Building vs Buying A Home: Which Is Better For You?

2021 November 8

Your home is an investment. It’s where you’ll spend years of your life growing a family, spending time with friends and loved ones, and creating some of the most precious memories of your lifetime. 

When it comes to building your dream home, you don’t want to have to make compromises, and you shouldn’t have to. Due to the housing market and state of the economy in recent years, it has become increasingly harder for families to accomplish having the home of their dreams. But with the right information and a good plan, it is still possible.

The options available to you in the housing market can be confusing, and there are a lot of misunderstandings about both buying and building a home. For example, what are the benefits of building a home versus buying one? 

Keep reading to learn about the difference between building a home versus buying a home.

Differences in Building Vs. Buying a Home

Finding a Plot of Land

When building a new home, the first thing you should do is figure out what land requirements you need to serve your dream home. Then, buy a plot of land available for construction. 

Fortunately for you, there are many resources out there for potential new homeowners laying out plans, tips, and tricks to finding a perfect plot of land.

If you buy a home, finding a plot of land is irrelevant for you. However, thinking through what kind of land you want your new home to be located on is still an important thing to think about. If you’re working with a realtor, make sure to communicate these desires with them!

Wait Time

The average timeline to build a home is about 7 months – not counting approval times. Time is the price you pay when you value the customization and control new construction provides. But in the end, it’s usually worth it to have a home that you love. 

At the end of the day, your new home construction schedule is determined by your budget, amount of customization, and overall realistic schedule based on the work demand. 

When it comes to buying a home, there are a handful of different kinds of delays you will run into. You may have to wait for the current homeowners to move out completely, or have remodeling projects you want to complete before it’s ready for you to live in. 

It is important to remember that just because a house is a move-in ready home, it doesn’t mean that it is ready for you to move in right away. 

Learn more about move-in-ready homes and if they are the best fit for you!  

At the end of the day, if you need to be in a home on a short timeline, your best option is to buy a home. If your timeline is more flexible, consider building a custom home to ensure all features are designed to fit your lifestyle.

Hidden Costs

This is no surprise, but when you build a new home you’re dealing with the entire process from scratch. This means that you likely don’t have the appliances you need—the countertops, cupboards, flooring, doorknobs, or anything else. You may not initially realize just how much detail goes into building a new home. The hidden costs of a home can add up! 

Create a budget and stick to it. Even if you have a tight budget, customization is completely possible with a good plan.  

Hidden costs are still a concern if you’re buying a move-in-ready home. For example, you might be buying a 5-year-old house or a 50-year-old house, and this impacts the type of issues you may have with infrastructure, the amount of maintenance and upkeep necessary, roofing, insulation, and other costs that will have to be taken care of upfront.

It’s crucial that you ensure all your appliances, HVAC and plumbing system, insulation, etc. are properly working prior to moving in, that way you can avoid many headaches in the future.

Market Competition and Home Building Trends

One of the biggest problems home buyers are facing today is a classic case of supply versus demand. The demand for homes is getting higher and higher, and the market is concerningly dry. Unfortunately, this means you will be competing with several other people to make an offer on a new home, and this results in driving higher prices. 

In fact, as of December 2020, the national median home price actually went up 13% from last year to $340,000. 

When you build a new home, you don’t have to worry about home prices going up or even competing to make an offer. However, materials to build a home often fluctuate in price, which also affects the cost to build a home. 

For example, in the Michigan real estate market, fewer and fewer homes are being put out in the market for sale, and those that are put up for sale are only in the market for an average of 32 days.

 

Home Maintenance and Upkeep

One of the best things about having a new home is that everything is brand new. This means that you don’t have to worry about appliances not working properly, houses being built with worn-down materials, rotting infrastructure, or exposing you and your family to asbestos (a somewhat common material in older homes). 

You always run the risk of something breaking, even if it is brand new, but many homeowners have warranties for the first few months, and even years, if anything breaks unexpectedly! 

While it might be more of an upfront cost at first, in the long run, you will save money with home upkeep, repair costs, and eventually remodeling certain aspects of your home. 

When it comes to buying a home you will definitely have to worry about different features in your home being updated or even renewed much sooner. While you might not have to think about these at first, it can become an expense that builds up over time.

Build Or Buy A Home With Eagle Creek Homes

Building your dream custom home requires a lot of planning and finding the right custom home builder to guide you through the process. At Eagle Creek Homes, we understand how important your custom home building project is for you and your family.

That is why we pride ourselves as a true partner and work hand-in-hand with our customers, guiding them through our excellent, transparent custom home building process.

When you work with Eagle Creek Homes, you will never be out of the loop. Your project manager will give you updates every step of the way so you’ll know exactly what to expect at every stage of the process. 

You’ll see photo and video updates on the status of your home and you get calendar reminders for every important meeting. 

If you are ready to start bringing your dream home to life and want to learn more about our process and customization options, request a consultation today!