Building a home vs. Buying a home?

[AdamDuritz99]

So lets say you want to own a home. Well you have options, you could look at homes that are selling on the market or you could buy some land and build your own home. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

peace
sean

 

[MikeMike]

building your own home means that it can be exactly what you want it to be. laid out how you want it to be with everything to your specifications and your choice of land.

buying i dont know the advantages of this over building.


MIKE

 

[spidey07]

Advantage of building = you get brand new and exactly what you want. new HVAC, outlets/cables where you want, appliances, pick out light fixtures, paint, everything. Disadvantages = pain in the rear, but worth it IMHO.

Buying a home = what you see is what you get, not so much a pain. But could be wrought with problems...you never know. Althought with building you can have problem as well but at least you're under warranty and they have to fix them.

 

[AdamDuritz99]

well is it more expensive to go one route than the other?

 

[vi edit]

Buying is infinitely more convenient.

Building offers you more control over what you get. But at the expense of having to

- buy a lot
- buy plans/hire architech
- hire construction company
- get construction loan
- make sure you house your house is built on time
- make sure general contractor isn't a douche and keep busting his balls so that stuff gets done on time
- worry about your house not being done on time
- again hastle GC about getting stuff done on time
- worry more about getting in on the house one time
- roll construction loan into "normal" mortgage when construction is complete
- then find out your house isn't finished yet



Seriously though....building a house is really stressful.

 

[sjetexas]

I built.

But buying an existing home could mean the neighborhood is more established. Closer to town, mature trees (often new subdivisions have all the trees cleared), a proven track record in home value. Really depends on your area. These factors aren't always true, but something to look into.

 

[dullard]

A lot of factors. Here are some which weren't mentioned above.
[*]Building: you can't move in right away. In fact, you really won't know when you ever will move in. Buying lets you get an exact date. Less costly overlap of housing expenses.
[*]Building: massive shortage of good materials right now - likely you'll get a subpar home. Yes you can get a great house, but the chance is not 100%.
[*]Building: you need two simultaneous loans (assuming you have a current mortgage) as you have to pay for both during the building months. Lots of interest expense for this.

Said above, but building is major stress. Especially when the outlets aren't built where you want, etc.

 

[AdamDuritz99]

are there any other advantages building a home other than you get what you want.

peace
sean

 

[OffTopic1]

Building your own home:

Advantage:
pick you own lot/location
pick/design your own plan
have everything in the house the way you wanted
Save money if you pick the right builder/contractors.

Disadvantage:
could pick/design a crummy plan if you aren?t careful
stress
have to be at working site to talk to the contractors at least once a week (preferably 1-2 hours every working day)
easy to have cost over run
project time over run


Purchase your own home:

Advantage:
get your home the minute you sign on the dotted line
you know what you get, no cost over run
might be able to pick you location
less stress than building your own home

Disadvantage:
might cost more than building your own home
might contain hidden cost on the long run, because the contractor cut corners


A cost for an average new house in my area is about $380K CAD. The average empty lot around here is about $175-210K. The average cost to built an average home is between $150K (on the low side built by cut corner companies), and about $175K for a good reputable company.

Total cost to built your own home would be $325K to $385K. The $325K will be the same quality as the average home that you can purchase from a real estate company for $380K, and the $385K will be the better home with everything that you want.

<-- I'm thinking of quiting IT &amp; become a contractor because I like to work outdoor/have more control/make more money. An average contractor built about 4 good quality houses per year netting @ about $65K per home.

 

[psiu]

Originally posted by: AdamDuritz99
are there any other advantages building a home other than you get what you want.

peace
sean

Depends on what you mean by building. If you do some of the work yourself, you could save quite a bit.

 

[Ornery]

It's all about location, location, location. Where I live, all the best locations were purchased and built on decades ago. No empty lots are available in the very best locations at all. If you don't mind the compromise of longer commutes, and being a few miles from the nearest freeway/expressway, shopping or both, then buying a lot may be OK for you.

There are suburbs around here farther from the city, that do have lots closer to the freeway, but you can be sure you'll always be headed in the same direction every time you get on it, because there's absolutely NOTHING in the other direction.

Hey, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Just buy an existing house in a good location, and raze it. Build another from scratch!

 

[rh71]

how about buy a smaller one with potential and build up on it ? It's going to cost us less than $100k to build a nice 2nd floor rather than buying a colonial with a 2nd floor already. Compare upgrading after buying total: $400k to buying a colonial of $500k (that isn't even new).

 

[OffTopic1]

Originally posted by: Ornery
It's all about location, location, location. Where I live, all the best locations were purchased and built on decades ago. No empty lots are available in the very best locations at all. If you don't mind the compromise of longer commutes, and being a few miles from the nearest freeway/expressway, shopping or both, then buying a lot may be OK for you.

There are suburbs around here farther from the city, that do have lots closer to the freeway, but you can be sure you'll always be headed in the same direction every time you get on it, because there's absolutely NOTHING in the other direction.

Hey, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Just buy an existing house in a good location, and raze it. Build another from scratch!

That is a good suggestion, but it would raise the cost by about 20-30%. Many people in my area do just that because they have the money &amp; willing to absorb the extra cost for location.

 

[OffTopic1]

Originally posted by: rh71
how about buy a smaller one with potential and build up on it ? It's going to cost us less than $100k to build a nice 2nd floor rather than buying a colonial with a 2nd floor already. Compare upgrading after buying total: $400k to buying a colonial of $500k (that isn't even new).

I don't know what the cost in your labor market is like, but just to raise a house one level for an empty basement would cost around $50-55K CAD here (in cluding permits &amp; inspections). A finish basement would easily hit another $50K or more.

Most of the time it is more work &amp; cost more to purchase a old house &amp; refit, than raze &amp; rebuilt.

 

[Ornery]

I'm surprised everybody in CA doesn't do that. The structures are only worth a fraction of what the property is, and building materials probably don't cost any more there, than anyplace else in the country.

I saw a home repair show that featured a house in CA. The owners were fretting about putting $10-$20,000 worth of repairs in this POS house that cost a half million. WTF? Tear it down and build another... damn!

 

[dirtboy]

When you build a home it's new!

 

[Ornery]

I've got news dirt, some new house aren't worth the dirt they're sitting on. Builders have zero incentive to use quality materials or craftsmanship on any part of the house. So long as it passes local building codes, it's good enough. Even if you have it built, there are MANY corners that can be cut, and believe me, they WILL be cut!