Now more than ever, there are more people building their own dream home all around the country! You can drive through inner city America in most cities and experience the rapid redevelopment of the inner city with dense townhome construction and McMansions. (McMansions are semi-custom homes from 3,500 to 5,000 sq. ft)

Likewise you can take an evening drive to the outskirts of town and see more McMansions and estate homes being built on acreage and waterfront home sites. Many of these homes are being built by families fed up with the low quality inefficient tract homes and are opting for a more custom and personal approach to the homebuilding process.

Most people consider the merits and even dream of building their own home but never really grasp the true financial benefits and the reality of being able to design and build their Dream Home! The allure of being able to build the home of your dreams with your favorite amenities is quite a temptation to resist however most get equally (if not more) excited by the tremendous savings that can be realized!

Building your Dream Home for less has nothing to do with cutting corners or building a home that lacks quality and first class workmanship. In fact, you will find that most Owner Built homes are superior in quality and design to many tract homes and overall provide a better quality of life for their owners.

There are several pieces to the custom dream home puzzle however, I have found that there are (3) primary strategies to employ to help you build your Dream Home for less!

#1 - Secure favorable terms from a local Construction Loan Expert first! - Working with a lender who is well versed in the various construction loan programs available will go great lengths in helping to save you thousands of dollars when constructing your dream home. In most cases, your Construction Loan Expert will be able to provide you with referrals of reputable builders, real estate agents and architects as well as contractors who work with owner builders. And because you have the money in advance of securing any of the other respective members of your Custom Dream Home "Dream Team" it gives you an unfair advantage in negotiations, not to mention the added savings of providing you with the best loan terms available.

#2 - Eliminate the retail builder "markup" by managing certain aspects of the building process! - Most people think the largest cost savings are realized via sweat equity, however the time you spend planning and managing the process has proven to be 3 times more profitable than sweat equity! The best way to eliminate the retail builder mark-up is to hire an independent builder or general contractor to handle the day to day operations and management of your construction site. Generally you will be paying this construction professional based on the scope of the overall project or on a per square footage basis. People who build in this manner generally realize savings of 22-30% or more on the total construction costs of their Custom Dream Home.

#3 - Build your Custom Home in a relatively new, growing community with strong demographics! - We have all heard that location, location, location is the key to success in real estate. Location is especially important when constructing your Custom Dream Home. It is important that you really study the building and development trends as well as the demographics of the areas that interest you before making the final decision. I have seen cases where a $400k home increased in value to $750k in a 5 year period while a comparable home in a comparable community in that same time period only appreciated $75k. So as you can see location is truly key and it could have a drastic impact on your overall net worth.

I have found that upper middle class suburban communities and urban inner city areas tend to outperform over time so start your search there.

Using these tips as a guiding point, you should be well on your way to planning and eventually building your Custom Dream Home for Less! I trust that you find this article informative and helpful and I wish you the best with your Custom Dream Home project!