Why Building a New Home is Better Than Buying an Old Home
Tags: existing home, new home
Depending on the specifics of your situation, there are pros and cons to either building a brand new home or purchasing a resale home and fixing it up. As a custom new home builder, our perspective is naturally a bit skewed, but given similar constraints, we feel there are several advantages to new construction vs. a resale home. Here are a five important points to consider, in no particular order.
Home Maintenance
As any new homeowner will tell you, maintaining a home can be a chore. Above the typical seasonal maintenance with heating and air systems or clearing the gutters, as a home ages the likelihood of a major repair or replacement of something increases. This could be a new roof or appliance, maybe a water heater or furnace, even painting the exterior. These types of maintenance issues can be costly with an older home, even one built in the last 10 years.
One of the biggest advantages to building a new home is that there is minimal maintenance required from the homeowner for several years after the initial build. There will still be the HVAC inspections and gutter cleaning (unless you add gutter protectors), but there is a very low chance of needing to budget for large expenditures like new appliances, sewer repairs, or the like. What little maintenance that may be needed is easier because everything is brand new, and you have a good relationship with the exact subcontractor or vendor that installed it.
Home Energy Efficiency
Nearly every appliance, lighting fixture, and piece of equipment that may go into your new home is designed to be more efficient today than it was even a few years ago. Products are constantly being updated my manufacturers to work better with less. Homes themselves are being built tighter every year, meaning there is less heat gain/loss through tiny gaps and little to no air penetration. Even building codes are updated in some capacity every year to require better, more efficient construction or materials. What this adds up to is a more efficient home that provides higher comfort and ease of use to the homeowner while using fewer resources at a cheaper end cost. Consider the hundreds or thousands of dollars you could save each year with new windows, or a better heater, or more efficient HVAC systems.
Home Customization
Regardless of when or where you look at a resale home, there is always some sort of compromise on what you would love to have in your home, and what is available on the market. By no means is a resale home a bad idea – there are a ton of great homes out there! – but no resale home seems to check all the boxes on your wants/needs list. When building a new custom home, buyers are able to specify and design exactly what they want in a new home. You get to literally select every detail, room size, appliance, finish, and feature. Your home is built from the ground up specifically for you.
Homeowners Insurance
Insurance can quickly be overlooked when deciding to purchase an existing home or build a new custom home. Due to the fact that a custom built home is brand new from the foundation to the roof, there are often huge savings when it comes to your homeowner insurance policy. For the same reason you will have little to no maintenance issues for the first several years, insurance companies see less risk with a new home that is built to the latest and greats building codes and practices and using brand new materials and fixtures.
Location
You’ve heard before that the 3 most important things in real estate are location, location, location, but when building a new custom home you can find the right location for your home first – before you build it – rather than compromising on trying to find an existing home that meets most of your needs in the right neighborhood. Having the freedom to find the perfect lot and views is a huge plus. You can then design and build your home specifically to your location. This may include large windows and an expansive deck to take advantage of a pond or orienting your house to block sight lines from a busy street.
Still Have Questions?
These are just a few of the many factors to consider between building a new home or buying an existing resale home, but area good start in planning your future. The entire team at Sharp Homes is ready and excited to meet with you and further explain the process of building a new home, and how we can help you through that process. We’re here to answer any questions you may have without being too pushy. Our end goal, whether you build a new home or not, is to inform you of your options so you can be comfortable making your final decision.
