[quote=bearishgurl]To do it you will need to come up with a lot with a teardown on it (to have utils at the ready and avoid the “new construction premium” of $27K to $35K), the total of the bureaucrats’ “nickel and diming which amounts to the “ultimate white paper fee.” Your lender will most likely want you to put down 30-50% on the teardown lot because the dwelling on it may or may not be immediately habitable. Just the acquisition of the lot may take all the $$ you were going to use for a downpayment on a resale house.[/quote]
This is where I have gotten stuck so far. When looking all across San Diego, the only places with low-priced teardowns are neighborhoods that would not support a full rebuild. If you try to get a teardown in some place like Del Mar or North Poway or Scripps, you end up getting a completely decrepit house for 10% off what a completely remodeled “move-in ready” home goes for.
Case in point, this Del Mar home is an absolute gut job (been in it twice):
So, < $150k difference, which doesn't even cover the architect/permit fees.
If you're aware of a nice area with reasonable teardowns, I'm all ears. The only place I've remotely found is Green Valley in Poway, and even then it's more expensive than building from scratch (even with the "fresh build premium").
