House is a lifetime investment that requires a lot of financial consideration, as well as throughout planning to be put into. If you’re about to make such an investment or if you’re just looking into your options to determine what might work best for you in the future, one of the first questions that might bother you is whether you should buy an already existing home or take your time and effort to build your own one. For different people, the initial answer to the question, based on their pure preferences, but not on financial reasoning, might differ depending on their family needs and current situation.
Someone would really like to design and build their custom dream house instead of wasting time on looking through what’s available on the housing market hoping that someone else has already built the exact house they envision as the perfect one. Others are completely comfortable with the idea of purchasing a pre-owned home and conducting a few renovations to make it look and feel their own. In fact, they would much buy a house to be able to move in immediately, but not deal with the mountains of work and patience involved in house building.
However, if building a house of your own and putting your heart and soul into it is something that suits your family and dreams and it’s the financial side of the issue that is the deal breaker for you, this info will hopefully help you answer the hot question: ‘Is it cheaper to build or buy a house’.
Build or buy a house: what’s better and cheaper?
Pros and cons of building a house
The practical pros of building your own home, apart from your dreams and ambitions, are:
- the fact that you may design it however you want
- the possibility to change the layout of the rooms in the basic plan suggested by your contractor
- the ability to choose the materials that won’t harm the health of your family members, as well as make your house more sustainable, eco-friendly and modern
- the chance to improve your own construction skills and knowledge
- the possibility to include the features most homes don’t have (like a shower for a dog in the garage, a living attic, a cold storage, custom stairs,
- the chance to meet the builders and contractors that will help you in your further life
- moving into a completely finished home that doesn’t require any remodels once everything is done
- installing newest appliances that include modern technological advancements and energy saving benefits, bathroom equipment, carpets, hardwood floors, plumbing and heating systems that won’t have to be repaired or replaced anytime soon (thus – no upgrading expenses in the near future)
- a greater level of satisfaction when walking into the finished house you helped to build and design and understanding that you’re going to spend the rest of your life in a home that meets all of your expectations
- the warranty and the higher value of a newer home will be quite beneficial if you have to sell it someday
- the opportunity to work with an interior designer and create a cozy, but elegant atmosphere in your house
- you’ll get to witness the step-by-step process of your future home building, make necessary readjustments on the go and create the ‘once in a lifetime’ memories, shared with your family.
Drawbacks of building a home of your own:
- you have to find and buy a lot prior to building a home on it, and that might be quite difficult to do if you’re looking for a place in a well-developed neighborhood closer to the downtown
- you need to do your research to find reliable and highly qualified contractors for each part of the home construction (builders, excavators, plumbers, HVAC contractors, flooring and painting contractors, landscapers and carpenters) and make sure they cooperate nicely to ensure smooth and effective house building process
- additional landscaping costs and projects related to the lot improvement
- the higher costs of construction if compared to a purchase of an existing home (for instance, according to the National Association of Realtors and the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012, the average price of an existing home was $225,800, when the average costs of building a new one were around $292,000)
- the estimated costs often go up once the unexpected expenses and raise of material prices occur
- the overhead cost of the project is never clear till the house is actually done
- the previous drawback causes significant difficulties in receiving a bank loan of the required amount of money
- the deadlines are often postponed
As you assess all the pros and cons of building your home, you should understand that the financial side of the issue is always different in various areas and neighborhoods. Besides, you always have a chance to lower the construction costs by working closely with your builder and making the full use of the money-saving possibilities different construction firms and building stores have to offer. Seasonal discounts are always a plus.
Finally, a new custom home is a better investment than the pre-owned one, as the newer the house is, the more value it has and the less renovation and remodeling investments it will require during the time your family will live in it. And that’s the major factor that makes up for the higher construction costs, the stress of building a house from scratch and the bumps that inevitably occur on the road.
So, is it cheaper to build a house? No. Is it less expensive in the long run? Definitely.
Why you might/might not want to buy an existing house
As we’ve already determined, it’s a lot less stressful and way cheaper to buy a house than to build it. Besides, the process of purchasing a home doesn’t normally involve as many difficulties and steps as home construction, especially if you don’t set your expectations too high, understand your financial capability and get ready to be flexible about the features the house has to include for you to be ready to purchase it.
In addition to that, when buying a home, you always see what you’re paying for, while when building one you rarely can tell whether you’ll like it or not, unless you use an already existing house as the ‘role model’ for your construction.
Moreover, the appliances, kitchen furniture, and bathroom stuff are already included in the price of an existing home, which saves a lot of money of the home buyer, who usually doesn’t have additional upgrading finances after the big purchase.
At the same time, you need to be aware of the hidden costs of a pre-owned house purchase, which may include the need to replace old piping, refinish the floors and the walls, hire a plumber to replace old bathtubs, leaky toilets and sinks, old-fashioned kitchen cabinets, repair a worn-out roof, install new windows and deal with numerous other issues and breakdowns older homes can’t help but feature. Thus, you’ll have to invest the money you’ll save when buying an existing home in its throughout remodel, which neutralizes the financial benefits of the purchasing a house and makes the benefits of building a new one even more attractive. Consequently, buying something pre-owned isn’t always the way to save money, as you’ll have to spend some to make it functional and great for living.
Thus, building a home and dealing with the stress once to settle down in the brand-new premises for a while may sound more appealing than looking for an acceptable home in a family-friendly neighborhood, going through the purchasing steps, moving into the pre-owned home with the ugly wall paint color and hidden issues you’ll discover throughout your lifetime. But, as always, the decision is all yours.
If you embark on the house building journey, make sure to visit HireRush.com to find the contractors you’ll need for the process.
I wish you good luck and a great deal no matter which way of obtaining your own house you choose!
