Build or Buy new home

[Takemetoothemoo]

Looking at buying in a newish community what is the best bang for buck in today’s market?

A) Build a new house
B) Buying a spec home or Few years old home.

[Masked Bandit]

If you can find a spec home that HAS NEVER BEEN LIVED IN, there may be some fantastic deals out there. The house beside us FINALLY sold after being ready in December of 2007! The people that bought it ended up paying about $120,000 LESS that what that house would have been to build. Sure, the price to build has come down in the last couple of years but I don't think that far.

Of course this all depends on finding a house you ACTUALLY LIKE. I've built my last three properties simply because I want to get exactly what I want (although it kind of went sideways on the last one).

[Sugarphreak]

With the crappy Market it is cheaper to buy an existing home than build a new one right now.

There are a lot of vacant homes bought up by speculators or still under the control of the builder which you can get a very good deal on.

[nickyh]

For the price point my husband and I were looking at, it made more sense to build.
The only bite was the GST on a new home purchase, but at least we have the benefit of the house being our selections from start to finish.

There are some really good builder incentives out there plus they can refer you to their mortgage specialists which give you a better rate as it's a bulk business.

We are able to hold our rate with RBC right now for the entire build process, which any broker right now cannot guarentee.

We also looked at used and I know the right home is out there, but it would take the time to find - but then time is against us.

[barmanjay]

another thing to consider when building

blinds and curtains - expect upwards to 5k if you want decent/quality
washer/dryer - most new builds dont have washer and dryer
minior repairs and adjustments - settling over the next 2-3 years
landscaping - all new builds dont have sod or fencing, whereas the likelyhood of a home to have at least sod is high on a house 3 yrs old.

[Xtrema]

build:

Pro:
- able to pick anything you want, location, lot, style, upgrades

Con:
- pricey and builder has your balls.
- may lose you mind dealing with builder on changes


Buy:

Pro:
- balls in your court, pricing negotiable.

Con:
- too hard to find the "right one"

[Nate]

Depends on what you want. I looked at close to 70 houses. Then I found a spec house that they had not even started building yet. So I did get to choose some things. It is 500-700 sq ft bigger than most of the houses I looked at in the same price range. Most of the houses that were only a few years old needed a fair bit of upkeep already, paint, carpet, hardwood refinishing etc. Seems like most people do not take good care of thier homes these days. I decided for the cost of the upkeeps on the newish homes I looked at I could do the stuff a new home needs. I also had them add a washer and dryer.