Lake Norman Real Estate: I own my own lot, how can I save on building a home?

Saving a lot of money while building a home on your own lot

In the present economy EVERYBODY is looking for new ways to save money. In this low point, businesses and industries are finding new, innovative ways to market themselves and reduce overhead so they can maximize profitability. In the auto industry, manufactures are starting to invest their money on energy effecient vehicles as rising energy costs have changed demand. Real Estate and Building is seeing a similar trend.

I have recently teamed up with Lake Norman Custom Builder, Greg Fisher promoting a new hybrid building program which focuses on getting clients into a house that they wouldn't normally be able to afford using a full service contract. I have not seen any other programs like this out there and it is unique to the Lake Norman area. Greg has already finished 2 homes using this program, saving the clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Using this program, you are simply building the home "along with" an experienced custom general contractor. To put it into simple terms, it is a cross between a full service contract and building the home yourself.

The negative aspect of building a home under a full service contract is the high price that you will pay a builder. The negative aspect of building a home on your own is having a lack of experience, the inability to sell within 2 years because of tax purposes, and not having a recommended subcontractor base.

This hybrid program is designed to overcome all of these pitfalls and deliver our client into a quality built home at a reasonable cost.

Please see the Lake Norman Hybrid Building Program links for more details.

Jeremy Adair
NC Licensed GC
NC Licensed Broker
Phone: 704.315.8106
Fax: 704.892.9766
Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com

Lake Norman Real Estate: Internet Paves path to Real Estate Success

Internet is Real Estate way of the future

I recently came across a great article in the Herald which is a local Lake Norman publication. I'm going to put up some of the findings of the article.

- 80% of buyers look on the internet for real estate.
- Many homeowners are now trying to sell their homes as FSBO's and trying to avoid paying commission, although homes represented by agents historically sell faster and for a better price.
- The best thing to do in the current market is to select an Internet-savvy real estate agent to represent you.
- Buyers and sellers should use the internet to find an agent, because if you can find them online, so can others.
- It is the time to buy. The inventory is flooded on the market and now is the time to find a great deal.

Some of this information is pretty basic, but it shows that our economy and technology are ever changing and the way of doing things of old, are not always the way of the future. With energy costs going through the roof, people are turning to the internet to locate properties and for low cost marketing. Lets face it, the internet is the future of the real estate world.

For more information on this post, contact your Real Living real estate broker at 704.315.8106.

See also:
Why do I need an agent

Lake Norman Real Estate: Interesting Facts on Green Building

Interesting Facts on Green Building

As an avid reader of Builder magazine, I came across an interesting article called "To go Green, or not to go Green." I just wanted to share some information from the article.

Green building is projected to grow as a share in the overall residential construction market from just 2% in 2005 to between 12% and 20% in 2012. In current US dollars, that's from $7B to $40B-$70B by 2012.

Here is an average one builder has made on the Cost of going green.

Green Items Additional Cost
Inspections/Modeling $3,000 - $5,000
2 by 6 exterior wall $4,000 - $6,000
Housewrap $2,000 - $4,000
Asphalt paper over housewrap $1,000 - $2,000
High-Quality Windows $8,000 - $10,000
Blown Insulation $3,000 - $40,000
Tight Duct Systems $1,000 - $2,000
Upgrade furnace or boilers $2,000 - $5,000
Upgrade a/c units $2,000 - $5,000

So you can see that building green can cost quite a bit extra money up front, but can also help you save in the long term. If you are planning on staying in a home for a long time, building green may be the way to go!

See also:

Lake Norman Green Building 2
Learn all about windows and effeciency
What does it mean to be green?

Jeremy Adair
NC Licensed GC
NC Licensed Broker
Phone: 704.315.8106
Fax: 704.892.9766
Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com

Lake Norman Real Estate: Building a custom home in the Lake Norman area?

DK Construction - Affordable, high quality custom homes in the Lake Norman area.

General Contractors


Greg Fisher has over 20 years of homebuilding experience through his career. Greg has lived on Lake Norman in the highly touted "The Point" community for the last few years. Greg understands the challenges of the current market and has developed a HYBRID homebuilding program designed for the Lake Norman area that can literally save those that want to build a custom home, hundreds of thousands of dollars! Greg served on the NC committee to adopt the International Building code and is also a master carpenter. He believes in using the highest standards to building a new home and uses standards that far exceed the Residential Building code.


Jeremy Adair has built over 175 homes in the Washington DC and Charlotte, NC markets. A graduate of Penn State University and former Project Manager for Ryan Homes, Jeremy understands the pitfalls that come with builder's saving pennies and the strengths and weaknesses of buying/building a production home. Working for a production builder for some time, Jeremy new it was time to switch over to the custom side and focus more on the customer and building a 100% quality home that families will enjoy for a lifetime. Jeremy is also a certified site inspector in Charlotte/Mecklenburg and a licensed Real Estate Broker.

For more information on these Licensed General Contractors and the New Lake Norman Hybrid Building Program, contact Jeremy Adair at 704.315.8106 or at Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com.

See Also:
Lake Norman Hybrid Building Program Links

Jeremy Adair
NC Licensed GC
NC Licensed Broker
Phone: 704.315.8106
Fax: 704.892.9766
Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com

Lake Norman Real Estate: Want to save hundreds of thousands on your next custom home?

New Hybrid Home Building Program Introduced to the Lake Norman Area

DK Construction has introduced a new building program that consolidates the strengths of a full service construction contract and owner/builder programs. Greg Fisher, NC General Contractor and Project Manager, points out the problems of owner/builder programs, such as obtaining favorable financing, managing subs, hands on management, and the requirement to hold the house for 2 years before you can sell it. By contrast, those seeking a full service contract will be subjected to the high cost of doing business.

A hybrid construction program was developed to take the best of both programs and help people get the best product at the lowest price. A flat fee of $12 per square foot is charged to the owner. A DK Construction general contractor pulls the building permit, provides cost estimates, manages the job, provides all sub contractors and oversees all county inspections. The home owner acts as a superintendent, aiding in scheduling and paying all bills. The end result is that a quality home is built with huge savings. For example, under this program, local home owners have built high end homes in the $118 to $155 per square foot range. As comparison, most full service contracts in this market are priced at over $200 per square foot.

Home owners are not required to have construction experience. DK Construction’s general contractors provide the required experience and consultation to keep the job on track and eliminate costly mistakes; however, homeowners need to allocate an average of 1 hour a day to keep on top of their responsibilities.

With real estate changing, buyers need to buy at wholesale prices to help maintain 80% Loan to Value and protect their equity. This hybrid program does this and much more! For more information, contact Jeremy Adair @ 704.315.8106 or visit www.CharlotteAreaNewConstruction.com.

Jeremy Adair
NC Licensed GC
NC Licensed Broker
Phone: 704.315.8106
Fax: 704.892.9766
Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com

Lake Norman Real Estate: Lake Norman Hybrid Homebuilding Program

Lake Norman Hybrid Homebuilding Program Links

Meet your Licensed General Contractors for the Lake Norman Hybrid Program
Build your new Custom Home together with a Licensed NC General Contractor
Save 100's of Thousands on your new custom Lake Norman home
Save $$ on your next Lake Norman Custom Home

Lake Norman Real Estate: Lake Norman Green Building Part 2

Project Live Green

July 11 - 13, & 18 - 20, 2008 - Sherrills Ford
Green Home Tour

Jennifer Pippin will host a Green Home Tour of her Green Home Renovation project for two consecutive weekends, from 10am-6pm each day. We will invite the public to tour the Green Home as a fund-raising event, with proceeds from ticket sales going to 'Our Town's Habitat for Humanity' 2009 'Woman Build' home. Tickets for the event are $11.00
See Green Home Tour for directions and more details.

October 4, 2008 - Charlotte, NC
NCSEA Solar and Green Home Tour
Tour homes in the environs of the Charlotte area and learn about readily-available building alternatives.

More links to this post:
Pippin Home Designs
Project Live Green
What it means to be green

Jeremy Adair
NC Licensed GC
NC Licensed Broker
Phone: 704.315.8106
Fax: 704.892.9766
Jeremy.Adair@RealLiving.com