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How to Decide Whether to Buy or Build Your New Home

You’re a first time home buyer  and you’re preparing for a home purchase.  With home prices as low as they are at present, it’s a buyer’s market.  Hundreds of good homes remain unfilled and ready for purchase.

But you don’t have to settle for any of these.  Depending on your needs, it may be wiser to build a home than buy one.  Check out the following list of factors to consider when deciding whether to buy or build.

Your property needs.  While many homebuyers evaluate homes based on living space and building features, don’t forget to determine your property needs.  If you’re looking for a home close to amenities, you’ll probably need to buy, as most areas close to amenities have already been developed.  But if you’re looking for open, useable land, such as ranch acreage, there’s a good chance you’ll have to build your home from scratch.  These areas, by definition, aren’t highly developed.  This leads to the next consideration.

The area where you plan to live.  Are you planning to live in town?  Outside town?  In a suburb?  Deep in the city, close to freeway access and shops?  This will have a profound impact on your decision to buy or build.  In a highly developed area, it will be much cheaper to buy rather than build.  The opposite will likely be true in an undeveloped area.

The landscape.  If you want to build a home in a hilly, mountainous region, you’re likely going to have to pay for the performance of a significant amount of infrastructural work, such as earthmoving and road construction.  Preexisting homes in these areas will likely come with lower price tags attached.

Another aspect of the landscape factor is whether or not the actual act of landscaping is important to you.  If it is, building a house may allow for grater flexibility in this regard than buying.

The design of the house.  One of the principle factors to consider when making this decision is the design of the home.  If you or a family member is handicapped, it may be more difficult to find a suitable preexisting home than to build one that takes this constraint into account.  Similarly, if most homes in a given region don’t fit your unique design or layout needs, you may want to build one that suits your specifications.

If you want a home designed around energy efficiency, you may have to build rather than buy.  Though environmentally friendly homes are growing more and more common, it’s still difficult to find such homes in many areas.  Building may be your only option.

Time.  Other than cost and location, this is probably the biggest factor to consider.  Many first time home buyers decide to purchase homes in response to a favorable market adjustment.  Such economic changes don’t last long.  If you've decided to buy a home now to take advantage of the lowest mortgage rates in years, you may want to buy rather than build. 

If you do decide to build a home, be prepared to wait a while before you move in.  It can take many months to secure the necessary permits and complete the actual construction work involved.  It’s much quicker to buy a home.

Analyze your timeframe closely to help you determine whether building a home is feasible or whether buying is the best option.  Remember that when building, even such uncontrollable factors as the weather can affect the timing of the finished product.

The purpose of evaluating each of these factors is to help you determine whether building or buying a home will get you the home you need.  But each of these factors also affects the cost of the property you purchase.  Make sure you consider the affect each factor has on the cost of the home you’re looking for.

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