Is There a Plus Side to the Downturn?
It may not be the best time to be selling a house in much of the country. But increasingly, it’s a good time to build or renovate one.
The housing slump has pushed down prices on everything from lumber and drywall to labor and design fees. Legions of carpenters, tile layers and landscapers are sitting around with nothing to do. Architects are taking on small renovation projects they once would have scoffed at, and contractors are offering their services at a discount. Some people in the building trades are even posting fliers at construction sites to drum up business.
It’s a striking contrast from the heady days of the real-estate boom, when builders and contractors could hardly keep pace with demand, prices of materials soared and a six-month wait to start a kitchen renovation was commonplace.
Not all parts of the country have been affected equally. Builders in some areas where the job and housing markets have remained firm, report business as usual. And many architects who specialize in high-end homes say they are as busy as ever.
But the picture is much different in other areas. The same is true when it comes to which area has been hard hit by foreclosures and subprime-mortgage defaults. In some areas, builders, contractors and landscapers say they’re watching their backlog of work shrink to a few weeks from months, as new projects dry up.
As we’ve reported several times before… you need to do your homework. Talk to us about the state of the market in our area before you decide to buy or sell. All areas are NOT the same, and you need to be educated on just where things stand in your market to decide if buying now or renovating what you have is the smartest move at this time.