New Home Build Advice?

My wife and I moved to Maplewood 5 years ago with no kids. Today, we have 2 kids and are running out of room in our starter house. We'd like to move to a bigger place and have been looking for a year. We put two offers on houses, one of which was accepted - unfortunately we lost it during the review process. 

We're kicking around the idea of building a new house. While it would be new, it would absolutely fit with the look and feel of the houses in the area. This would give us the opportunity to design to our taste, and I personally have interest in building energy efficient systems into the house. 

I've seen a few new builds around Maplewood, so I know it can be done. 

Does anyone have advice for either purchasing a lot, buying a tear down, or significant remodels? Anything from contractors/architects, to permitting, to leads on property would be appreciated. 

Thanks!

While I can't offer any advice on buying a tear down, I do know of a house in my neighborhood that is (sadly) most  likely a tear down although I heard the foundation is okay which could save you money.  Even better is that the house is on a double lot which could be nice for yard space for your children.  Most people in the neighborhood are okay with the house being torn down as long as the new house is in keeping with the style of houses in Maplewood.  PM me if you want more info.

OP good luck, but don't concern yourself with "the new house...keeping with the style of houses in Maplewood."  This is America.  Build whatever house you want (subject to zoning and planning requirements). 

DannyArcher, we like the style of houses in Maplewood - it's one of the reasons we moved here. 

One of the aesthetically interesting things about this town is that it isn't a pre-planned subdivision with only 4 different models.  Within 2 blocks of my house there are ranches, colonials, tudors, dutch colonials and even a spanish colonial.  My point is there is no "Maplewood style of house". 

Yes, but by my house there is at least one that was built in the mid-2000's and it absolutely looks out of place because it looks cookie cutter and void of any charm. While there is a variety of house styles in Maplewood, my point was that the house we would eventually build would look at home here. It would honor the vibe of the town, not just a random blueprint picked from a catalog and slapped onto whatever piece of land becomes available. 

A lot of the houses in South Orange and Maplewood unless they're really really old, were usually plucked out of a catalog (or made by a developer) at the same time with some variation. The area that I'm in has a lot of 'colonials' or 'tudors' that are actually the same basic design, just facing different ways. One way it's a colonial, one way it's a Tudor. Tack a sunroom on the south side and bam!

They were then usually just dressed up in ways that didn't make them as homogeneous as developments in past 50 years would have been. And often these houses were built around a few existing homes (usually Victorians) which adds to the variety.