Anderson Homes, LLC

A homeowner can build their own home or act as their own general contractor, but is that a good idea?  Will you save money and get a quality home built the way you want it built?  Why can’t a homeowner simply find out who the best subcontractors are and hire them to do the job?

Playing golf looks pretty easy.  Why can’t a beginner just beat Tiger Woods?  Michael Jordan may be the best basketball player in history, but why can’t anyone tall and athletic go one-on-one with Michael?

What’s so hard about building a house?  It’s not exactly an athletic event.  The answer is much longer than we have space here.  I want to touch on three significant reasons to hire a GOOD general contractor.

Many retirees have been planning their dream home for years, and have looked at hundreds of house plans, options, materials, and compared costs.  You can purchase a nice floor plan, or you can hire an architect to design a beautiful home.  I’ve worked with both architects and builders, and here are some thoughts worth considering.

1.  The first issue is cost.  A good general contractor who builds quality custom homes brings a wealth of experience to the table in design and the selection of materials.  He can look at a floor plan and suggest ways to make the refinements you want for your perfect home, and he can also help you select materials that might be much less expensive than your first choice while achieving the desired quality result.  This is important, because architects are not typically tuned into the cost of materials as builders are who do this work every day.  An architect is focused on his design, and he understandably has a lot of pride in his work, but he is not necessarily designing with the goal of saving you every dollar he can on materials or the design itself.

2.  The second issue is quality.  A good general contractor maintains quality control during the entire construction phase of your home, and that includes quality control over the materials used and the quality of work of the subcontractors and their employees.  Without a lifetime of experience doing just that, you would be well advised not to attempt to be your own project supervisor.  Without a trained eye, you won’t know what to watch for.  One other thought on this issue.  Some assume that the county or city building department will be supervising to watch for code compliance and quality, but that is definitely not their job, and they won’t do it.  Code compliance is important, but they have checklists on the code and the quality or lack thereof of the construction or the materials is not within their authority or interest.

3.  The third issue is honesty and fairness.  A general contractor who has built many homes will have a discount contract with the lumber company and other suppliers, and an honest builder will tell you about these discounts and even pass them on to you.  These discounts can amount to 10% or 15% off retail you will pay directly if you act as your own general.  I should add here that if you do act as you own general and hire subcontractors, there are subs who will take advantage of you, and you will pay much more to that sub or subs than your general contractor would have paid.

There is one builder I highly recommend in Sequim and Port Angeles.  He has built homes here since 1981, has an incredible customer satisfaction rate (the highest), does get volume discounts, and knows how to pass savings on to you and keep design costs down.  His name is Rick Anderson and he does have a website at Anderson Homes, LLC.

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Planning your Sequim or Port Angeles home to be energy efficient gives you an opportunity to consider many ways to be efficient.   This video touches on a few ways to be energy efficient, or as some like to say, “green.”

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If you have come to the conclusion, like many other buyers in the Sequim and Port Angeles areas, that the perfect home does not exist in the current inventory of homes for sale, and you have decided to shop for a good quality home builder, this is a time to be very careful.

Many builders around the country have been struggling to survive.   This isn’t front page news, but it does have serious implications for you.   The first obvious implication that is playing itself out is that some builders are determined to provide the lowest bid, even if it means they might only work for minimum wage or less, and even if it means they might bid too low to finish your home.

The old maxim that, “Buyers hire the builder who provides the lowest bid” has gone to entirely new levels with this recession.   Now there are builders who work out of the back of a pick-up truck and do all the work themselves without subcontractors in order to come up with a bid that is so low, no established or credible custom home builder can compete.

This is a potential disaster for the home owner.   There are so many things that can go wrong, and do.   Cutting bids so low means compromise.   Remember the saying from your economics 101 class?   “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”   Many builders are striving to survive, and if you don’t do your due diligence in selecting a good one, you may end up paying much more than you planned.

I strongly recommend that you go with an established custom home builder with a high customer satisfaction rate, and one who is financially strong and has been around for many years.   Don’t be fooled by a lower bid, if you have not given a strong builder the opportunity to compare his bid, apples to apples.

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Mortgage rates are starting to climb as predicted here and by many experts around the country.   Two weeks ago a client of mine obtained a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 4.5%, but during the one week of negotiation on the property, his points increased by $1,500 to keep the interest rate locked in at 4.5%.

But this week the interest rate is already starting a steady long climb (4.91% today), which is to say, “If you intend to build your home and get a loan, you really cannot afford to wait for months.”   If you wait too long, your monthly payments will be hundreds of dollars more, and over 30 years, that can amount to a large sum of money.

Call us to get started on your house and building plans.   We’ll be glad to help with all the details.

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Sequim custom home builders–how many are there, and are they all the same?   There are many, including some one-man shows, but they are most certainly not building the same quality of homes.   Here’s what is interesting.   The average couple that walks through two homes, one that is a high quality custom home and the other a mediocre custom home, will have a predictable response. Approximately 85% of good people who walk through both homes will not be able to differentiate the quality.   They will walk through both homes and say in each of the homes the same thing, “This is nice.   Very nice.”   I learned it takes a trained eye to recognize the differences, but one you see the differences, they are glaring.

Why do I say this?   Because in 30 years in the real estate business this is what I have observed.   And as a real estate attorney for 20 years, I saw many clients who came to see me about the same problems with their builder.   I write articles like this to help good people avoid the nightmare of having to hire attorneys and spend money and live with high stress for one to two years.   Building a home should be an exciting experience with a happy ending, but for most it is not.   Ask 100 people who had their homes built by a builder, and you will find out this is true.

By the way, every builder has at least one happy client, but one should not extrapolate from one or a few happy clients that a builder is the best or the one you should hire.   There is so much more to the story of finding the right builder.

I have a passion to help people make good decisions and avoid nightmare scenarios, and part of that is to help people realize there is a gigantic difference between home builders.   Many people are aware of this generally, but then they don’t know how to select a builder and they pick the wrong one.   By the time they realize that, it is far too late to get off the bucking bronco.

I heard a man who works at a bank say recently that “such and such a builder” is well known as being the top premier builder in the area.   I didn’t correct him, but as a local attorney and Realtor I knew of many clients who had hired that builder and now say things like one did last week, “I would not have [such and such a builder] build me a dog house.”   That woman should know, because she hired that builder and she really regretted it.

There is a trail of devastation behind a number of builders, but there is one builder I know of who has no history of dissatisfied customers.   In fact, this builder has a higher percentage of absolutely ecstatic clients than any other builder in all of Clallam County.   Period.   There’s no builder who comes close in customer satisfaction.   None.   I’m a Realtor now, but for years I saw unhappy clients from other builders, but never from this one builder.

Who is the one builder who builds the highest quality homes in Sequim and Port Angeles and who has a higher percentage of truly happy customers than any other builder?   I guarantee it is Rick Anderson of Anderson Homes, LLC.   He’s been a home builder here since 1981 with over 400 homes under his belt.   The man is honest, has integrity, and will not compromise quality.   But what really surprises clients is how much they enjoy the process with Rick from the beginning of the planning all the way to completion and the walk-through.

Do not be fooled by slick words, a good looking smile, or promises of the lowest price per square foot.   Don’t be fooled by advertising or claims of awards.   I recommend you actually sit down with me and discuss your plans and how you want to work with a builder.   You will get absolute honesty and good information to help you make wise decisions.   Call me at 360-775-5424.   No charge.   No obligation.   You benefit from the additional information.   What’s the downside?   There isn’t one, but there is a downside if you chose the wrong builder.   I guarantee that.

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Port Angeles City Lot For Sale
East 9th St. Near the Corner of Chase & 9th, Ready for a 3 Bedroom Home
Price:   $69,900
[To make an offer on this lot, call Chuck Marunde at 360-775-5424]

You won’t find many lots like this in the City of Port Angeles.   If you want to be in a peaceful neighborhood and at the same time in the epicenter of city shopping and facilities, you should drive by this lot now.

This lot is approximately 140 feet by 50 feet (precisely 49.98′ on 9th Street and 139.92′ deep), and as you can see from the site plan below (already done for you), there is plenty of room for a 3 bedroom home with 1,545 square feet and a garage with 475 square feet.

You are about midway between a modern Safeway and an Albertson’s that is getting remodeled right now.   You’re a short distance to elementary, middle, and high schools, a short drive to the city swimming pool, the senior citizen’s center, and a pet store.   Of course, Port Angeles has a gourmet coffee shop nearby with free Internet wireless, and if you like to go hiking, you’re about a 15 minute drive to the entrance to the Olympic National Park.   Want to take a walk on the dock along the waterfront downtown?   That would be about a five minute drive or a five minute bicycle ride.   Even the Hospital is less than two miles away.

At $69,900 you’re not likely to find a great city lot like this at a better price.

Much further from this central location, you can find lots for sale, but the prices are much higher.   For example, a search of the local MLS will reveal prices ranging from $83,500 to $99,900 to $215,000 and up.

From 9th Street, you can see this lot sits between two nice older homes. The neighborhood is attractive, and you’ll be proud to build your home here.

If you’re wondering, you don’t have to park on the curb.   There is an approved access easement on the back side of the lot entering through the alley easement.

This lot had more planning for a home site than normal, because the owner, a developer and builder in Port Angeles and Sequim, had detailed site plans drawn up, and those plans are available for your viewing.   We have scanned in some of the site plan, so you could get an idea of what you can build and where you could built it on this lot.

Here is part of the site plan and house plan that was prepared earlier:

What Can You Build on This Lot?   You could build this:

View the Plat here (lot 17)

View the Site Plan here for the house that was designed as a spec home

View the Floor Plan here

View the Front and Rear view of the house as planned

View the East side of the house as planned and View the West side of the house as planned

Lot 17 is the second lot west of Chase Street on the Northern side of East 9th Street.   Since there is no home yet built, a street address has not yet been issued.

Call Chuck Marunde at 360-775-5424

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Are you buying Sequim real estate, an existing home or a vacant lot? If you are searching for the ideal property, I recommend being careful about the neighborhood, and I’m talking about junk freaks. They live in every city and town in America. They’re typically nice people: they just happen to be junk freaks.

The problem isn’t the junk freak–it’s what he does to his property that will adversely effect your property. Who wants a disaster of a junk yard next store or even down the street. Many buyers have told me as we drove around looking at homes that they would not consider a particular listing because there was a grotesque junk yard nearby.

Driving around the block is important, but drive a larger radius and see just what is out there. You may not have to look over or through the fence at broken down cars, rusty barrels, and refrigerators from the 1960’s, but if you ever plan to sell your home (or your children do), consider that buyers either won’t buy a home near a disaster zone, or they will pay a lot less.

Even when you do buy a lot or home in an attractive area, does the neighborhood have CC&R’s (covenants) that prohibit junk yards and pig farms?

If you are moving to Sequim or Port Angeles from California or Arizona, I recommend that you do what many of my clients do before they arrive here. Email with me while you gather information to make a wise decision, search the MLS on my website, ask me about particular listings, the neighborhood, schools, recreation, and covenants. By the time you get here, you and I will already have a sweet list of good prospects, and you’ll feel like you have a good feel for the area.

Right now is the best buyer’s market for lots we’ve seen in this area for decades, and there hasn’t been a better time to build your own home with your own floor plan.   Interest rates will be rising soon, and so will building costs.

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Retirees moving to Sequim from southern California and Arizona are finding out that the “perfect home” is not necessarily an existing home listed for sale.   Sure there are many homes for sale, but it’s amazing how many of these homes are just not exactly what buyers are looking for.

Sometimes the kitchen is perfect, but the floor plan of the rest of the house is not.   Sometimes the garage or “man cave” is perfect, but there’s no den or sewing room.   The house might be amazing, but the location of the lot and the placement of the house on the site is all wrong.   The water view from the lot might be great, and the house plan might be great, but the workmanship leaves something to be desired.   At $250 per square foot for a custom home that is not quite right, no thank you.

What can a buyer do?   Buy the ideal lot in the right location with a great site location for the house, and have the house built by a custom home builder who does the highest quality work.   Now you have the perfect home, and it is not someone else’s idea of a dream home–it is your dream home.

This is what Rick Anderson does.   Email for more information or call 360-452-4641.

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A couple move to the Sequim area from California and plan to build their retirement home.   They’re excited about it, but it proves to be stressful just finding the right architect and the right builder.   How do they select their builder?   (Be careful of architects who try to lock you into “their” builder.   That’s another story for another time.)

They meet with three builders and get bids from all three.   The first builder they go to is Rick Anderson of Anderson Homes, LLC.   Rick has built over 400 homes here since 1981, and has a solid reputation for honesty and the highest quality of homes, but he also has extremely competitive rates when you compare apples with apples.   Rick plays no games and doesn’t boast.   He shows them exactly what he will do for them and gives them the honest-to-God truth about the true cost per square foot, and he is willing to guarantee that price in a written contract.

The second builder they go to looks at Rick Anderson’s bid, because the owners share that information with him.   He says, “Oh yea, I can beat that bid.”   Of course he can.   Shave here, shave there.   Use lesser material, don’t install this or that, cut this out.   That was easy.   But the nice clients don’t realize how this works, and they think, “Oh, good he beat Rick’s price.   Rick must have given us a high bid.”   (Not true.)

The third builder they go to looks at Rick Anderson’s bid and at the second bid.   He says, “Oh yea, I can beat both those bids.”   Of course, he can.   He just takes the second bid with those lesser specifications, and since he works out of the back of his pickup truck and plans to do ALL the work himself at what will work out to minimum wage, his bid is lower than the cost of the other two builders.

They select the builder who gave them the lowest bid.   He seems like a nice guy.

So what happens?   Let’s play this out with two possibilities.   First, what could happen if they choose the lowest bidder?   Well, he may not be able to finish the house as a one-man show who is struggling financially to survive and cutting every possible corner to get the cheapest materials.   He may not have the experience of a more experienced and financially stable builder, so this is also the kind of scenario you may have read about where the house only gets partially built and the builder bails.   Can you say, “nightmare scenario.”   That was the lowest bidder.   Do you really want to the lowest bidder?   I know.   Seemed good at the time.   How much stress would you like to add to your life when a different decision could have saved you a lot of money, stress, and time?

So what happens if you are wise enough to avoid the one-man lowest bidder?   You hire the middle bidder.   Okay.   Here’s how that plays out many many times. When the house is completed, three months past its completion date, you calculate that you have paid more than the original guaranteed bid that Rick Anderson gave you.   There were extras, change orders, and surprises during the entire construction process, starting with the excavation and concrete and all the way through to the end.   You’re tired of fighting with the builder.   You feel like he has misrepresented the construction process and costs from the get go, but once you had signed the contract and work began, you felt you were in too deep to go back.

You talk to your neighbors who had their house built by Rick Anderson.   You ask them how it went, and they start smiling and chatting enthusiastically about how much they love their home, about how enjoyable it was working with Rick, and how their home was finished on time and at the original guaratneed contract price.   You look at the quality of their home inside, and you can’t help comparing the trim and the cabinets and the flooring, and the doors and hardware to your own home.   You end up saying what a lot of people say, but they hate to admit it.   “We should have hired Rick Anderson.”

I kid you not.   This is an honest and real scenario.   This happens all the time.   This is not sales hype or exaggeration.   I’ve written this bold honest article to try to break through to good people moving here from California and Arizona who make the two mistakes above.   Do you know the biggest mistake these folks made?   They never brought those two lower bids back to Rick Anderson to have him do a honest apples verses apples comparison.   He would have been absolutely honest about the comparison, and he never pressures anyone to sign a contract.   Anyone who wants to make fully informed and wise decisions about building their retirement home ought to do a true comparison.   They could have and should have brought those bids back for another meeting with Rick Anderson.   Then they could have made intelligent and fully informed decisions.   Now they know that.   Now you know this.

So, what are you going to do?

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Click on Image to Enlarge

In the early 1960’s a loaf of bread was 35 cents, a dozen eggs 50 cents, a gallon of milk 75 cents, and a postage stamp was only 5 cents. A 30 year fixed rate mortgage was in the 5% range. Today that same mortgage interest rate is 4.78%, the lowest it has been in 50 years.

No wonder there is a spurt of buyer activity in California,   Nevada, and from Bellingham to Port Angeles.   It has become apparent to even the average person that now is the time to pull the trigger and buy a house or have one built.

There’s a unique convergence of circumstances right now that makes this an extraordinary buyer’s market.

First, interest are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years.   Does anyone think for a second that interest rates are going any lower?   No, but they will go back up.

Second, real estate prices are dragging rock bottom and have been for a while.   Many homes have been selling for less than the mortgage balance. It is just not likely there is much room, if any, for real estate prices to go lower, especially with buyers stepping back into the market so suddenly.

Third, the inventory of homes for sale is the best it has been in my three decades in the business, although I do think buyers are cherry picking the best homes on the market.

In a market where you had one or two of these circumstances, you would have a buyer’s market.   Now we have all three, which I call an extraordinary buyer’s market.   Soon this opportunity will be gone. There is no doubt about this.

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