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Buying A Tract Home
With soldiers returning from the war and moving to the cities to fuel the need for manufacturing employees, builders began using mass production techniques in order to quickly build enough homes for this phenomenal growth in urban housing. Tract Homes utilized the new mass production philosophy that maximized economies of scale. It was faster to build 40 homes using the same material and same floor plan than it was to build a custom home. Tract homes are still popular today and can be one of the new home buyers best values in the housing market. While tract homes offer a unique appeal in price and value, many tract home neighborhoods provide a cookie cutter appearance. Exterior siding choices may be similar and limited, the number of house plans may be limited, but they may offer different frontal elevations to make the homes appear different. However, many buyers like the orderly structure of a tract home neighborhood. Like condominiums, the consistency protects your investment and housing value. Also, many tract home neighborhoods are built quickly, so the amount of construction traffic, dirt, noise, mud, and inconvenience will be more short-lived than in a custom-built neighborhood that could take years to complete the construction. Tract homes may offer fewer structural issues than custom built homes, since the design is tested and true. There are numerous advantages to buying a tract home in an neighborhood where other tract homes exists. Taxes- Most municipalities base tax rates on existing home sales in the area. Generally, the rule of thumb is you want the least expensive house in the area so your property value increases. However, if the home next to your $100,000 home sells for $1,000,000, the tax man will come calling with a reassessment of your property (value) taxes. Many politicians say they won't raise tax rates- and they don't. However, the clever game is to reappraise (increase) property values, so each tax payer pays more taxes on the property they own without raining tax rates. In buying a tract home, all houses in your neighbor hood are worth, roughly, the same value. Tract home developments which utilize a like, kind, and quality approach are a hedge against higher taxes. Infrastructure Costs - In most cases, the developer of tract homes covers the cost of sidewalks, sewer lines, phones lines, water lines, neighborhood lighting and such. Whereas, custom homes may impose a fee on the home buyer to carry the burden of these costs. Proximity to work - Most tract home builders pay particular attention to the work commute and transportation. While most tract home developments are now built in suburban areas, the average commute time can add to the cost to the home owner. The closer to areas of work the higher the cost of housing, which is one reason why tract homes have become so attractive. Most tract developments can be found on the innermost edge of the suburban landscape and usually have access to good schools. In some metropolitan areas, tract homes are found on the exterior edge of the green zone where development has been halted to slow urban sprawl. Shopping - The entire shopping landscape has been under constant metamorphosis for the past 40 years. In the 1950's, Sears was the largest retailer in the world and they operated a catalog business. During the 1960's, Sears began to concentrate on its downtown retail stores. 10 years later, retail began to move to the suburbs with the development of large malls. During the 1980's the rise and fall of K-mart began to take place and Wal-Mart began to open hundreds of small stores to target shoppers who did not live close to mall shopping districts. In the 1990's-2000, Sears went bankrupt, was bought by K-mart who went bankrupt, and Wal-Mart began to open hundreds of Superstores. By 2015, Wal-Mart -the world's largest retailer will be gone and online purchases will replace the majority of commercial retail space in the US with distribution or pick-up points. In essence, we will have come full circle from the "#$Wells Fargo wagon coming up the street#$" (or the Sears catalog) back to shopping by mail-order (online). Choosing a home based on current shopping may be a short-lived proposition.
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Helton Genealogical DNA Project - Hilton Family Tree - http://hiltonfamilytree.com
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