Buy VS Build: The Pros & Cons

It’s a classic conundrum for all homeowners and one that deserves your serious consideration. Do you buy your house, or do you build it? When it comes down to it, it’s not just about preference. You have to weigh up what the most important aspect of a new home is to you. Do you want a home that has never been lived in and that you’ve had the chance to have input in, or do you want the convenience of moving straight into a property that you can call your own. Below, we’re going to explore the pros and cons of both so that you can make a more informed choice on the biggest asset of your life.
One To Buy
When you think about buying a house, you always start searching homes already on the market. You can do it from your smartphone, so it’s easy to start with when you’re looking for affordable new build homes. There aren’t enough homes out there that are new with updated modern conveniences, so it makes a lot of sense that you would want to start looking for the most modern home possible. There are some good pros for buying a ready-made house:

• A blank canvas for you to work with. You get to move straight in and get started stamping your personality all over it.
• Some developers out there may pay your stamp duty fees to clinch a sale: bonus!
• The newly built houses always have the most modern appliances and installations.

As with anything, they also come with their cons which are so important to know before you move in.

• New build houses are often lacking in space; quickly built and compact.
• The newly built houses also get a bad press sometimes, given that they haven’t had time to settle and have been built up too quickly. This then means you are looking at cracks in the walls and foundations.
• The houses can also be tied to conveyancers.

One To Build
If you decide to go down the route of buying land and getting builders in to actually build the house from the ground up, you get the floorplan that you want but you have to wait around for it to be built before you can get in there. Here are the pros:

• You get to customise a house that you are building. From the fixtures and fittings to the location of each room in the house, it’s yours to decide on.
• The big repairs of a home aren’t a problem right away for you.
• You get energy-efficient materials, given that you are working with a modern builder.

Even houses that are yet to be built have their cons:

• You have to wait around for it to be built before you can move in.
• You don’t have much room to negotiate the price.
• You’ll have to deal with construction noise if you decide to move in and live while it’s half finished.

Whichever way that you choose to go, always learn the pros and cons, because it could make a huge difference to your future.