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Building or Buying Just some thoughts

Last Post 30 May 2009 08:20 PM by TLC-ICF. 2 Replies.

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Hoowood

New Member

Posts:78

27 May 2009 07:15 AM

Advantages of Building a New Home:

	When building a new home, you have a great deal of control over what the home will be like. You can pick out the material, floor plan, decorating etc.
	The house may be a much better fit for your lifestyle and interests
	Everything is new. Repairs and maintenance will less likely be needed. A new house may have a warrantee (ICF.ca, builder custom home Ontario, offers 3 yr. warrantee)
	You can take advantage of newer technology, newer materials, and more modern floor plans
	You can create a more energy efficient home and save on utility bills
	Your property taxes will probably be less during the first year (because the land might be taxed as undeveloped land).
	New subdivisions tend to have better utilities (such as buried electric lines) and are less prone to outages caused by storms. Also it is more attractive e not having telephone poles and wires strung through a neighbourhood. New subdivisions also tend to have better streets.
	Home insurance may cost less for new homes. New homes have newer materials, conform to newer building codes, and are less likely to have problems than older homes. Because of this, some insurance companies offer lower insurance rates for newer home.
	Last but not least is the “Pride of Ownership” which occurs from a home that you “helped create”.

Disadvantages of Building a New Home:

	It may be harder to find a good location or a convenient location to put the home. It is becoming harder to find land to build a custom home.
	It may cost more to build a new home.
	Extra fees may be incurred such as building permits, utility tap fees, survey costs and construction loan fees
	It may take longer to build than what you expected (weather delays, supply delays)
	You will need to make more decisions
	It will take more of your free time.

Advantages of Buying an Existing Home:

	The home is ready to move in sooner
	You know exactly what the home will look like and feel like
	More mature landscaping
	You may need to do less work to finish the home (such as landscaping, decorating, window coverings)
	You’ll have fewer decisions to make.
	The home may be more affordable. It usually costs less to buy an existing home then to build a new home that is similar.

Disadvantages of Buying an Existing Home:

	You have less control over what the home is like
	If the home is an older home then you may have more repairs and maintenance expenses
	You may not know the quality of materials and workmanship that went into the home (does the home have good insulation? Good windows? Efficient furnace and air conditioner?
	You may have to make changes to suit your tastes such as redecorating or remodeling.
	Insurance rates may be higher on older homes.
	Older homes may be less convenient for modern lifestyles (fewer bathrooms, not wired for technology, inconvenient floor plans, lack of closets)
	Cost of utilities may be higher for an older home.

toddm

Veteran Member

Posts:1152

27 May 2009 02:03 PM
It MAY cost more to build a new home? I am building in an area that experienced a brief boom as a fringe commuter bargain in the Washington Baltimore corridor. Here are the impediments I face as one of the few people building there at the moment: Foreclosures have knocked the bottom out of resale prices. The new home for sale across the street is about to begin its third year on the market (with the builder living in it thankfully.) REDC, doing business on www.auction.com, just sold 400 homes in the DC area at auction. Prices in northern VA., ground zero for the DC bubble, are low as 25 percent of 2006 assessed values. http://novabubblefallout.blogspot.com/ Land prices are holding, however, because lots have low carrying costs and are often held as an investment anyway. In fact, there is a scarcity of attractive, buildable lots within 50 miles of DC. In its infinite wisdom, the town council imposed significant new regulatory burdens during the boom. I need a sprinkler system in my all concrete house (!?) My storm water management plan requires digging an infiltration trench and a filter. The erosion plan calls for filter sock at $10/foot. New septic system standards mean twice the cost compared even to a few years ago. Some of these rules will go away as the building industry pushes back. In this part of the world, new construction is added to the tax rolls at cost while the houses next door are assessed at 1990 values. The absence of fresh blood may finally force a reassessment. Granted, the housing bust is unevenly distributed, with foreclosures clustered in roughly 10 states. But job worries and mortgage difficulties are universal. You should expect to own a new home for five to 10 years. Do NOT look at it as an investment.

TLC-ICF

New Member

Posts:98

30 May 2009 08:20 PM
I have been in the building business for 40 years, 20 years building 20 years selling building materials. Most people are better off buying a house with grass in the yard. You know what you are getting, how much it will cost. Now is a buyers market, you can get many deals.