Real Estate Q&A: New Home Developments?
What are the pros and cons of new home developments?
When you’re deciding what type of home you want to buy, it can be appealing to bypass older homes and apartments and go for a brand-spanking new place. Buying a new house or apartment from a developer definitely has some upsides. For one, if you can get into the process early enough, you can get mucho customization (read: bells and whistles, like wine-fridges and custom sinks), but every detail you specify may cost you extra. Another plus: New construction adheres to the latest safety standards and uses the most technologically advanced materials.
However, the downside is that you may wind up with a cookie-cutter style or a problem with durability (think sheetrock instead of solid plaster walls, which is why they came up with the saying “they don’t make 'em like they used to"). There’s a reason that original details like carved banisters in an old house raise the selling price; new ones -- chic as they may be -- can’t compete.
Building your own home can be an exhilarating experience as well; it could possibly turn out to be less expensive than buying an existing house, depending on the housing market in your area. If you’re intrepid enough, you can purchase an empty lot at a low price and build a big property on it, which will add a lot of value. You can build exactly the house you want, customized in every way possible. But this isn't a task for the uninitiated. You have to be very careful about hiring a contractor, and you have to keep excellent track of all the work going on in your new place, because there are millions of ways for costs to add up and for major mistakes to happen.