Should I buy a new home? When this question comes up and your present abode no longer fits your life or lifestyle, and you’re ready to trade up or move on, one of the first questions to ask is, what do you want to buy?
There are innumerable answers, depending on the circumstances. However, many buyers begin by asking whether they should buy a new home or a resale home.
The conundrum tends to boil down to these four major factors: price, timing, location and energy. We at ICI Homes have built new custom Florida homes all over the state for more than four decades, so we understand when potential customers wrestle with these decision topics!
If that’s you, read on for more details about whether to buy a new home or a resale. But first, take a look at our previous article on why new construction has great value for savvy buyers.
New = a fresh start
That’s what you get with new construction. You and/or your household are the first residents of your new custom Florida home, which — particularly if you had it built from scratch — is outfitted with your choices of flooring, cabinetry, countertops, paint colors, and many different design options that make it utterly yours.
You get a personalized fresh start the moment you move into your new home. All it requires is you and the contents of your moving van. If you choose a resale, you’re moving into someone else’s former home. Perhaps many someone’s former home.
Which leads us to…
Fix it or forget it
A resale home — even an renovated one — isn’t new and hasn’t been tailored to you and your household. The older the resale, the higher the likelihood that it won’t be a perfect match for your lifestyle and tastes.
What’s the option? Renovation. Which tends not to be cheap.
If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, re-painting walls and replacing cabinetry hardware and plumbing fixtures can be cost-effective weekend projects.
However, landscaping overhauls, new flooring, or transforming a resale’s floor plan to make it more livable usually aren’t cost-effective. Most of us tend to hire renovation contractors to complete these extended projects.
So, be prepared to add any future home-renovation costs on top of a resale’s purchase price, closing costs and moving bills. That’s the real, total cost of buying a resale.
You may have heard or read that building or buying a new-construction home is more expensive than a resale. We just explained why that’s often not the case!
Inventory homes for the win
Need to move fast because of personal or professional deadlines? Or, don’t want to wait on a construction timeline?
ICI Homes offers inventory homes, also known as move-in-ready homes, in every master-planned community we develop and those where we’re preferred builders. They’re popular floor plans built with timeless and neutral exterior and interior design elements, that appeal to a wide range of potential customers who can’t or don’t want to wait on construction. Often they’re completed or underway, which reduces the hassle of quickly buying new construction.
If you’ve answered yes to the question “should I buy a new home?” then you’re ready for your new custom Florida home. Talk to ICI Homes here.