Jacksonville New Homes Tract Homes By: Alan Aptheker
The next blog in our New Construction series will illustrate one of the three different types of new home construction available: A “Tract” home.
Tract Home: “A dwelling that has a similar style and floor plan to those of all other houses in a development. Example: Shady Acres is a subdivision of tract houses. Each home is a 3-bedroom ranch-style house with the same basic floor plan.
Tract housing can usually be delivered to the market at a much lower cost per square foot. Volume building makes it possible for the builder to purchase materials and contract for labor at a much lower rate than conventional home building methods. The reason is simple; the floor plans are one of a few popular plans the builder offers for sale. They might be reversed or include different option packages, but they are essentially the same houses built over and over, sometimes hundreds of times. Bottom line: The price is often the best selling point in tract housing
PROS: As we said, the lower price is the obvious leader in this category. The floor plan is likely to be appealing to a mass market. There is usually little doubt about what type of house will be built next door, and the subdivision will probably build out quickly.
CONS: These homes are built with price-point as a major consideration, so the quality versus investment should always be given high priority. Elements like cabinets, hardware and appliances are the more obvious areas where money may have been saved, often at the expense of quality. Other areas might include framing components, paint grades, shingle weight, and carpet grade to mention a few. These components are not obvious to the typical buyer, especially someone not familiar with construction methods and materials.
Tract homes meet the needs a lot of buyers, especially first time homebuyers. They may be comparatively inexpensive and, while not always well suited for a short-term investment, the longer the buyer plans on living in the home the better this choice might be.
