It’s a popular question: What are the pros and cons of a newly constructed home vs an existing home? Building a custom home is not a small undertaking. Beyond the investment of both time and money, it is an investment in your family’s future. Before you make the decision to build a new home, you should be clear on why you are doing it. Hopefully, this article can help draw a picture for you on the pluses and minuses for each side and lead you to a decision that makes the most sense for your personal situation.
Are you looking to stay close to where you’re currently living? Or will you be changing metro areas or even moving to a new state? Either way you’ll want to do your research and find out what the current housing market there is doing. Are there already homes on the market in your desired area, school district, etc.? Is there enough inventory to choose from that fall within your budget? If there’s little inventory available, is there land or new areas being developed that you could build on? Location is usually the biggest factor for homeowners and one that sets the stage for what option is most practical.
Existing homes are everywhere! These days neighborhoods often have houses currently on the market, but many times they sell quickly. They may not be your dream home, but the selection is there and given enough time and enough searching, you can likely find something that suits at least most of your needs. On the other hand, it can be a bit tougher to find the right lot for a custom home, but once you do, the opportunities are literally infinite.
This one is probably the most common reason for a family to choose to purchase an existing home. Resale homes of course vary widely in price, from just five figure values in certain areas all the way into the eight figure range if you’re looking to live in the most upscale neighborhoods in the country. Ultimately, the opportunity for a lower sales price is prevalent for resale homes, but that doesn’t include the cost for any needed updates or modernizations. Newly built homes, while also playing within a wide range of costs simply don’t start as low as an older, existing home might, but new homes don’t require any updates or modernizations. So you should consider the total cost in the first year of living in the home to make it what you want for your family, not just the actual sales price.
One problem with an existing home is that it is bound to its neighborhood. Finding a home that you love that exists in a neighborhood that you abhor is a common pitfall of home buying. Many families are searching not only for a house, but for a neighborhood. They want to be in a great school district, close to their family, church, near their office, on a quiet street, or have common infrastructures in place like access to high speed internet or a city sewage system. When it comes to an existing home, it’s back to the old WYSIWYG model - what you see is what you get. When it comes to a custom home, however, you can pick both the floor plan that makes you happy and the neighborhood that you’d love to live in. The two are not connected. If you want it all, you can have it all.
Resale homes are one of the few items in the United States that still run on a negotiation methodology. The listed price is just a starting point and the actual sale might end up higher or lower, depending on numerous factors. There is an opportunity with existing homes to throw a low bid into the ring, not expecting to be able to afford the home at all, and still wind up coming out on top. With new homes, it’s more of a WYSIWYG situation - what you see is what you get. However, while the prices are firm in a new construct, the ability to pick and choose your customizations, design, and other extras, creates a process that can leave a lot of wiggle room for your budget, and at the end of the day, you get exactly what you want.
Beyond price, this might be the other most common reason that people choose to purchase an existing home. Building a new home takes time. There are an incredible number of elements involved in the process starting from city approvals to break ground to the actual construction, plumbing, and electrical work, to the finishing touches and landscaping. Sometimes, the ability to build exactly what you want can be overshadowed by the need to move in months and in this case, finding a resale home would be the best option. Beyond any snags throughout the process, purchasing and moving into a resale home is a relatively quick process. Yet, we urge you to be cognizant of longevity. A few months in an apartment, if relocating or must move quickly, is a blip on the radar of life if it means you can ultimately move into the home of your dreams.
Perhaps the most notable con in a resale home is that you’ll be purchasing a house with a dated floor plan and architectural design. Sure, 25 years ago the house might have been state of the art, but at this point you’re going to find it a bit out of fashion and in need of some updates. When it comes to new build homes, you can obviously choose from a number of modern designs and continue to customize them to your liking, creating something stunning and made to order. Current long term trends like open floor plans don’t often come with an existing home, nor are they built for today’s technology and design such as wall-hung flatscreen televisions. Sure, these things can be worked around and at the end of the day, might not be deal breakers if the price is good, but the time and money needed to update the home design can really add up down the line.
A lure for existing homes is established landscaping that comes with home’s price. Mature trees and developed yards can be sought after elements, particularly on a large plot of land. However, there are plenty of downsides to mature landscaping as well. They have dozens of upkeep needs from falling limbs or leaves, old roots getting into septic systems or bumping against foundations, clogged gutters, rotting plants, or simply not being up to your own aesthetic taste. Changing the landscaping or customizing a yard could be substantial effort or cost, and while new landscaping requires spending extra up front and waiting a while for it to mature, you can decide on every element from the trees to the flowers to the stones and patios.
It’s important to consider the life expectancy of appliances in existing homes vs those in newly built homes, where of course, all of the appliances are brand new. Typically, appliances last an average of 10-20 years, depending on usage and quality, and it’s important to note that “appliances” doesn’t only mean microwaves and refrigerators. You should consider furnaces, garage door openers, ovens, dishwashers and other features that are built into the home and could be costly to replace.
Similar to appliances, the structure, plumbing, electrical, and other elements of an existing home are far more likely to require costly repairs as they are old and worn. It is quite common for costly plumbing or other structural repairs to be needed and must be calculated into the cost of an existing home. While new homes will eventually need similar maintenance, this won’t be for years down the road.
Not all neighborhoods permit new construction, so if a particular street or corner of town interests you, you might be stuck looking for an existing home. This is particularly true of gated communities or any areas with strict regulations on what the facade of the home looks like and how the grounds are kept. On the other hand, a new home provides the opportunity to build a bit off the grid, finding unused space that is ideal for your future.
Oddly enough, tall ceilings and expansive windows are a rather modern trend and likely one that is here to stay, as it brings a pleasurable and spacious feel to the home. While existing homes tend to feature 8-foot ceilings that can make a room feel cramped, custom homes from Schumacher Homes are not only designed with luxurious, 9-foot ceilings, but the customization process allows you to open parts of the home to even more options. Similarly, our custom homes are built with windows in mind, offering vast, scenic views and warm natural lighting throughout the home. Older, existing homes, tend to have smaller windows, often adorned with screens and shutters.
Options and customizations are important for any family when moving into a new home and existing homes simply don’t offer any of that. Finding the right way to position your favorite artwork or the ability to situate your master bedroom in just the right way can be quite a pain to deal with if you just spent a small fortune on a resale home. With a custom home, you can be sure to think about the design and ultimate comfort of your house before starting construction. This ensures that you and your family are as comfortable as possible from the moment that you move in.
You want to spend your money on home equity, not energy bills. In a new home, the windows are more energy efficient, the lighting and plumbing fixtures are better equipped to moderate energy, and the insulation is superior to an existing home when it comes to maintaining your home’s temperate climate. Utilities in a new home tend to be significantly lower than those of an existing home for all of these reasons plus the fact that they are equipped with the newer appliances mentioned above, which also tend to be more energy efficient.
There are plenty of great reasons to purchase an existing home, but ultimately the only true benefits are the opportunity for a lower price when compared to a custom home and the ability to move in quite quickly if necessary.
While Schumacher Homes do take time to build, our processes are extremely streamlined and our subcontractors are highly vetted and of the utmost quality, leading to a best-in-class speed and build for custom homes. As for cost, Schumacher Homes is ready and willing to work with all of our customers to find an opportunity within your budget. We have a number of financial partners who are happy to help you better understand your finances and develop a plan to purchase your new home.
Schumacher Homes, based in Canton, Ohio, is America’s largest custom homebuilder, with operations in 32 markets in 14 states across the country. The National Housing Quality award winning company has built over 19,000 homes, customized to fit each family’s lifestyle, since its founding by Paul Schumacher in 1992. Schumacher Homes takes each customer’s inspiration and gives it a home. Each Schumacher Homes location includes a one-stop shopping design studio and model homes displaying the latest in architectural and product trends. Stop in today, be inspired and receive your no obligation price quote.