Avoid Budget Cuts Blues

Avoiding the Problem

You are building new and you want to avoid the budget cutting nightmare. How is it done? It is fairly simple. Go to a bank and get pre-qualified. Sober up and calculate what you will really get for your existing home, not what you THINK it is worth. Once you have the real number of what you can afford, go out and look at new model homes. Find ones that match in style and quality what you will accept. Grab a tape measure and calculate the actual square footage of finished living space. Always measure to the outside of foundation, not the interior room sizes. Divide the square footage into the sale price. This tells you the current cost of construction in your area by the square foot. Of course this raw number includes the cost of the lot and the Realtor's sales commission. If you just want the actual construction cost, you need to subtract the lot value and the sales commission before you do the division problem. That number will get you in the ballpark.