If you want to buy an established home, you already know there are nearly endless options on the market. Before you start the search, you might want to decide whether you want buy an established home or build new and move into a home that truly reflects your lifestyle.
There are a few factors you’ll need to take into account when you’re deciding – here are some of the more important considerations.
Weigh up the costs
If you’re planning an extensive renovation with a lot of structural changes, it can be cheaper to start from scratch.
Keep in mind renovation costs also can blow out, due to unforseen problems that arise along the way. One of the upsides of building a new home is you can design your home to meet your budget.
Create a home design that says ‘you’
While there may be many fantastic established homes on the market that may match your criteria, the reality is that they’re someone else’s dream, not yours. Building a new home means you can implement your ideas from the outset to create a home that will truly reflect your lifestyle and unique personality. It also means you decide where you want the master suite and entertaining areas located, whether you have soaring ceilings, three or four bathrooms, a theatre room – the choice is yours.
Location is a factor
Knocking down and rebuilding is more popular in locations where vacant land is scarce and also in sought after areas close to the city, beach, or river where there is little risk of over capitalising. If you’re unsure whether it’s a good idea for your suburb, get some advice from one of our News Homes Consultants.
Building codes
Building codes are continuously updated. When you build a new home, you are getting a property that meets the current, higher standards. You are also getting energy efficiency, which has become a part of the codes and standards in recent years. That means better insulation, stronger doors, efficient windows and so on. You will also have the opportunity to buy energy efficient appliances. Our Advantage Specification and Elements Specification include some of the appliances, so that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about.
Boundary regulations
In some cases, you can’t knock an existing house down and build a new home in the exact same position.
Council regulations determine how far from the boundary of a property you can build and this may have changes since the original house was years if not decades ago. While it might’ve originally been OK to build a house right up close to any given boundary of the property, if the rules have changed that might no longer be possible.
If you are looking at a vacant block of land to build your new home, it is worth checking with the local council prior to purchasing a block to ensure your block is suitable for your dream home design.
Budget for ongoing expenses
Existing homes may have experienced years of wear and tear, meaning you could be up for replacing flooring and appliances sooner. Compare that with a newly built home and you know that everything is brand new and many items will be covered by warranties. Replacing things like appliances and hot water systems can be costly, so you’ll have peace of mind knowing there’s a set period of worry free living.
The positive of all this is you’ll also save on maintenance. Think of it like buying a used car – while it may look well looked after, only the previous owners are privy as to how it was treated. When you build new (and look after it from the outset), you’re in prime position to minimise the amount of maintenance your home will need down the track.
Lets face it, we are sure you would rather be entertaining on weekends then spending your time repairing faulty items around the home!
Warranty
At WA Country Builders, we offer a six-month Maintenance Period with every new home and any maintenance reported within that time in writing should be fixed under the Defects Liability Clause in the Contract.
We also back this up with a Structural Warranty as defined by the Builders Registration Act.
Energy efficiency
Many new homes are built to high energy efficient ratings with double glazed windows, insulation and low-energy appliances like stoves, refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioning. Older homes, even those built five to ten years ago, are more likely to have less green credentials. Replacing energy guzzling elements of your home upfront will cost a lot of money (and cause some big headaches), while putting up with it will be unkind to your electricity and gas bills long term.
The beauty of this new technology is you can live comfortably in your brand new home without dreading the arrival of your electricity bills!
Have a question about turning your new home dream into a reality? Why not visit one of our display homes located across WA or complete the form below and one of our New Homes Consultants will be in touch with you shortly.