With the housing market in the horrible state that it is you may be wondering if now is a good time to buy a brand new home. Because of the housing bubble many new home builders have folded and other survived. The ones that have survived have found way to hold on or put off building or condense their building areas to be able to concentrate in fewer developments.
Most of the homebuilders that survived are finding ways to be competitive in this housing market. They may have cut back on some of the standard upgrades, lowered the quality of certain items so that their prices can lure buyers into their subdivisions.
Many homebuyers prefer to have a brand new home over a lived in home especially those that are in disrepair like a lender owned home or a short sale which many times are not being well taken care of.
For this reason, it is not a bad idea to consider buying a brand new home. If you are looking for the lowest priced home in the are then a new home will likely not be for you. They certainly cannot compete with a lender owned home or some short sales although in some areas they can even be competitive with those.
Other reasons to consider a new home are the fact that you get to choose your own options, your own design, plan your landscaping, start fresh with paint color, carpet color, where you choose to put tile or wood flooring. It is always exciting to move into a home that no one else has ever lived in.
One thing many buyers are starting to look back into new homes is the fact that they have an edge over lender owned and short sale homes because they have a warranty on the home and someone there to take care of any little issues that may arise especially in the first year of home ownership. That is something that the others just cannot compete with in this market.
The down side of course is you will pay a little more for a new home, you will have to put in things like landscaping, a pool, window treatments and paint. These costs generally are more built into a re-sale home and you end up paying far less for them.
Do not discount the idea of buying a new home right now, as a realtor, I am finding more of my buyers are leaning this way. Take your realtor with you to help negotiate and keep you within your budget. It does not cost you any more to be represented and the builder will not give you any more of a discount if you go without representation.
