New Construction #14, Andover – Purchase

I closed on my latest new construction project last week – New Construction #14, Andover. This lead came from my driving for dollars mailing campaign whom I mailed to 4 times before getting a call back. After speaking with the owner, my Acquisitions and Marketing Coordinator, Will could tell that she was motivated and that the house needed a lot of work. However, she was hoping to get $400,000 for the property, which seemed high considering the amount of repairs needed. Nonetheless, Will and I felt it made sense to meet the seller and walk the property. Here are the pictures from that walk through:

Me wishing I never walked into the house...

(Notice there is no foundation under the barn)

Ain’t she purdy? As you can see, the house is in terrible condition. So much so, that I felt that the best use of the property would be to tear it down and rebuild a new home. We explained this to the seller, along with the fact that we could only pay land value for the house. By this time, Will had built a great rapport with the seller and after a week of negotiating, she came down to our price of $300,000. **Side Note – Stay tuned for Will’s walk through video that I’ll post next week. The house was actually in worse shape than in these pictures. Teaser – it may or may not include a HAZMAT suit!!**

After getting the property under contract, I sent my surveyor out to work up a plot plan. I knew the property was conforming but had to get proper documentation for when I submit my plans to the town. Here’s the plot plan:

Did you notice that the house is on a corner lot? Currently, the house faces and bears the address of the somewhat busy, yellow lined road. This wasn’t a huge concern because it’s still a desirable area. However, after looking at the plot plan, I noticed that there is actually enough frontage (min of 150’) on the quieter, side road. Since it would add a lot of value to position the new house and driveway on the side street, I called the building department to understand what the requirements are to move forward with this. They said as long as I have adequate frontage, it would be fine. Next I called the assessors department to ask if I could change the address and what the process is. To my surprise, they said I would just have to email the Senior Assessor with my request. So I emailed her on Monday and by Wednesday of this week, I got a response saying that the address has been changed and all town departments have been notified. How easy was that? After working in this town for the last couple of months on my house and now this house, I have to say that the people at the Andover Town Hall have been awesome to deal with.

After looking at comps, meeting with my architect and real estate agent and discussing the market, we concluded that I should build a 3,600 SF contemporary colonial home with 5 beds and at least 3.5 bathrooms. The first floor will have a Kitchen, Great Room, Dining Room, Master Suite and Office, while the 2nd floor will include 4 bedrooms (including another Master Suite) and 2-3 bathrooms. You may be asking “Why so many bathrooms and 2 master suites?” Well, Andover has had an influx of Asian population over the last couple of years and they are an important buyer pool to accommodate. My real estate agent has told me that they like to have no more than 2 bedrooms per bathroom. Also, it’s common that families have a parent living with them and a first floor suite is an added bonus. Based on this layout, we’re planning a conservative listing price of $1,000,000. Here is how the numbers break down:

This is going to be a great project and I’m excited to get started. Once I have the floor plans, I’ll post those as well but this will be a high quality, high end home.