Why Buy a New Home vs. a Resale?

Have you been thinking it’s time for a new home? Whether you’re tired of paying rent or just need a space that better fits your lifestyle, you have plenty of choices. Once you’ve narrowed down the approximate location, the next choice is deciding which home is right for you. You could buy an existing one but opting for a new construction home presents a lot of benefits. Why buy a new home instead of a resale? Here are some important benefits of buying a new home vs. a resale to ponder.

Price versus cost

If you look at the price-per-square-foot, a new construction home might come in higher, but there’s so much more to consider than the purchase price. The total cost of ownership factors in the price you pay for your home, along with other expenses, like utilities, homeowner’s insurance, property tax, HOA fees, maintenance, repairs, and remodeling.

Let’s say you find a resale home that is priced about $20,000 lower than a new home of approximately the same size. It’s tempting, right? Look at how much you save!

But let’s look at where your “savings” go.

To begin with, you’re going to replace most of the appliances. Maybe they’ve just outrun their life, or they’re not energy-efficient or to your liking. How much will new appliances cost you? 

Next, you need your “new” home to be brought up to date with today’s technology. Check the wiring to see what will be supported. If you’re planning to run many devices, stream movies, and play video games, you’ll need more bandwidth, which means you might need to upgrade the wiring of an older home—and USB outlets would be nice, too, right? Since you know computers and smartphones are constantly advancing, imagine how fast the wiring in a home becomes outdated.

When you looked at this resale home, you probably balked at a few things you’d really like to change. For example, the flooring has to go. This is one of those “What were they thinking?” situations. How many thousands of dollars will you take from your savings to cover the new flooring?

How about the kitchen and bathrooms? Will they need updating? From painting the cabinets and replacing a sink to a complete remodel, you’re looking at more expenses beyond the purchase price of a resale home.

The other repair and replacement issues you need to consider are the roof, water heater, furnace, and air conditioning system. Any one of these starts at a few thousand dollars. Replacing your roof, depending on the square footage, could run about $15,000.

Finally, there are cosmetic changes. Repaint the walls and trim. Swap out the lighting or plumbing fixtures. Retile the shower. A few hundred dollars here, a few thousand there, and suddenly that $20,000 you saved on the purchase price of the resale home has been wiped away.

Completely move-in ready

While you’ll certainly have at least some cosmetic changes when you buy an existing home, your new construction home is built and finished to your choices. Every color, fixture, and detail is the result of your personal design selections. From room to room, you have the satisfaction and comfort of seeing yourself reflected in the home. When you decide on a resale, you’re choosing someone else’s choices, not yours. And you might end up “just living with” some of the ones that aren’t to your taste.

Energy savings

Eco-friendly building practices and materials are keeping pace with the rest of technology. Homes built today adhere to a stronger building code than older homes. In addition, new homes are equipped with systems—heating, cooling, plumbing, electrical—that are designed to be more energy-efficient. Insulation throughout the home, from the foundation to the roof, keeps new homes virtually airtight, so you’re not paying for energy that’s sneaking out. Today’s windows also contribute to greater energy savings, as well as filtering out UV rays that can fade furniture, carpet, and window treatments.

A home built this year is considered 30% more energy efficient than older homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Home Energy Rating System (HERS). How much would you gain from 30% savings on your energy bills? Be sure to calculate that figure into your total cost of ownership.

Warranty coverage

A new home comes with a builders warranty that covers everything from the structure to the materials to the appliances. If something isn’t working or looking just right, you submit a warranty claim. A 2-10 warranty, for example, covers the workmanship and materials for the first year; plumbing, electrical, and HVAC are covered for 2 years;  and structural defects are covered for 10 years.

When you weigh all the pros and cons of buying a new construction home or a resale home, what works best for you? If you’re leaning toward a new construction home and the Houston or DFW area is in your sights, look at everything that HistoryMaker Homes has to offer you. Take a virtual tour of any homes or townhomes that interest you, and reach out to us for a private or virtual appointment.

More Home. Smart Choice.

Every HistoryMaker home reflects our “More Home. Smart Choice” mission—to provide the foundation for your most meaningful memories. We maximize functional space and include smart features that live the way you do. With intelligent construction methods, energy efficiency, and integrated home technology, building a HistoryMaker home is simply a smart choice.

Give yourself the value, comfort, and style of a new construction home. We have new homes for sale in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston, as well as homesites and floor plans we can build for you. Sign up to get the latest updates on our growing list of homes and communities.