New Build or Existing Home?

When you are in the market for a new home, there are two options for buying; buy an existing home on or off the market, or you can build new. Each is a very different process, and each has pros and cons; however those pros and cons are entirely circumstantial and based off personal preference.

Today, I want to share a few of my personal experiences with you, being that I have both bought existing homes and built one through a big name developer.

The first two homes I purchased were both existing homes, beautiful homes, each older than 10 years old. I say this, as homes typically settle within the first five years of construction, this is a key factor in existing homes. If the house settles too much or the wrong way, it can lead to foundation issues. Thankfully, this was not the case, thats a pro. The con to this, was the age of the home, all the appliances and hardware were the original appliances in the home, so after about a year of living in the home appliances started to show their age or give out, things such as the dishwasher, refrigerator, water heater and garage door. All of the above are out of pocket expenses, and costly ones at that. The homes had beautiful finishes and were both fairly updated, to keep up with the ever changing home trends, however they were not my finishes, everything in the home was picked by the previous owners. Both homes needed paint after purchase, another out of pocket expense. However, I was able to pick the paint I wanted, and that best fit my homes’ style. The closing on each house was 45 days or less, this is huge- for many buyers, and probably the biggest pro of them all. Most buyers do not have the time to spare when moving, nor the desire, so the ability to close in under 45 days is ideal, especially if you buying a home and selling yours in the same process.

Building a home through a developer is a long process and can take anywhere from 6 months to a year! This is probably the most difficult thing as a buyer, again, especially if you are selling your home to buy a new one. In my experience this was the case, my home was on the market for less than two weeks before it sold, and my new build was still in foundation! As a seller, I was pleased but as a buyer I was worried about where my family and I would stay until our new build was complete, thankfully everything worked out for us. The process is long, however it is exciting, we were able to pick all of our finishes, color scheme, lighting, outdoor paint and flooring, everything top to bottom! The new house was a semi-custom home and was built to our likings. The con to this, purchasing from the developer can get expensive. Once you move in, as expected there will be things in the home that need to be fixed, dings and dents or things that aren’t quite working as they should- this is all apart of the ‘new build’ process, in addition to this, the hard part is getting the warranty team to show up and fix those things. Most new builds offer a wall to wall warranty, which is fantastic, to cover most natural causes, even settling. Again challenge is getting those warranty items rectified. New builds are entirely made up of your home choices, within reason unless you are building custom, so everything in the home is by choice, this process is the biggest take away. Being able to move into your brand new, move in ready home is amazing!

As you can see, each experience was very different in its own way- yet both were worth the process. Each home we have lived in has been our home, a place were we made memories, shared with friends and family and found comfort and love. No process was better or worse than the other, it is all about preference.

With this, we want you to be able to take away that buying a home is a personal process, and your real estate professional is there to help guide you through the logistics, and support you. We believe in doing what is best for you and your family, that is our priority. If you are looking to buy, give us a call today! We would love the opportunity to help you figure out what will work best for your journey.

Looking for a good read: Check out “Should You Buy or Build a Home” from Investopedia.