they may be relocated. They may have to move out. There's always an eye on the development of life so we remind the buyers throughout the process that if we add this custom feature it may affect the resale value.?

Talk to me about why a buyer would choose to go custom.

When people buy a resell in the market, they always have this conversation with the realtor, which is, yes, we could buy it, but we're going to have to knock down this, do this, do that, and the goal becomes fitting into the home. That itself kind of feels like you're settling. In custom, it's a blank piece of paper. We can talk about what you really want to create and what we're able to do as custom builders.

The production builders are doing a phenomenal job and they have a ton of great plans, but it is much like the resale market. You go in and it's here, do you want plan A or plan B, and you try to fit into those plans. Of course, the custom building process is more expensive, so it usually happens in the next phase of life once the kids are a little bit older. They've lived in the production homes for a few years and they've really kind of vetted out what they want and what they need. When they get into the custom market, they then have the opportunity to really create their home. It's a really fun process. Some of us have children, some of us have yoga rooms.? One size doesn't fit all for us.?

Wake Up! With Haley airs on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of every month right here on LinkedIn and YouTube.