When buying a home in Vancouver should you spend your time looking at existing homes or consider building a custom home to suit your specific needs? Here are some key considerations to consider when deciding whether to purchase an existing home or build a new one.
Initial Expense
While there is nothing cheap about buying a home, these days keep in mind that building a new home is often more expensive than purchasing an existing one. There are some factors that can affect this more than others, such as the location of the home, the price of the lot itself, how much design is necessary to create your custom vision and what building permits are required for construction. In some cases it may be cheaper to go custom, building a new home in Surrey will likely cost you less than buying an existing home in Shaughnessy, for an easy example.
Longevity
A Custom Home is best thought of as a long-term investment due to the increased amount of time and money required to build it. If you plan to move soon after building it may not be worth the hassle. However, this longevity does extend to home maintenance as a new home often means new everything, new roof, new furnace, and new pipes which means that you will likely not need any major replacements, repairs, or overhauls for decades. You will also have the advantage of knowledge, you will know what the pipes are made of, how old the furnace is and how old the roof is and will not be left wondering if maybe you need to take action on them sooner than you thought.
Landscaping
In most cases new homes will be built on empty lots with little to no landscaping done whereas existing homes can often come with built in curb appeal. If you have not planned for the added expense of landscaping for your new home, you may be disappointed with the amount of work and money that needs to be put in to get your yard looking the way you want. And there is the issue of time as well. A mature landscape with mature trees takes years to achieve.
Getting What you Want
Building gets the nod on this one. Sometimes you can buy a pre-existing home that ticks all your boxes, but when you build a custom home, you get exactly everything you want. So, you have to decide how much you value that particular advantage.
Hopefully, we have given you some idea of what to consider when determining whether to buy an existing home or build a new one. If you are interested in building an exciting custom home in the Vancouver area or just want to renovate an existing one feel free to contact us at Best Builders Ltd.
Best Builders has been renovating older homes and building new ones for over 15 years. They are a multiple-award-winning builder that brings fine craftmanship to projects, turning dreams into reality. If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk to us about your home project, please call us at (604) 943-2378 or email us at info@bestbuilders.ca.