I currently live in the SF Bay area, and am renting as I cannot afford a $1.5m+ house. As both rents and mortgages are astronomically expensive, I'm looking at alternatives.
One is buying land. In the peninsula, there are many plots of land available for several $100k, or even less. In particular, there is a lot of land around boulder creek/ Scotts valley for very cheap. It might be a bit more of a rural lifestyle, and add an extra 10mins to my commute, but that's more than worth the savings, to me.
Assuming that I do my DD and the lot is indeed buildable, I'm wondering what's the catch?
Hey Tyler, the catch with buying land in the Bay Area with the intention of building a home on it is time. It may take as long as two years depending on the approval process with the city and construction to build a single family home in the Bay Area. Also cost of materials has risen drastically over the last 6 months so it may not make sense when you include that factor. Typically in the Bay Area it costs about $350-$500 a square foot to build from the ground up depending on materials and finishings.