Pseudonyme <norman_cougloff[at]2cuk.co.uk> wrote:


- quote -

Just looking at it, this house is about 40 years old, it looks like it's going
strong.

- quote -

A lot of Europeans like to sneer at US residential construction techniques.
That's fine. Have fun. The fact of the matter is that wood construction is far
cheaper and, if you keep the structure dry (intact roof, paint on exposed wood),
can last indefinitely.

In the US, the life of a house tends to be limited by it's economic life, not
it's physical structure. In many US neighborhoods (including mine,
unfortunately), they are tearing down perfectly good houses to build far larger
houses (Mc Mansions) because that is what people are buying.

If want to spend $350/sq. ft. for a house it will be a very long time before you
recover your investment. Solid masonry construction is just not worth that much
to the US market.

-- Doug

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Pseudonyme wrote:

- quote -

You can reject it all you want, but there are realities. Here in St.
Louis, MO, the median home price is $169,900. No one is going to
contract a new 2000 SF house that would cost $700K to build. It
wouldn't make any sense.

Here is a St. Louis area builder's project:

<http://www.taylormorley.com/communities/Models.aspx
2000 SF houses there have a base price of about $240K. And that is with
land.



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

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There is a problem regarding the Price of construction in USD per
Square Foot.

In Italy, the Price of construction is USD 350/SF (or EUR 2.300/Square
Meter).

Some persons in the group are declaring that the Price of construction
is +/- USD 150/SF in many US counties.

There is an important consideration : Houses are not Commodities.

Many constructions in the U.S. are limited-time life constructions (eg
40 years). Houses paid USD 150/SF like that one :
http://www.miamiluxurywaterfront.com...wCompact=False

tend to have a EUR 0 on the long run.


BUT, buildings paid USD 350/SF built in old traditional fashion like
that one :
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bi..._cr1023_b.html

tend to have an growing value on the long run.

I reject a USD 150/SF as a standard price for a traditional
construction cost.

Many thanks for your comments and replies.

cougloff
misc.invest.financial-plan
http://groups.google.fr/group/misc.i...lan/post?hl=fr

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