Buying A New Home Versus Building A New Home

When it comes to finding a new home, you have one of two options.  You can either find a property that is up for sale, or you can build your own home.  But which is the best option for you?  What is the difference in terms of price and workload?  Let’s break down the advantages and disadvantages to both, to help you decide whether to buy or build.

Buying a new home: Advantages

There are two main advantages to buying a new home, the first is cost and the second is convenience.  There are also lots of other advantages, so let’s take a closer look:

  • Some people may need the convenience of being able to move into their new home as quickly as possible, for example, if you are relocating for work. Once your offer on a property is accepted you may be able to move into the house in as little as one or two months.
  • Usually buying an existing home is cheaper than building your own home.
  • If you use a good estate agent they can help you in your property search, to make it easier and quicker.
  • When you move into an existing property the neighbourhood, including things like the grass and nature surrounding it, are all well-established. Whereas with a new build property you might find the estate is new.
  • Most people are familiar with the home buying process and what it involves.

Buying a new home: Disadvantages

Of course, there are some disadvantages to buying a new home instead of building one.  These include:

  • It could take you a while to find a property that is perfect for you, your needs and within your budget/location. Finding the ideal home isn’t always easy depending on what you’re looking for.
  • Unlike with new builds, there is no option for customisation. If you buy a property, then you can’t request a downstairs toilet or certain fixtures and fittings, you are unlikely to find a home that is perfect in every way and so you may have to compromise.
  • Older homes are much less energy efficient, which means the price of on-going costs, such as energy bills for example, may be higher.
  • Buying a home might be cheaper than building one, but that isn’t always the case when you factor in the costs of making changes to the home you buy, to really make it yours. If you find a property that you need to renovate to make it perfect for you, then actually it might be cheaper to build one from scratch.

Building a new home: Advantages

There are plenty of advantages to building your own home.  But before we look at those, we would just like to dispel one myth… building your own home is not impossible for you.  You don’t have to be a designer to build your own home, you just need to learn about the process and get some tips from professional self-build property companies.

Here are some of the main advantages to building a property:

  • The biggest advantage is that you get exactly what you want from your home. You can design it to have everything you need, which is perfect, especially for anyone who has been searching for a property and can’t find anything suitable in their selected area.
  • New builds tend to be designed to be more environmentally friendly.
  • With new builds you will usually find you have lower on going costs, things like energy bills are cheaper because the home is more energy efficient.
  • With a new build home you usually get a warranty included protecting you for any repairs that need to be made.
  • New build properties are a better investment because they are often more appealing and are therefore easier to re-sell at make a profit from.

Building a new home: Disadvantages

There are two main disadvantages from building your own home:

  • New build properties do tend to be more expensive to buy than an existing home. However, they do appreciate in-line with other homes and therefore, they are an excellent investment.
  • Building a home takes much longer than buying a home, so it isn’t ideal if you need to move into the property immediately, or even in the next few months.

Before you buy or build

Before you start thinking about whether to buy or build, take a moment to think about your personal circumstances. Decide where you want to live and think about your budget and the timeframe you have, if you are going to build a home you need the finances to be able to do that and some surplus in case anything goes wrong.  You also need to have the luxury of waiting a little longer for your new home.  Also think about what you want from your home and whether a property like this is likely to be available to you, if it’s not then you are going to either have to compromise, or build your own property.

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