Now that you've decided to set down roots, the big question is, should you build, or should you buy? Everyone dreams of being a homeowner and the American dream always entails a white picket fence house, and there's this little slice of that dream that involves building your home from the ground up. And for most people, serious considerations need to be made if you wanted your home sweet home. Is it cheaper to buy a house or to build a new one?
Here we lay out everything you need to know about buying an existing home compared with building one from scratch.
Cost
If you buy an existing home: Home prices vary greatly from where you live. Median prices are different from state to state and even from town to town. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price for a home in Pleasanton, CA is $975K and the price per square foot is around $528/sq. ft. Currently, there are about 369 homes for sale ranging from $225K to $13.9M
If you build a new home: Like with buying a new home, prices will vary greatly for where you want to live in. A lot of things needs to be considered in regards to the costs of building a new home. The land primarily is a big factor one should consider as well as the materials needed and labor costs. For a custom home, prices could range between $350K to $1.5M. And for custom built homes, prices can really go way up depending on your design and your specifications.
Maintenance
If you buy an existing home: When buying a home, it is important to know when the house was built and the updates that were done to maintain the house. Naturally, older homes needed more TLC and regular upkeep. And maintenance and updates don't come cheap. For example, the average furnace is expected to last 20 years and will cost $4,000 to replace. The typical HVAC system lasts 15 years and costs $5,000 and more to replace.
If you build a new home: Definitely one of the benefits of building your home is the lesser cost of maintenance because almost everything from your appliances down to your HVAC is brand new and under warranty. Some construction companies even offer a construction warranty for new homes for up to 10 years.
Energy Efficiency
If you buy an existing home: Older homes would mean dated windows and appliances unless previous owners were able to do recent updates, existing homes means lesser efficiency in conserving energy and higher consumption on electricity.
If you build a new home: Homes built after 2000 consume on average 21% less energy for heating than older homes, mainly because of their increased efficiency of heating equipment and building materials. This translates into lower energy bills.
There are many pros and cons in buying an existing home or building a new one. The waiting time is comparably lesser when you opt to buy an existing home as compared to building a house wherein it really takes time before you could move in. Building a home is no easy feat. It requires a lot of planning, research and, of course, the right building professionals to guide you from the pre-construction stage to design & build and project completion. While building a house from scratch can be expensive, more homeowners are choosing to build their home sweet home. Owning a home that is unique is something to be proud of as a homeowner. Whatever your choice will be, building or buying a new one, what's important is it will give you the feeling of security, contentment and happiness a new home should give you.
Thinking of buying or selling this year? When visiting isn't enough and you decide to make our beautiful area home, let me help you! From Single Family Homes, Condominiums, Luxury Houses and more, we are positive we can find the right home for you. Call or just text me at 510-506-2072 and let's get started!
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