Need the real deal on the true Babcock Ranch cost and how much it really costs to move into the first solar-powered town in the United States?
But first, are you a chump?
Do you rely on big box websites like Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin that lowball the true cost of the Babcock Ranch community by only listing the base price and not divulging lot prices, variable new construction options for each builder and model as well as other fees like utilities, HOA, CDC etc.?
Get “the complete truth” on new homes in Babcock Ranch from the Team John Garuti principal whose group is the only one to have sold over 100 new construction homes in the red-hot, spanking new community in Southwest Florida.
Some video highlights:
- Learn why working with a knowledgeable realtor will help you find the home that best suits your needs, budget and timeline. Learn how a group like Team John Garuti can prevent you from getting hogtied with a home that looks like it meets your budget at $423k only to get sticker shock when the true cost is closer to $480k.
- Did you know that the price of a home can vary depending on the builder and the neighborhood? Even if you’re considering the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the price of similar models from different builders may differ drastically.
- Learn how to maximize optionality and why you shouldn’t fall in love with the first builder you kiss.
- Did you know that there are several different neighborhoods in Babcock Ranch, each with varying HOA fees? One neighborhood may only include internet and amenities, while another may also include lawn care. Additionally, some neighborhoods have hidden fees that are not included in the initial cost breakdown. Don’t read the developer’s website and get muddled.
- Find out how long it takes to build a home from the ground up and how to shorten this period by buying what’s called an inventory home.
Watch the video above to get the real picture of how much it costs to move to The Ranch.
If you have questions, hit us up!
- Let’s talk Babcock.
- Let’s tour Babcock.
- Ask questions in our free Moving to Babcock Ranch Facebook Group.
- Call/text Team John Garuti at (941) 216-6494.
Video Transcript
Let me guess. You just heard about Babcock Ranch. Maybe you saw us on 60 Minutes, or maybe you read about us in one of the national news publications. Either way, you’re probably now searching online to understand what the costs are of new construction homes here in The ranch. And I know exactly what you did. You went to Zillow, you went to realtor.com, and you saw all these great prices for our new construction homes here.
And yes, while the prices are really good in Babcock Ranch comparatively to other areas in Southwest Florida, the prices that you are seeing online are not the complete picture. And after talking to many homeowners interested in buying in Babcock Ranch, I wanted to give future home buyers a true perspective. What do new construction homes cost? What does it cost to live here? What are the taxes? What is the CDD fee?
How much are the HOAs in this video? I’m going to break down the real cost of buying and living in Babcock Ranch, so make sure you watch this to the very end as I’m going to be giving you the complete truth. Welcome back to the channel and if you’re new.
Welcome to my channel. My name is John Garuti. I’m with EXP Realty. I’m the only realtor that has sold over 100 new construction homes in Babcock Ranch. I live here. This is my stomping ground and I want to make life easy for you. So you’ve probably already started investigating what are the new construction prices? What are the actual full prices? And let me tell you something, it’s not easy to discern this information just by searching online.
You truly do need somebody on the inside that has relationships with the builders, that knows what’s going on, that knows many homeowners who can gather this information. So before you start reaching out to builders and before you start going on other websites, let me make your life very simple.
I’ve got a great team here and we’re ready to service and help you on your home ownership journey, but please pick up the phone, give us a call at 941-216-6494. You can shoot me an email, John at SW Florida realestate.com anytime, or if you want to get really into the nitty gritty, head over to talkbabcockranch.com and book a video conference. You’ll meet with either me or one of my team members and we will get you on the right path.
To understand how much it’s going to cost for you to buy and live here in Babcock Ranch. But without further ado, let’s really get into this about what does it truly cost to buy a home here in Babcock Ranch? All right, so here’s where people go wrong, okay. They hear about Babcock Ranch and they’re like, I want to check out this place, I want to live here and this is what you find when you go to Zillow. So for example.
This house right here, $380,000 plus, people are like, wow, I can get a 2 Bed 2 bath for that price. Yes. Sorry, no, you can’t. Actually, this is just the base price. That number that you’re seeing right there is the base price of the home. Now, I’ve got a great video on my playlist that really breaks down new construction costs, so I’m going to put it right up here. But.
This is what you’re seeing. And this is where people get really confused. And this is a big turn off for a lot of people when they come buying in here. And I know this because I’ve had this conversation with many buyers before. They’re going on big sites like Zillow and realtor.com and Redfin, and they’re seeing stuff like this. So right here, this home by Pulte 378, that’s the base price of the Summerwood model.
Which by the way, you can’t even build the Summerwood model anymore. It’s now called the Mystique and it’s in different neighborhoods. It’s not in Parkside. So the builders like the things they put on the MLS are only like a reflection of maybe what they have and and I’ll get into this more, right. But let’s go down here. The Foxtail plan by Lennar in Trails Edge. No, this price, this home is not $423,000.
It’s actually right now listed at I think $480,000. This plan right here, the Majestica, there’s not even any Majestica’s for sale. But when this was selling a few months ago, I think they just sold the last one like maybe a month or so ago. It sold for about $550,000. So when you go to these big websites to find prices in Babcock Ranch, you’re just getting fooled.
And I think what the builders do is they just put the base price of the home because obviously they cannot put every single home that they have for sale, right, because every home is going to be different. You’re going to have your base price of your home, you’re going to have your lock price and then the options can vary greatly by builder. So Lennar is a builder that’s cut and dry. They give you about two options, you know, two different choices of tile and you can extend the tile into.
The master bedrooms and the other bedrooms. Whereas Pulty is a semi-customizable builder so you can literally you. There’s about 550 options in a Pulty home. So the prices for Pulte from what you see from the base price to the finished price are like even more. You know, exaggerate, not exaggerated. But the difference is greater right? This summer would plan now which.
Can be sold as the mystique. I mean I just sold one recently for $550,000. So you would you like you’d never know if you’re coming in here researching cold that they’re like these are not the true prices. And that’s where working with somebody who has innate knowledge of the process and working with the builders and what’s really going on is going to make a world of difference. And you’re not going to start out like bewildered because people come in here.
And literally they think a home that’s worth like 423, maybe they can afford that home at 423,000. But when they come in and then learn it’s, Oh my gosh, it’s $480,000. Well, now that’s out of my budget. I don’t want that to happen to you. So that’s why it’s so important to work with the realtor that knows these builders and knows the true prices. Let’s move on to ongoing costs.
So two big ones you need to know about are the HOA fees and the CDD fee which is a part of your tax bill. So if you come right here to on babcockranchliving.com, this is our HO A’s website assessments and you click right here schedule of residential fees. Now this is going to be very tricky so listen up because again.
You coming in blind as a new homeowner, new home buyer, even this does not give the full picture of what HOA costs are. So what happened was when Babcock first started, Kitson and Partners managed the entire HOA. Kitson and Partners is the main developer of Babcock Ranch, so Lake Timber.
This is a neighborhood still managed by the main HOA, and you can see the monthly total there is 131 a month 135. Why? Because you’re only getting the Internet and the master fee, which includes your amenities. These people do not get lawn Care now moving forward, right? Lake Babcock, one of the original neighborhood still managed by the main HOA251-A month. You also get lawn care here.
Now here’s where it gets tricky. Some neighborhoods, like Babcock National, you see 01/31 a month to live on the golf course. Now, this document here does not include all the fees that go with living on the golf course, right? There’s a lot more amenities over there, plus there’s golf. So this is not the true picture when you go right here. So, for example, a coach home, the full HOA when you have a golf membership is $840 a month.
There’s $700.00 that’s missing here. And similarly, if you go to the golf course, sometimes they’ll tell you the coach home is $700.00 a month and they forget to include this fee. Okay. And here’s some other, like tricky stuff that you’d have no idea. You’d say why is Edgewater a Pulty neighborhood $334 a month, but Edgewater Shores also a Pulty neighborhood $131.00 a month? Well.
Edgewater Shores is managed by Pulte the HOA there. The true price of the HOA here is 460 or $490.00 a month. But you wouldn’t know that. I promise you the preserve by Dr. Horton, brand new villas on sale for 350 to 375. It’s not 131 a month, it’s $363 a month. So.
And you can see here like there is that star, right? When you see that star, you know, additional fees for landscaping services will be provided by the builder and or developer, right. So that’s why you see Crescent Grove, you know these new, newer neighborhoods, the builder is involved with the HOA. But again, working with the realtor in town that knows these things, we’re going to make your life much easier. You’re not going to be guessing okay.
Now the other fee that’s a big one is your CDD fee Okay. So if you click right here this is the community independent Special District ISD also referred to as a CDD. So now in here the prices are true. When you look at your tax bill, you’ve got your ad valorem taxes and your non ad valorem taxes, the CDD or I SD fee. This goes on your non ad valorem portion of your tax bill.
So I do have another video that really breaks down Babcock Ranch tax bills, so make sure to check that out. But I get into real detail about what’s the difference between ad valorem and non ad valorem. But these are your prices ladies and gentlemen and what differs in here is really just the size of your home. This number corresponds to the road frontage you have. So if you have an 80 foot wide home at the front, you’re going to be paying a 3376.
CDD fee ISD fee on your tax bill Okay and where it can get tricky is like when you look at big neighborhoods like Trails Edge as they built the neighborhood out you go from the first phase 2A. Look at the Manor Homes 62 foot wide lots Phase 2A they started at 1378 phase 2B1610 phase 2C2352.
Phase 2D2354. So you definitely need to understand when you’re looking at a neighborhood, how much is this going to add to my tax bill. The last cost I want to touch on in terms of ongoing costs are utilities, right? You have to factor this in. And really I can only give you my perspective from my experience living here for three years now, so.
The first home that I owned was a Palmetto by Lennar. A three bedroom, flex room, 3 bathroom, three car garage, 2400 square feet. Now I can tell you I averaged throughout the course of the year about $300.00 a month for utilities. So that included electric, which normally was about, you know, anywhere from about 80 to $120.00. It really all depended on like how much I was running air conditioning.
So in the summer months, of course that bill was higher because the A/C is on all day turning up your electric, so you’ve got your electric. My gas bill was always consistently about $40 a month. Now with gas that can go higher if you have a pool and you’re heating your pool up. So keep that in mind. This is for a non pool home.
Then lastly, water. Water, believe it or not, is the most expensive bill that we have here in Babcock. Now we use reclaimed water for irrigation, but we still do get charged for that. So my water bill, typically when I was not running irrigation in the summer months when it rains every day, I would typically get around 90 to $100.
For that bill, however, in the winter time when you have to run your irrigation if you do it responsibly, I was still able to keep my bill around $160.00. So overall I think $300.00 for like a good sized home per month is a good average. I mean some people pay more, some people pay less at all. Of course depends on the size of your home, how many people are inside in the home, but.
You know, we have very good energy efficient homes here, so no matter who you’re buying, you’re definitely going to get some savings because of the energy efficiency that comes with every Babcock Ranch home. So I hope the information I’ve shared so far has been very useful and eye opening. So let’s get into really how do we get to the true prices. Now it’s going to differ a little bit builder by builder, but here’s the easiest way if you decide to work with the realtor in town.
Number one, when I sit down with my clients, the first thing I want to understand is what’s your budget? What’s your size requirements? How many bedrooms, bathrooms do you need? Do you want a pool? Do you want a three car garage? All these things need to be discussed, right? Because every builder is going to have these for sale at all different price points.
Okay. So for example, a Lennar A3 car garage with Lennar right now is about $475,000. But if you want to go to Meritage A3 car garage is going to be starting around $525,000. And if you want to go to Pulte, a realistic price for a three car garage is going to start in the high fives, right? So.
It really, really depends. I think the best way to go about finding you the home and understanding the real prices is a starting with here’s my budget, here’s my needs. I will share with you. Here are the options at best fit your criteria and from there we can go about getting registered with the builders. Now the builders at all times have different things going on Okay. Some builders have inventory homes that are going to be ready in as soon as 2-3 months.
And as long as six months, then you’ve got other builders where you got to build from the ground up and that can take a year now 13 months, 10 months, right. It all depends. So your timeline is another big thing that we need to discuss. And once we really figure out like what’s going to meet your timeline, your budget, your needs, then I go ahead, I get you introduced to the builder and you’ll get on that builders regular, regular e-mail list where we can discuss.
You know, are these the true prices? What’s going on? And we can work together then with one of the builder reps to finally get you the home of your dreams. So don’t go at it alone. Ladies and gentlemen, I promise you, my team and I, we will make this so much smoother for you and you won’t have any questions or doubts about what you’re getting into. The other big point I want to make working with my team is that we want to make sure you understand every single option. Okay.
One thing that happens so often, and this again, feedback from working with so many people, is that they visit one builder and they immediately get sucked in. But what you got to understand is that that builder Rep that you’re speaking to, they can only make money if they sell you right. And so they’re going to do everything in their power to sell you. They don’t want you going to the other neighborhood, even if it’s the same builder, because they don’t make money, right?
Whereas my team and I, we’re going to give you an unbiased perspective. We don’t care what builder you buy with. I want to make sure though, that you understand every single possible option that is available to you.
And you can’t do that going to one builder. You need someone who’s going to take you around, introduce you to every builder. Even some builders have multiple neighborhoods that have different salespeople. So it’s important to go literally neighborhood by neighborhood to understand your options so you can get a feel for everything that is available that meets your needs, budget and timeline. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hope this video shed some light on what it truly cost.
To buy and live here in Babcock Ranch now at any time, my team and I are ready and willing to help you out. You can give me a call, you can shoot me a text, 941-216-6494, drop me an e-mail, [email protected] or you can go to talkbabcockranch.com, set up a video conference or tour babcockranch.com to actually come in town and start looking for houses.
My team and I are happy to help you out through this whole process and I’ve got some other great resources, so make sure to head over to Facebook. We’ve got a great group moving to Babcock Ranch where we are regularly updating future homeowners on what’s going on in town. Plus it’s a great place for you to connect and ask other homeowners who live here about the town. And lastly, make sure to check out the playlist the videos.
My team and I have put out a tremendous amount of content on what it’s like to live here in Babcock Ranch, so I hope this is all helpful. And my team and I, we truly are looking forward to meeting you, working with you, and even one day calling you neighbor.
