Buying new houses vs old houses
1. “Needed Repairs” Increase Home Value– In general, you can expect to see an increase in the value of your home when you do things like replace your AC unit, furnace, or roof. You will get a higher offer on your home with these things than without. So while the idea of buying a home with an old water heater that you’ll need to replace sounds crazy, you’ll pay less than if it had been upgraded for you (always use this as bargaining power! request that they do so, or include it in the value of the house). This combination can be a great way to buy a good house at a good price.
2. “No Regrets” Design Changes: That parquet floor has been around long enough to put aside any regrets about tearing it out and replacing it. Those ’80s tiles, feel free to rip them out. Trends expire and it is better to remove tiles that have already gone out of style than new tiles that have hardly been seen in use. And you can replace it with whatever you want, whereas constructors normally have a selection you can choose from.
3. Charm “Old House” – it is more expensive to buy new “charming” details. Like old tile and parquet floors, the crown molding and carved wood accents you’ll often find in older homes have “paid their due” and are cheaper to buy in that older home. You will find decorating with these details a joy as they are visually interesting and beautiful.
4. Cheaper to Buy Upfront – Older homes can be cheaper to buy upfront for the same square footage in the same area. This has a lot to do with the labor costs involved in new construction. You’re paying people’s wages when you buy those homes, while you’re just buying property value from a seller of an older home.
5. Established Neighborhoods: Older homes are in older neighborhoods and this can mean lovely shade provided by mature trees, grassy yards, parks, and more. Drive through a vintage neighborhood and you’ll see the benefits with mature landscaping and variety of people who live there.
6. Remodeling Potential – Because homes are often cheaper, lots are typically larger, and homes are not as close together, there is typically plenty of room to remodel an older home. Go ahead and combine it with the no. #2 and you’ll be in it to win it, right?
7. Energy Efficiency – Yes! Surprisingly, I am going to tell you that buying an old house can benefit your bank account. Smaller houses are less expensive to heat and cool. As long as you have or upgrade existing insulation features, smaller rooms and lower ceilings will be noticeably cheaper to maintain comfort. And on the other end of things, older homes weren’t equipped with modern cooling and heating, so they were built with features that kept them cooler (no electricity, yup, lower electric bills!)
8. Issues Already Discovered and Addressed: As long as the previous owners were not totally corrupt, any issues that have arisen from the home construction will already have been addressed. Things like settling have probably already happened (true story: my parents bought new construction and have big patches around the doors on one side of their house where they repaired the settling cracks in the new house).
9. Variety in Options/Styles/Layouts/Layouts – When you buy from a builder, you get options. These options are consistent in choice with all other homes the builder is selling. When you shop in a vintage neighborhood, you get a variety of styles, options, and finishes to choose from.
10. Location: Older houses are usually located closer to desirable parts of the city. My oldest house is located near the beach, other older houses in our city are located in beautiful neighborhoods right next to downtown. The newer construction homes are usually built on old tree-filled lots and are quite out of the way (and if you want to be out of the way, there are usually lovely old farmhouses out there!)
11. Faster move-in: It makes sense that an already-built house would be faster to move into than one that doesn’t exist yet, right?
For more information – Mantri Developers