By Aidan Sowa · October 2026 · St Simons Island, GeorgiaThe clearest documented answer comes from the sample rather than from a single headline sale. Of 17 older homes sampled in 31522, 9 were acquired by builders, a builder demand rate of 52.9 percent, and those older homes averaged 23.1 percent of the price of new construction on a comparable lot (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Applied to a new build that sells for $1,400,000, that ratio places the older home at roughly $325,000, with more than three quarters of the finished value sitting in the land rather than in the standing structure. New construction on standard lots has sold in the $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range depending on beach or marsh proximity and lot size (Redfin, 2026), so the same ratio points to a broad band for older homes rather than one island wide figure.
That band is the honest starting point for any owner asking what builders have paid. A teardown property near the Beachfront Blocks does not trade like an interior mid-island cottage, and a lot that can support a larger new home does not trade like a small lot hemmed in by flood setbacks. The separate question of how much older homes are worth in the 31522 ZIP code turns on the same segment differences, and owners do best when they read the sample ratio as a lens for their own parcel instead of as a promise. Recorded deeds are where the lens can be checked, because deeds show what actually closed rather than what was asked (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026).
A second documented anchor helps owners sanity check the ratio. The research worked illustration starts with a $1,500,000 new build sale, subtracts roughly $620,000 in hard and soft construction costs and a builder margin near 20 percent, and arrives at a residual land value near $550,000 to $650,000 before $20,000 to $35,000 in site preparation costs (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That residual is not a price list. It is a simplified illustration of the ceiling logic a builder uses, and the gap between the residual zone and the roughly $325,000 ratio example is itself instructive: location, lot size and flood compliance move a given property up or down inside a wide range.
Key Findings
- Builders acquired 9 of 17 older homes sampled in 31522, a builder demand rate of 52.9 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Older homes in the sample averaged 23.1 percent of new build prices on comparable lots, the lowest price ratio in its batch (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- Applying that 23.1 percent share to a finished home priced at $1,400,000 puts the older property at about $325,000 (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
- New construction on standard lots has sold in the $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range depending on beach or marsh proximity and lot size (Redfin, 2026).
- The simplified residual illustration leaves land value near $550,000 to $650,000 on a $1,500,000 new build sale, before $20,000 to $35,000 in site preparation costs (Frontier Capitals, 2026).
How does the sample ratio translate into a price for one specific lot?
It translates by comparison, not by multiplication alone. An owner begins with the finished homes most comparable to what could be built on the parcel, using recently sold new construction rather than listings that have not closed (Redfin, 2026). Valuation platforms can help locate those sales, yet their estimates for the older home itself often blend the new prices nearby into the older home figure, which is why owners should cross check platform values against recorded prices (Zillow, 2026). Parcel records then establish the lot facts that any builder will price first: dimensions, recorded size and how the parcel sits in county records (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026). The sample minimum lot was 6,098 square feet, and lots near that floor support a smaller buildable footprint than larger parcels, particularly where flood zone setbacks narrow the envelope.
Once the lot facts are fixed, the owner can place the property against the two documented anchors. If the realistic finished price for a new home on that lot sits near the middle of the $1,100,000 to $1,900,000 range, the 23.1 percent ratio gives a first approximation of what the older home has traded for as a builder acquisition. If the lot is unusually strong, with beach or marsh proximity that finished buyers reward, the residual method may support more than the simple ratio suggests, because finished premiums show up strongly in new build comps. If the lot is constrained, the residual falls quickly, even when the asking prices of renovated homes nearby look high. That is the practical meaning behind the companion analysis of how much a builder will pay for an older house in St Simons Island, where the same anchors are worked from the buyer side.
Owners should also separate three numbers that are often confused in conversation. The asking price of a teardown property is a hope. The appraised or platform value is an estimate built from mixed sales. The builder paid price is a closed figure, visible after the fact in deed records, and it reflects a deduction for construction cost, margin and risk that neither of the first two numbers makes. In a sample where more than half of older homes went to builders, the closed builder price is the dominant price signal for this class of property, not a discount from some truer household price. The household price exists for homes that household buyers actually compete for, and the research is candid that a genuinely livable, well kept home with updated systems can capture that live in buyer premium. Most sampled teardown properties, by definition, did not.
Why do beach, marsh and lot position move the paid price so much?
Because the builder is buying the finished sale in advance, and finished buyers pay for position. Beachfront and marsh view premiums appear clearly in new build comps, while older home listings rarely capture the same premiums, because a household buying an aging cottage is buying the cottage first and the view second (Frontier Capitals, 2026). A builder reverses that order. The view and the proximity are the product, and the cottage is an obstacle with a removal cost. Two lots with identical houses can therefore produce very different builder payments when one looks over the marsh and the other sits on an interior mid-island street, and the difference widens as finished prices rise toward the top of the documented range.
Lot size works in the same direction through buildable area. Parcel and permit records show how individual lots differ in dimensions and in the records attached to them (Glynn County Tax Assessor, 2026). A larger lot can hold a larger finished home, more parking and a yard that finished buyers expect at island prices, while a lot near the 6,098 square foot sample minimum may cap the finished size and therefore cap the finished price from which the land payment is derived. Flood zone designations sit in the same county records and shape the buildable envelope directly (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026). Elevation and flood compliance cap what can be built, and what can be built caps what the dirt is worth. Insurance pricing under the current federal methodology reinforces the point for both builders and finished buyers (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026).
Tree cover and permit conditions add a quieter adjustment. Building permit and tree protection requirements for the island run through county development review, and the live oak canopy is part of what builders price around rather than an afterthought (Glynn County Community Development, 2026). A lot where protected trees narrow the footprint, or where permit conditions add cost, will support a lower land payment than an open lot of the same recorded size. None of these adjustments appear in a platform estimate of the house, which is one more reason the paid prices in the sample spread so widely around the average ratio.
What costs sit between the price a builder pays and the price a seller keeps?
On a direct builder sale, very few, and that is a large part of the comparison owners need to make. On a listed sale at $550,000, the documented ledger starts with a commission typically at 5 to 6 percent, or $27,500 to $33,000 (National Association of Realtors, 2025). Seller side closing costs, title, transfer taxes and prorations commonly add another 1 to 2 percent, and the Georgia transfer tax itself is $1 per $1,000 of consideration (Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026). Concessions and inspection repair credits on older island inventory routinely run $10,000 to $25,000, and carrying costs over three to six months of market time run $15,000 to $35,000, with wind and flood insurance well above mainland levels. Commissions plus closing costs alone run 6 to 8 percent in practice, or $33,000 to $44,000 on that $550,000 sale, and adding midpoints puts a $550,000 list price netting in the mid $400,000s after a normal market cycle, before any price reduction.
A seller comparing a builder payment with a list price should therefore compare nets, not headlines. A builder offer below a hopeful list price can still deliver a similar or better net once commission, closing costs, credits and months of carrying cost are removed from the listed side of the ledger. The comparison becomes sharper for owners in complicated situations, because the questions multiply quickly. An owner weighing whether a property can be sold with existing tenants in place faces a thinner household buyer pool and a longer timeline, while an owner studying what happens to the money after selling a house in foreclosure is working against a deadline where months of market time may not exist at all. In both cases the builder paid price should be judged on what reaches the seller, and how reliably, rather than on the gross figure alone.
Timing belongs in the same ledger. A direct sale can close in 7 to 21 days with the seller choosing the date, and a leaseback can run past closing when an owner needs time to move. A listed older island home more commonly takes 60 to 120 plus days. Every extra month carries insurance, taxes, utilities and maintenance on a structure the eventual buyer intends to remove, which is why a paid price accepted quickly can be worth more in hand than a slightly higher price collected after a full season of holding costs. The sample ratio was measured on closed sales, and closed sales are the only figures that stop the carrying cost clock.
What should an owner verify before treating a builder offer as a real paid price?
Verification is straightforward and documented. Ask for proof of funds in the buyer name dated within the last 30 days, not a pre approval letter and not a lender letter. Look for recorded deeds in the buyer entity name from actually closed purchases, which can be checked in county records (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). Ask what happens after signing, in plain terms. Frontier Capitals buys directly from sellers and places deals with vetted builders, acting as a wholesaler that sources off market deals to builders rather than as a builder itself. A contract with an assignment clause and no means or intent to close is the operator pattern the research warns sellers against, because that kind of buyer is shopping the contract rather than buying the lot.
An owner can also test an offer against the method in this report before signing anything. Run the finished price for the lot from recent new construction sales, apply the construction and margin deductions from the residual illustration, and see whether the offer sits in a defensible relationship to the result. Compare that test with the approach set out in the guide to whether a property is worth more as land than as a house and with a simple check of how much a residential lot is worth on the island. If the offer only makes sense when the finished price is assumed at the very top of the range and construction is assumed at the very bottom, the owner has learned something important about the buyer confidence behind it. If the offer holds up under mid range assumptions, it deserves to be weighed seriously against the net of a listed attempt.
Competition remains the cleanest verification of all. A property shown privately to more than one qualified builder produces more than one reading of the same residual arithmetic, and the spread between readings tells the owner how much of the price is judgment and how much is math. That is why the paid prices in the sample cluster around a ratio rather than landing on a single figure: builders share the same construction costs and finished comps, and differ mainly in margin appetite and in how they read a specific lot.
What does selling directly to a builder buyer save at island price points?
The savings are the documented ledger read in reverse. Privacy comes first: a direct sale involves zero showings, zero open houses, no public marketing period and no public record until the deed transfers, and on a small island where everyone knows whose cottage is whose, that discretion carries real value for a family handling an estate, a move or a difficult change. Flexible closing comes second: 7 to 21 days when speed matters, or months out with a leaseback when it does not, against 60 to 120 plus days for a listed older home.
The money terms follow. No commission is paid on a direct sale, sparing the typical 5 to 6 percent, or $27,500 to $33,000 on the $550,000 worked example (National Association of Realtors, 2025). No seller closing costs are charged either, sparing a further 1 to 2 percent, so the combined saving on commissions and closing costs runs $33,000 to $44,000 on that example. No inspections or repairs are required, which removes the $10,000 to $25,000 repair credits that older island homes routinely face at inspection, because the buyer purchasing for the land performs no structural inspection and buys the property as is. With the structure priced near zero at the 23.1 percent ratio, as is is the native format for a teardown sale: the buyer never wanted the structure, so there is nothing to repair, credit or negotiate beyond the lot itself. For owners whose teardown property would otherwise sit through a listing season, those avoided costs are not a bonus added to the builder price. They are part of the price comparison itself.
Methodology and limitations
This report rests on the sample of 17 older homes built in 1980 or earlier in 31522, of which 9 were acquired by builders, compiled for this research and described here as a sample rather than as a census of the ZIP code (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Finished prices are drawn from recently sold homes and new construction records for the ZIP code (Redfin, 2026), and parcel, flood and deed facts are drawn from county records (Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026; Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). The residual figures are a simplified illustration from the research, not an audited construction budget and not a promise of what any builder will pay for any specific lot. This report involved no on site inspection of any property and no formal valuation was commissioned for it. The sample is small, so individual paid prices will vary around the average ratio with lot position, size, elevation and tree cover, and owners should treat the ratio and the residual as methods for testing an offer rather than as substitutes for one.
Conclusion
Builders in the documented sample paid for teardown properties as land, at an average of 23.1 percent of the finished new build price on comparable lots, with 9 of 17 sampled older homes going to builders (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Against finished sales of $1,100,000 to $1,900,000, that produces a wide but explainable band, tested lot by lot through the residual illustration and checked against recorded deeds. An owner who compares the net of a builder payment with the net of a listed sale, after commission, closing costs, credits and carrying costs, is making the comparison the market itself makes.
Owners who want a documented builder reading of what their own lot would bring can telephone Frontier Capitals at 401-219-4207 or email [email protected].
If more than three quarters of the value of the next house on your lot sits in the land, what is the older house on it really being paid for?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average figure builders paid in the sample?
Older homes averaged 23.1 percent of new build prices on comparable lots (Frontier Capitals, 2026). At a $1,400,000 finished price that ratio gives roughly $325,000 for the older home, and individual lots moved above or below that point with position, size and flood compliance.
How many sampled homes did builders actually buy?
Builders acquired 9 of the 17 older homes sampled in 31522, a rate of 52.9 percent (Frontier Capitals, 2026). That share is why builder paid prices are treated in this report as the main price signal for teardown properties rather than as an exception.
Does the residual illustration mean a builder can pay 550,000 dollars for any lot?
No. The illustration leaves residual land value near $550,000 to $650,000 on a $1,500,000 finished sale, before $20,000 to $35,000 in site preparation, and it is labeled a simplified illustration rather than a promise (Frontier Capitals, 2026). Lots that support a smaller finished home, or carry flood and tree constraints, produce a lower residual.
How can an owner check what a builder really paid nearby?
Closed prices appear in recorded deeds, which can be checked in county records under the buyer entity name (Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026). Comparing those deeds with parcel records for lot size and flood zone gives a much firmer picture than asking prices or platform estimates.
Why compare a builder price with the net of a listed sale instead of the list price?
Because a listed sale at $550,000 carries commission of $27,500 to $33,000, closing costs of 1 to 2 percent, repair credits of $10,000 to $25,000 and carrying costs of $15,000 to $35,000 (National Association of Realtors, 2025). The seller keeps the net, not the headline price, so the net is the fair comparison.
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Sources
- Frontier Capitals, 2026. 189 neighborhood builder acquisition sample: 17 homes sampled in 31522, 9 acquired by builders, average older home price 23.1 percent of new build. Market data.
- Redfin, 2026. Recently sold homes and new construction, ZIP code 31522, St. Simons Island GA. Market data.
- Glynn County Clerk of Superior Court, 2026. Recorded deeds and plat records for 31522. Official record.
- Glynn County Tax Assessor, 2026. Parcel and permit records, St. Simons Island GA. Official record.
- Glynn County Board of Assessors, 2026. Parcel records, flood zone designations, and lot dimensions for St Simons Island. Official record.
- Glynn County Community Development, 2026. Building permit and tree protection requirements for St Simons Island. Official record.
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2026. National Flood Insurance Program: Risk Rating 2.0 methodology and elevation certificate requirements. Government data.
- National Association of Realtors, 2025. Highlights from the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Industry report.
- Georgia Department of Revenue, 2026. Real estate transfer tax: $1 per $1,000 of consideration. Official record.
- Zillow, 2026. Home values and recently sold, 31522. Market data.