When shopping for a new home, the first question a buyer needs to consider is whether or not they want a new home or search the market for a quality resale. Going with new construction over a resale property offers a wide range of benefits. Eventually, the cost of making an existing home your own (updating a kitchen or a bath, moving walls, opening up rooms, repainting rooms, changing flooring, etc.) can open up a can of worms financially. Here are our top 3 reasons to buy new construction:
The ability to make your new home your own at the start
When you don’t have the ability to select your finishes, you are stuck with whatever the previous owner wanted or end up incurring additional costs and renovation mess after you close on your home. According to Ken Harney, a real estate columnist for the Washington Post, “with an older home, you may have to spend substantial sums of money to take down walls where that’s possible — some are so-called load-bearing walls that are not easily moved — to enlarge rooms in order to create the flowing, more open living space that is preferred today.” Better not to deal with potential complications (or unknown costs) and get it right the first time with a newly constructed home.
Fewer repairs and maintenance-free living
The features of newly constructed homes are “new”; therefore, they are more energy efficient and typically of higher quality than older existing homes, which in addition may have experienced years of wear and tear, says Evan Gilligan of Mandrin Homes. “People will buy [previously-owned] houses and then the carpet needs to be replaced or it needs to be repainted, or it needs new appliances, or the flooring is shot,” Gilligan says. “When they buy a new home in today’s market, it really is new.”
With replacement cost in mind, it can actually save you money
In a new home, components such as the kitchen appliances, windows, roof, doors, etc. are all brand new. Most of these features come with a warranty and sometimes for up to 10+ years (i.e. roof etc.). With a resale, the warranties may no longer be in effect or transferable, and structural features may have repair needs or updating to bring them in line efficiency wise when compared to new. Being forced to spend money on capital improvements can be the unadvertised costs of not buying new that many owners don’t anticipate during the exciting period of purchasing a home.