Many buyers today are finding no shortage of resale homes to consider, but choosing a resale over a new home may not be the best option for all. The biggest draw of resale homes is their relatively cheap price, but it’s important to remember that you get what you pay for. Here are 5 reasons to buy a new home over a resale from U.S. News.
1. You can customize a new home. One of the biggest benefits to buying a new home is that the buyer can customize and tailor the home to fit their specific needs. For instance, in building a new home, buyers can choose where the bathrooms will be, what kind of flooring will be in each room, and sometimes even the lot on which the home will sit. These kinds of options are really great for people who know what their specific needs and wants are or for buyers who want a home that they know can support their needs for many years to come. In buying a resale, home owners just aren’t afforded that luxury. Customizing resale homes is a very difficult and expensive process, and sometimes it’s just downright impossible.
2. Energy efficiency. Whether you’re building your own home or buying a new one that’s already been built, chances are your home will have top of the line energy-efficient appliances. Some of the best things about having energy efficient appliances are the tax breaks you get at the end of the year and, of course, lower utility bills. Green systems and energy-efficient appliances can help save homeowners thousands of dollars throughout the year. Older resale homes are usually not equipped with these new, green, energy-efficient machines, and thus end up costing the buyer more in utilities. It is possible to retrofit resale properties, but replacing all of those large appliances can get very expensive.
3. Fewer repairs. New homes haven’t experienced the wear and tear that resale homes have, which means that features of a new home will most likely hold up better than features of older homes. For example, when buying older pre-owned homes, many buyers will find that they need to replace the carpet, repaint the walls, re-insulate the attic, etc. These are things that new homeowners really don’t have to deal with.
4. Less maintenance. Many of the new homes on the market are specifically engineered to minimize maintenance requirements for the homeowner. Patrick Costello, president of Forty West Builders, based in Ellicott City, Md, says that his company doesn’t use wood for exterior trim, since it is susceptible to rotting and often requires repainting, but instead uses composite, which means less work for the homeowner. Older homes typically aren’t endowed with this kind of technology, which, again, means more work for the homeowner.
5. The warranty perk. When having a home built, many buyers can negotiate a contract in which the builder will agree to take care of necessary repair work in the home for the first year, at minimum. Other components of the home will be under warranty for longer than the first year, in almost all cases. So, necessary repair work could include anything from a leaky roof to a broken heater, and if either of these things happen within the warranty period, the builder pays to have it repaired. When buying a resale home, there is no chance of taking advantage of a builder’s warranty.
For more reasons to buy a new home rather than a resale, and to read the full article from US News, click here!
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