Tales of a First-Time Home Buyer: The Other Side of New Construction

Our new neighborhood is brand new – all the houses in it are a year old or newer, including ours. When our house was being built in February through May of this year, every time we went to look at it, I felt sorry for all of the people who had already moved into their houses who had to endure all this construction all the time.

There are only two more “rows” of five townhouses each to build, but they are both on our block and relatively close to our house. But it’s not just the construction of the houses themselves, it’s the constant flow of trucks in and out of the neighborhood, it’s the filthy, potholed asphalt and curbing, it’s the dirt smell that the whole area reeks of, it’s the early morning hammer strikes that wake you up instead of your alarm clock… Needless to say, I wish they would just hurry up and finish already.

The good news is that they are all sold and construction has already begun. I have spoken to our project manager, Tim, who I believe is the greatest project manager in the world. He said that they should be complete and ready for move-in by November, and the loud hammer strikes while they build the framing will be finished in less than a month.

I am really looking forward to the community being 100-percent complete. Once all of the construction is done, they will install the last layer of asphalt and everything will be quiet and clean. On the bright side, I heard that the new houses, which are the exact same model as ours, are starting at $20,000 more than ours started at. And the kicker is that we also got to take advantage of the first-time home buyer’s tax credit (which I have filed an addendum for and we are still waiting to receive – you’ll be the first to know!). That means that our house has already appreciated $20,000! When I heard the news, I immediately turned to my wife and said, “Let’s sell!” Of course I was just kidding, but it’s nice to know that our decision to stretch our money to the limit and take advantage of the buyer’s market is showing early returns. Very early returns. (Though we know we likely have many ups and downs in the market ahead of us).

So (relatively) soon our community will be complete, and nary a dump truck or hammer will be seen. Until then, I guess we’ll have to wake up with the workers and avoid the potholes. It could be worse...we could still be living in a one-bedroom apartment listening to barking dogs all day. In the grand scheme of things, our living situation has been upgraded tenfold, and if ongoing construction causing our house to appreciate ridiculously fast is the only problem we have, then we’re doing pretty well.