The Perfect Home At The Perfect Time

Buying a home that no one has ever lived in before certainly feels good. Buying any home under 10 years old certainly reduces the risk of big challenges arising for a longer period of time. If you pay attention to the age of homes hitting the market, a large majority of homes are sold right around 20 years old. Have you thought about why this is? Around 20 years old is when a home starts needing bigger ticket items replaced. It is also a long enough time frame that unless the seller has done updating, the home will need to be updated. 

There are many pros and cons to consider when buying a new home. First of all, homes settle. A new home has not had the opportunity to settle yet, so you will need to prepare yourself to have cracks repaired by the builder around month 11 (check your warranty from your builder). This means that you should wait at least a year before personalizing and upgrading your home. You can choose to make changes right away, but the builder will only restore to the condition it was purchased in and paint the original color. They will not match the changes you have made. 

This brings me to the next point. A new home is very plain. You don’t realize until you move in all the things that are taken for granted in a pre-existing home, such as toilet paper holders and towel racks. Those things are not usually in a new home and you will need to pick, purchase, and install your own. Mine didn’t come with a garage door opener, although some do. Things like backsplashes, wainscotting, and other accents that add character and functionality to a home are all things to consider. Each builder is different and I recommend making a list of things to ask about, such as closet shelving, smart home packages, decks, patios, fences, window treatments and appliances. These are things that you can sometimes negotiate into the purchase, but if nothing else, it keeps you aware of what to prepare for when moving. 

With a pre-existing home, the benefit is that these things may already be done. If you don’t like the finishes or the quality of the work, that becomes irrelevant, however, you can save a ton of time, hassle, and money by moving into a home that has already been lived in and upgraded if you find one that has upgraded finishes and character added that you really love. 

Also, if plans change and you need to sell your home more quickly than you intended, it can be easier to recuperate your money on a pre-existing home than a home in a new construction community. When listing a home and building a custom marketing plan, it is important to consider who your competition is. In calculating odds of selling for my clients, we look at the competition and use that as a guide to determine what, if any, work that we need to do to make sure we are the top choice. There is a buyer for every home. Knowing what the buyer wants allows us to maximize profit on your home when selling it. 

To start your home search or find out the value of your home, check out our website at theirvinegroupjgr.com