Branson New Home Construction: No building code, No Problem?

As a Realtor who sells Branson  new home construction, I always do a double take when I see a new house going up.  Sometimes I’ll even stop and look around.  I work primarily inTaney County,MO which has no building codes

.  They do have a Certificate of Conformity Permit, which is little more than an inspection to make sure the home is habitable, but outside of that, no one is checking to see if  the builder has gone about the systems or the structure properly.

Once I showed a (supposedly) completed branson new home to some prospective clients and I’m not joking, it looked like a large monster had scared off the subcontractors.  There were tools and lunch trash laying everywhere in the yard, the front door was left wide open and there were footsteps embedded in the concrete floor of the garage.

Further inspection revealed that there had been no box or ridge venting to the roof, and the drain for the main level laundry drained right onto the floor of the basement.  It had not been connected at all to the plumbing system.  Imaging, doing a load of laundry after you move in and you are in the basement working on a nice scrapbooking project. The next thing you know,  a soapy shower is raining down on you’re your many pages of grandmas 80^th’ birthday party from last spring…ruined, and darn it, now those die cut wood trees that you put down with dazzle tac glue are warped and just won’t stick anymore.

Just yesterday I saw a small 1400 sq ft home going up in a nearby neighborhood and they had all the forms up for the concrete slab.  There was no footing.  Now, I’m not a builder or an expert by any means, but that seemed like a cut corner to me.

I took a builder, from a development I had listed, out to look at the property and said, “Is this right?”  He gave me the thumbs down  but I still wasn’t satisfied. I had to know why.  Further research revealed that a Slab on Grade foundation is ok for areas where the ground doesn’t freeze, but here inMissouri, it does and therefore a T-Shaped footing is recommended to prevent frost heave.  Wow…seems like the corner wasn’t cut, it was totally hacked off.  All homes are built by humans and will have mistakes, or what builder like to call “character” but if this home is starting out this way, it’s going end up being Jim Carey by the time the roof goes on.

 

Branson new home construction at Branson Canyon

The builder I took over there cut his teeth on the strict and rigid building codes of Kansas City so he is was used to doing things a certain way, even though it is not required.  That’s the kind of gusto you want from your builder. Conversations about building codes or at least what your builder is used to…is a MUST, especially if you are building a home in Branson or Taney County, Missouri.

Contributed by:

Jeramie Worley, GRI

Broker /  Associate

The Community Real Estate Group, LLC

140 Canyon Crossing,Hollister,MO65672

417 336 4200

Author = Worley and Associates

Win-Win at Branson Canyon – Real Estate Market Update

Who says the Branson Real Estate Market is bad?  In the Tri-Lakes Area, the inventory (available homes for sale) in the market is down about 11 % from this time last year and the number of transaction are up about 7%.  Smells like good news to me.  The inventory is being absorbed and  more people are buying this year than last year.

 What are they buying?  There is a bunch of small stuff being picked up but what about homes in the $250 – $350 range?

 Branson Canyon sold 4 homes in August and It’s all because we are doing out best to meet the market head on instead of casting a net wide and hoping we snag something. 

 We listen to you! Our owners and our visitors are very important to us and one of the things that people were saying was a challenge when they bought a second home or a vacation rental is…”now we have to furnish it.”

 While some good shoppers have reported being able to furnish their home for $12,000 most people say it takes about $20,000 to do it right.  I’ve heard one owner say that he bought the furniture on a credit card and his payment is about $350 a month.  Then, he said he gets $350 per night to rent out the home… so he has his renters paying off the furniture while he takes the depreciation deduction on his taxes. I found that pretty interesting as it’s a great example of letting OPM (Other Peoples Money) work for him.

 If you are not lucky enough to snag a RARE furnished resale atBransonCanyon(like this stunning 2Br/2Bath) then you could have relied on great promo that was offered by the Developer, which helped some new owners meet the needs of buying investment property in Branson.  They have extended the promo to the inventory homes only and it will not be offered on new construction any more this year.

 So What’s the deal?

 If you submit a full price offer on an inventory home that closes in 45 days or less the Developer will give you $10,000 in the form of a furniture credit after closing to be paid to Nebraska Furniture Mart on your behalf.  Not a bad way to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 Contact me and I’ll show you how you can join our community of people who have a retreat in the Ozarks and rent it out in our rental program when they are not using it.  It’s a win-win for everyone.