Are you considering buying a new home in a newly developed development? Are you tempted to the sparkle and style of new construction? Are you set to make the move to a newly built house, but don’t know what questions to ask?
buying new construction is significantly many than buying a used home. It isn’t necessarily harder (in many ways it’s easier) but you do need to consider various factors and ask different questions.
With old construction, you need to bring in an engineer to inspect the home and look for shortcomings. Every older house will have problems, and very often the repair may fall on the new homebuyer. From the seller’s perspective, their offering it at this price for the condition it’s in; while the condition is not perfect, you’re not paying for new construction.
In other words, they’re charging less for a used house because it needs repairs.
New construction, in comparison, should be handed-over in great condition. While you will certainly want to do a walk-through inspection prior to closing, the procedure is much simpler. During construction, you may very often inspect the progression of work as it is being completed. If you see something that is an problem, you are able to promptly correct it during the building phase as opposed to going back and repairing it at a later date. Since many repairs and existing houses are the product of the age-such as cracked foundations, sagging walls, leaky ceilings, and broken pipes, damaged faucets, cracked tiles, drafty windows, lack of insulation, etc., you will have very few of these issues with a newly built home.
While you may surely hire an engineer to inspect a newly built home, they’re generally looking for issues that usually are not present in a new house. Also, since most new homes have a warranty, you have a level of protection you would not have with a old house.
Don’t be fooled by the cost of an used home. The asking price is only one piece of the picture. The renovations and repairs necessary to get the house in the way you need could add tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of that home. Additionally, you often need to come up with that money “out of pocket.” In contrast, the newly built house is in as good of condition as possible, which is built into the purchase price, and can be paid for with your mortgage.
Let’s look at an example: a new construction in Commack New York that is over 3600 sq.ft. is just over $1 million. The home is in brand-new perfect condition and ready to move-in. A similar “old” home in the neighborhood of the same size may be $950,000. While it may seem that you “saved” $75,000 on a used home, you’re buying a home that’s twenty years old, will last twenty years less, and already has twenty years of wear and tear. Since most houses have a useful life of 60-75 years, you’d be purchasing a home with less long term value.
With existing homes, you may need to renovate. The kitchen may need to be fixed, bathrooms replaced, and other repairs made. The older house may not be the exact layout you like. This could require architectural changes to the home – which could warrant six months of additions while you’re living in the house. These renovations could cost $50-$100,000 and will be money you will need tocome out of pocket. Had you bought the new house for slightly more, you would not need to come up with an additional $75,000 out of pocket, would not need to live free six months of construction, and would have a perfect ready to occupy a house on the day you close.
So does this mean new homes are perfect? No. However generally speaking, they are the better choice. When talking about something this size and the scale of the new house, there will always be issues. It is sometimes easier to deal with those problems with a creditable builder during the construction process than it is to deal with them on your own after you have purchased the house and have no one to turn to. Items such as a leaky faucet or broken tile can easily be fixed or replaced by the builder at no additional cost whereas doing the repairs on your own with the older home needs time and money on your end.
TIP: Be sure to work with a creditable builder in your area who you can turn to with questions and ideas. Try to produce as many ideas as possible at the very beginning of the process before construction; relocating walls after rooms have been constructed can be extremely expensive, whereas relocating them before construction is started will carry relatively low cost.
Craig Axelrod is one of the principals from Emmy Homes. Emmy is which is one of Long Island’s top home developers. Emmy’s Commack real estate features luxury homes in Commack. Visit EmmyHomes.com for details.