Building vs Buying a House | Things to Consider

When you have decided to find your own home, one of the first decisions that you will be faced with is whether you want to build vs buy an established home. Each decision has different benefits and downsides, but ultimately making the right decision is based on what is right for you and your family. To help you decide which path you should take, we have provided you with a list of questions to ask yourself about your building requirements. After you have defined what you need out of your new home, have a chat to one of our consultants who can use this insight and match you to the right builder or developer. if proximity to the CBD or living in an established area is important to you

Alternatively, if you purchase an existing property, you can renovate. This however, will provide you with many restrictions, because there are constraints on what can and cannot be changed with a renovation.

If you are looking for a home designed by experts:

• Although volume builders are not designing a home for you in particular, they do take into consideration how different families, during different times in their life use their home. For example, if you have a large family, or have older children at home, there are designs with extra living areas for the older kids, or large open plan living for entertaining.
• If you are an investor, buying a house and land package that maximises return is important. Complete packages allow for you to get the most bang for your buck and save money through smart design.
• Choosing a builder that can provide you with off-the-plan designs, but allow you to make variations allows you to save costs but still enjoy aspects of a custom home.

House design Tip:

Heading to a display home to get a feel for your potential home design is a great idea. Plan ahead and create a shortlist before you go to a display village. This will save you time, and the headache of forgetting and confusing the designs. You can use 3D floor plans that some of our member builders have to walk through house designs from the comfort of your own home.

4. What is your timeline to move in?

If you want to move into your home soon:

• Building a home takes time, and there is no quickening the building process. The only way to save time, is to make sure you are prepared to start building before your land has titled. Keep in mind that buying an established home will often have a 12 week settlement period, whereas building a new home can take as little as 16 weeks once land has titled.
• Nevertheless, an existing home will normally allow you to move in much sooner than if you need to construct a home. However, you generally will take some time finding the right house or renovating because existing homes were built with someone else’s family in mind.

If you want to wait before you move in:

• Purchasing a home, whether new or existing, is a big process. Making sure you do it right and don’t rush the process is important. If you have to wait for your land to be titled, check out how to make the most of your time.
• Waiting may be painful but, moving into a newly built home means that you are eligible for warranties from the builder if something were to go wrong for the house. Purchasing an existing property can be quite a costly process, because even if you look at the property thoroughly, you may miss things, and end up with a huge repair bill or a home that costs more to run day to day.

Timeline Tip:

Don’t be put on hold, transferred between departments, or confused by different offers builders have. Be assigned a dedicated consultant from the start, who will contact you with all the right information you are looking for. At iBuildNew we connect you to the right people so you don’t have to waste any time. Need some more guidance? Make sure you chat to one of our team about what builders or developers can help make your dream a reality. Call us on 1800 184 284