Look at three or four resale homes during your house hunt and you’ll start getting the feeling that, should you purchase one of them, you will be buying someone else’s poor design ideas, lousy home maintenance, and lack of cleanliness. Yuck.
It’s for this reason that many homebuyers choose a newly constructed home instead. Yes, they typically sell for more per square foot, but the extra money is worth the extras that come along with a new house. Let’s take a look at three reasons you may want to choose a new home over a resale.
1. Energy Efficiency
It’s a fact that energy-efficient features lower your monthly utility bills. Many of today’s new homes are rated by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), which assigns each home a score. This score is readily available to homebuyers to use when comparing the energy efficiency of homes.
In addition to the money-saving aspect an energy-efficient home provides, resale values are higher. According to Zillow’s Housing Trends Report, nearly half of homebuyers say that energy efficiency is desirable in a home.
In fact, according to another major real estate conglomerate’s studies, homes with energy-efficient features sell for 7 percent more than homes that lack these features.
2. Fewer Headaches
Why purchase a home that needs new paint, carpet, cabinets, appliances, and flooring? In a newly-constructed home, everything is new. Everything is clean. No nasty grease smells, pet odors, scuffed-up baseboards, or well-worn floors.
Shoddy home maintenance isn’t a concern either because the home is brand new. Then, many homebuilders will supply you with a one-year home warranty, especially if you ask for it. That kind of peace of mind is priceless.
3. The Opportunity to Customize
The ability to take a blank slate and impose one’s personal tastes onto it is the biggest reason many buyers choose a new home over an existing one.
Some of the customization features that you may be able to choose to include:
- Location – often, you’ll pick which lot in the community you want to live on.
- Flow – if you purchase before the home is built you may be able to dictate where the bathroom is located or ask that the laundry room be built upstairs instead of downstairs.
- Design features – from wall color to flooring to cabinetry, you’ll be making a lot of personalized decisions when you purchase a new home.
Buying a newly constructed home is a buyer-centered experience. As experienced new home buyer representatives, we are happy to walk you through every step of the process to ensure you get the home of your dreams.
4. The Safety of New Home Warranties
A newly constructed home – and all of its contents – generally comes with a guarantee, just like a new automobile. This ensures you can buy with confidence, knowing that any faults that arise within the warranty period, such as a leaking roof or a broken water heater, will be covered by the builder. In contrast, with a pre-owned home, you may not be aware of hidden faults or problems until after you’ve acquired the home – and then you’re stuck with the bill.
A new build house warranty relieves you of one more stress during the home-buying transaction.
5. A Residence Tailored to Your Taste
Purchasing a newly constructed house provides you with a blank slate. There will be no red shag carpet, wall paneling, or pastel-colored bathrooms to replacing as soon as you move in. Working with a new general contractor allows you to customize your home without having to move a finger.
A new build house allows you to design a room that fits your style with a variety of possibilities. You have an option. Whether you select 18″x18″ ceramic tile, worktops, finished wooden cabinetry, or a pleasing neutral wall color, your home will be finished to your specifications. You also have the advantage of being the first to make a meal in your kitchen or use your new spa bathroom.
