Pros and Cons of Building a House
Do you prefer to build your own house or buy an existing one? This is the usual buyer’s conundrum that homeowners looking for a new home always end up going up against. In retrospect, both options come with their own set of pros and cons (which we will get into shortly), so the final decision really falls upon the homeowner as to which them they prefer more to their liking.
Buying A New Home
There are several types of advantages that await you if you decide to build your own house. Some of them include the following:
Pros
1. Freedom Of Customisation
The biggest benefit when you decide to build a home is the freedom of customization. This means you get to decide the finishes, the colors, the style, the floor plan, and several other creative decisions. Want an open floor plan? Done. a driveway? All on you. Typically, the only thing stopping you from getting your way is your budget.
2. Save On Utilities And The Environment
Another thing about building homes from scratch is that they should be up to the latest building codes and standards. What this means is that your new custom-built home will be constructed using modern and energy-efficient building practices and materials.
It might be a big investment initially, but you’ll be saving money in the long-run as well as the environment. Plenty of construction companies these days are making houses that are LEED-certified (houses designed to be energy efficient and happened certified per the US Green Building Council’s Green Building requirements).
3. You Won’t Have To Worried About Competing With Other Buyers
Another amazing benefit that comes with building your own home is the lack of buyer competition. You won’t have to make dealings with a seller who may already have a buyer in place if you’re going for a house that already exists. Having other potential homeowners in line for one house greatly reduces one’s chances of owning it. This is what building a house sidesteps altogether.
4. Everything Is New And Fresh
Houses that are built from the ground up, come with fresh walls, ceilings, and a relatively stronger structural integrity than resale homes. In other words, you won’t have to worry about remodeling, cleaning stains or repairing anything for a long time. Also, the walls and crawl spaces are not old or smelling of mold or mildew.
Cons
Now comes the painful parts about building a home from the ground up.
1. It’ll Take Time Before You Move In
How long to build a house?
Like Rome, no custom-built is built in under a day. This is even true even if you had the cheapest house to build. As a matter of fact, should everything go well, your new house could be built somewhere between 4 to 6 months, according to Realtor.com, when there are many homes that are almost ready to move in on the market, like on this website, for example.
However, in some cases, custom houses can take longer to build, like between 10 months or more down the line. And this isn’t even accounting the natural elements like weather, schedule changes, labor, construction laborers, permits, earthquakes, viral outbreaks or anything that could cause your brand new property to be delayed.
2. Negotiating Is Out Of The Picture
Resale homes have many potential buyers and are very likely to negotiate on prices. Buyers can even have a look at the price and sales history of previous homes from major real estate companies - not to mention the cost of other homes around the area they’re interested in. But not when it comes to custom homes.
3. Higher Costs
When compared to resale homes, you end up paying more for your custom house. Some of the obvious costs that your budget will be there most of the brunt of include air conditioning, heating, driveway, landscaping, electricity, lighting, and so much more.
4. Building In High-Demand Places Isn’t Likely
Although it is possible to buy land and then build a house in high-traffic locations, it’s a lot tougher and requires a bit of luck, and relatively more expensive then you can imagine. That’s why it makes more sense to build houses that are further away from high-traffic locations.
Besides, new houses are usually built in new developments or on pieces of land that you own. Not that it can’t be done at great locations, but it’s less likely due to the cost, and if you’re attempting to buy land while also building a house, the accumulated costs could be quite steep.
5. Construction And Traffic Noise Could Be A Bother
One of the most unusual problems that may arise from building a new home doesn’t have anything to do with the house itself, but rather the construction noise that comes with it. There are some states that have policies regarding tolerable levels of construction noise any amount of time required for construction in a certain area. In other words, it’s a rule against disturbing the peace.
Conclusion
If you play your cards right and have the budget for it, you most certainly can build your own house without much trouble. If you think this isn’t for you, then you can simply opt for a resale house that is a more affordable option only without the creative customizations involved.
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