Choosing a New House: New Construction or Existing?

Are you considering buying a new home in a newly developed community? 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?

purchasing new construction is significantly various than buying a used home. It isn’t always harder (in many ways it’s easier) but you do need to consider different factors and ask many questions.

With older construction, you need to bring in an engineer to inspect the home and look for defects. Every older house could have problems, and very often the repair will fall on the new housebuyer. From the seller’s angle, 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 older home because it needs repairs.

New construction, in contrast, should be handed-over in great condition. While you will certainly need to do a walk-through inspection prior to closing, the process is much simpler. During construction, you may very often inspect the progression of work as it is being done. If you find something that is an problem, you are able to promptly correct it during the construction phase as opposed to going back and fixing it at a later time. Since many repairs and existing houses are the product of the age-such as cracked foundations, sagging walls, leaky ceilings, and dripping pipes, leaky faucets, cracked tiles, drafty windows, lack of insulation, etc., you could have very few of these problems with a newly built home.

While you can certainly hire an engineer to inspect a newly built home, they’re generally searching for defects that generally are not present in a new house. Also, since many new houses carry a warranty, you have a level of protection you would not have with a used house.

Don’t be fooled by the cost of an used house. The asking price is just one piece of the picture. The additions and repairs necessary to get the home in the way you need can add tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of that house. Additionally, you often need to come up with that money “out of pocket.” In contrast, the newly built home is in as ideal of condition as possible, which is built into the asking 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 3400 sq.ft. is just over $1 million. The house is in brand-new perfect condition and ready to move-in. A similar “used” house in the area of the same size may be $950,000. While it may seem that you “save” $75,000 on a old home, you’re purchasing a home that’s twenty years old, will last 20 years less, and already has 20 years of wear and tear. Since most houses have a useful life of 65-75 years, you’d be buying a house with less long term value.

With existing houses, you could need to renovate. The kitchen could need to be replaced, bathrooms updated, and serious repairs made. The used house may not be the exact layout you want. This may require architectural changes to the house – which could demand six months of remodeling while you’re living in the house. These additions may cost $50-$100,000 and will be money you will need to produce out of pocket. Had you purchased the new home 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 home on the day you close.

So does this mean new houses 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 problems. 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 bought the home and have no one to turn to. Items such as a leaky faucet or cracked tile can easily be fixed or replaced by the builder at no additional cost whereas doing such repairs on your own with the older house needs time and money on your end.

TIP: Be sure to work with a reputable 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; moving walls after rooms have been built can be very expensive, whereas relocating them before building is started will carry relatively low cost.

Craig Axelrod is one of the senior developers with Emmy Homes. Emmy is which is one of Long Island’s most established home builders. Emmy’s Commack real estate features luxury homes in Commack. Visit EmmyHomes.com for more details.