Is Buying a New Construction Home Better?

The first point I want to make is, if you are set on purchasing a newly constructed or going-to-be constructed home, you don’t have to abandon your realtor. Builders can work with realtors as well. A broker co-op is often used to sell new homes.

New homes are “Under Warranty”. A used home likely has tired products that may soon need replacing. Your new home, and the products that comprise it, are brand-new. and under warranty. What’s the cost to replace a roof, appliances, countertops or a water heater on a used home? Those components of your new home feature the latest designs and building materials and should offer you years of comfort and enjoyment before needing to be replaced. When you buy a home that was previously lived in, you may or may not get the appliances or other quality materials that are offered with new homes. In negotiating the purchase of a used home, you can ask for the appliances to stay or you can also request a home warranty. Relative to the cost of repairs or replacement, a home warranty is not expensive and can ensure that you get anything major fixed should something go wrong. So this argument for a new construction home has some merit, but does not mean that it is not true with a used home as well.

You can choose a layout that fits your needs with a new home. Want a master bedroom on the first floor? It’s yours. With massive his and her’s walk-in closets? Done! Want high ceilings and a luxurious, resort-style master bath? Perhaps you’d like a sitting room with a fireplace in your owner’s suite or French doors that open to your private patio or the pool? It’s easy, when you build your master suite your way. Well, if that is what the developer allows. Not everything can be modified exactly to your liking. Also, how do you know what you need until you need it? You think having a huge master bath is important, but how much time do you spend in the bathroom? Maybe having a huge living room is what you really need, but you won’t know until you start living in your home. There are just as many used homes out there that can fit your needs as a newly constructed home. You may not even know what you want until you see it in fact, not in design.

Energy and cost savings are a great point of fact for new construction homes. Today’s new homes are far more energy efficient than homes built just five years ago. Versus homes built ten or 20 years ago, is it game over, advantage: NEW? Why settle for drafty, energy-wasting single-pane windows in a used home? Many new homes offer double or even triple-pane windows. Special window coatings and inert gases between the layers of glass are often available, saving you even more energy and money in both heating and cooling season. So sold? Well a lot of homes have been updated or upgraded and when that is done, the same materials and energy efficient items used in new construction are also used to update and upgrade used homes. If the upgrades haven’t already been done, you can do them yourself. Does I cost you money to do them? Yes, but it also costs more money to buy a new home for that same reason. Developers have to pay for triple pane windows too, they cost them more as well, who do they charge for things like that? Well, you guessed it, the people who buy their homes.