With great pricing and availability today in new home communities, why would you ever buy a used home? While used homes or short sales may sound like a great deal, there are so many more reasons to buy new.
Here are 8 great reasons to consider new verses used as you dive into the housing market and become a homeowner.
1) Quality Construction: Have you ever visited an older home and noticed exterior paint pealing, floors creaking, and a slight breeze through windows or doors even when they’re closed? Each year construction methods improve. With more durable, low maintenance materials and improved building codes, a new home is more airtight and needs less overall care than their older cousins.
2) Pick Your Options: When you walk into a used home you see cabinets that aren’t your first choice, floor coverings that don’t match your tastes and more. When you purchase new, you get to sit down with an array of colors, materials, and styles to choose from in order to make a house reflect your own personal taste.
3) Cleanliness: How do you feel about old toenail clippings or what a black light might uncover as you walk across 5 year-old carpets in that “bargain” foreclosure? Not to mention the things that find their way into crevices of kitchens and bathrooms…in a new home you have the unmistakable pleasure of being the first person to live in the home. It’s truly a clean slate.
4) No Surprises: Used homes may seem like a great deal until you move in and 3 months later the hot water heater blows, the roof leaks, or the dishwasher needs to be replaced. New homes come with new appliances and guarantees.
5) Warranties: A good home builder will provide security against those surprises that happen with a used home. When you buy new you receive builders’ warranties, structural warranties, and the manufacturers warranties that come with new appliances and other materials used to construct your home.
6) Community Lifestyle: New home communities are designed with community in mind. Many have the benefits of walking trails, parks, playgrounds, swimming pools and other amenities that bring the community together. Since everyone in the neighborhood is new you get to take advantage of making new friends and shaping the neighborhood and your lifestyle at the same time.
7) Energy Efficiency: With current industry standards pushing toward greater energy efficiency and smaller environmental footprints, homes are being built with everything from Low-E windows to low flow toilets to reduce consumption and keep bills down. Older homes do not have the benefit of these technologies.
8) No Updating Nightmares: Older homes often look like a good deal if you could just move that wall, put in better lighting, and gut the hot pink bathroom. What you don’t realize is a small project can get out of hand quickly when you peal back the surface. With a new home you can get involved in the process, choose your options and layouts upfront and get what you want the first time through.
These are just 8 of many reasons why new beats out used every time.
