- Welcome Homes identifies the best land lots for sale in counties around New York City.
- The proptech startup lets people buy the plots — and customize the homes built on them — online.
- Its first home model, called the Oasis, starts at $600,000. There is a 10,000-person waiting list.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
New York-based startup Welcome Homes aims to transform the traditional homebuying experience by giving customers the ability to buy and design move-in ready homes online.
On March 9, Welcome Homes’ online builder becomes available to the general public, with 50 buildable parcels located throughout the New York metropolitan area. The available plots of land are in popular New York City suburbs, including Fairfield County, Connecticut, Bergen County, New Jersey, and New York’s Westchester and Putnam counties.
The Welcome Homes platform allows homebuyers to design houses from scratch on these parcels of land with a base price of $600,000, giving them the ability to customize their structures with everything from outdoor kitchens to state-of-the-art appliances.
The company, founded by Alec Hartman and Mitch Wainer in May 2020, has tapped HGTV star Anthony Carrino as vice president of design. His role is to select and evaluate all of the products that go into the new builds, overseeing everything from architecture to design theme, Hartman told Insider.
Here’s what homebuyers need to know about the startup, which is also trying to eliminate buyers’ “hidden” costs and alleviate other pain points of traditional real-estate transactions.
The startup offers customizable homes for lower prices
Especially because the pandemic increased demand and competition for single-family homes, Hartman said, homebuyers in major urban areas who lack an unlimited budget are left with few options. Purchasing an older home can lead to costly renovations or other upkeep, he added, while opting for a spec home (which is move-in ready but entirely designed by the builder) is pricey. In general, Hardman said, custom builds are time-consuming.
Welcome Homes has tried to make the process of buying a brand-new, customized home easier — and cheaper.
Once a user submits a design request through the website, they are given a guaranteed set price.
“Everything is pre-configured upfront,” Hartman said. Under the Welcome Homes model, buyers select a piece of property and a home type that the company has already vetted before they customize the house and choose finishes. That’s how the final price is determined.
When the price is locked in, Welcome Homes gets a contract in place within a few weeks, partnering with Citizens Bank for homebuyers in need of financing options.
“Then we begin construction, and your home is ready in six months,” Hartman said.
In October, the website officially launched with two customers looking to build after raising $5.35 million in seed funds. The company is open for the first time as of March 9 — and has amassed a waitlist of 1,200 prospective homebuyers.
The features of Welcome Homes’ lots and houses
Land parcels are doled out on a first-come, first-serve basis, with waitlisted customers given an early heads up.
Welcome Homes said it looks for the best lots, using its proprietary technology to examine many pieces of public land information down to town tax maps in order to identify vacant parcels and pluck them off the market quickly, the cofounders told Insider. That way, they can avoid topography setbacks or deed history issues and cherry-pick the best places to build new homes.
Currently, there is one home model available to buyers, the Oasis, which boasts three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two office spaces across 3,340 square feet.
The Oasis includes amenities that have become more important during COVID-19, like kitted-out outdoor space as well as dedicated work-from-home rooms. They start at $600,000 but can get pricier depending on the amenities and fixtures buyers choose.
Throughout 2021, Welcome Homes roll out more land parcels and a larger home type called the Grand Model that will be available later this year. At about 4,000 square feet, the Grand will include more bedrooms and an entertainment space to suit upper-middle-class millennials.
“We believe we can dramatically change new home purchasing,” Hartman said. “Customers can get a turnkey, newly built home with us for nearly the same price of the existing home next door — and they can do this all online.”
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