Owning a house commands such financial commitment, way too big, to make the wrong decision. Sitting on the fence between building or buying a house can be a dicey scale. A lot of determinants must be factored in to be able to take a smart decision that will, at least, seem right in the nearest future.
When you finally adjudge yourself ready for that next step of owning a house, the real estate riddle, building a home vs buying a house can only be solved if you assess and objectively give a personalized answer to varying questionable factors. Below are 5 basic questions that should facilitate your judgement.
1. Where Do You Want Your Home Located?
The choice of an ideal location for your permanent residence is key. You will prefer a home comparatively located close to your place of work, kids’ school (if you are a family man), or around people of similar social and oriental status.
With location, you face many uncertainties when choosing to buy a house, since you may not find a befitting house in your desired location and may need to compromises between buying, for instance, a two-bedroom as against a three-bedroom house. However, it might be easier to purchase a land and erect your custom-home in your selected location.
2. How Long Can You Wait Before You Move In?
Building a house is not ideal, if you are in a hurry to move into your home. Construction projects usually requires you to wait for quite a significant amount of time. Ideally, a new building takes between 6-months to 11-months before completion. Consequently, you may have to buy a house, supposing you are in a time crunch.
3. How Much Will the House Cost?
Buying a house is often considered cheaper than building one, since, customization typically comes with an extra fee. Also, when you choose to build, there are uncertainties in budget, as time and market forces may influence estimates and contractor's quotations, over time.
Nonetheless, buying a house may also come with extra cost. For instance, if you end up in a bidding war. More significantly, too, purchasing a house with, foreseeable or unforeseeable, wearing utilities may lead to uncontrollable cost in remodeling, since such fixtures may need a complete overhauled. Also, an old house may suffer poor energy efficiency which may indicate higher energy cost payment over time.
Notably, depending on your taste, deciding to build may yet be less costly, and you are better assured of your expected future maintenance cost.
4. Are You Emotional Ready for A Stressful Undertaken?
A lot of time and effort must be committed to owning a house. Usually, there is a level of stress involved even in buying a house. You may seek long for a befitting house in your ideal locations or may fall into a bidding struggle.
However, this cannot be compared to the stress involve in building a house; you need to find the right contractor, research on each and every supply, get physically ready for day-to-day supervision and management role, etc. Consequently, you need to considered your availability and potentials to accommodate the required stress level involved in building rather than buying a house
5.How Much Do You Love/Need Customization?
Finally, how many compromises are you open to and how much customization do you absolutely need? Answers to these should direct your ultimate choice of whether to buy or build a new house. It is almost impossible to find an existing house to buy that will perfectly meet your personalized and family needs.
We all want to own brand-new custom-made things. With custom-home, you enjoy total control over your floor plan, ventilation plan, lighting, landscaping appeals, bathroom and kitchen utilities, living room and bedroom size, etc. Building a new home rather than buying a house will certainly better accommodates your need and family’s peculiarities.