Home shoppers know what they want – and what they want is a newly built home.
The 2016 Home Shopper & Buyer Insights Study from Builders Digital Experience (BDX) shows that home shoppers are increasingly opting to buy new homes over resale houses. But, why?
Building a new home is choosing to invest and take advantage of new-home features that make daily living safer, more comfortable and easier to manage than a used home. Here are the top seven reasons why home shoppers want a newly built home:
1. Quality of Construction
The quality of new construction homes is the most important feature that home shoppers decide to buy new. Unlike older houses, new homes are built to higher safety and building standards, with new building techniques and materials — designed to last longer — and are frequently backed by builder warranties. New homes give homebuyers peace of mind, knowing that the accumulated wear and tear associated with a resale house is not an issue with a new home.
2. Better Floor Plans
New homes almost always feature open floor plans that allow families to design their home around their life, not the other way around.
Instead of navigating life in a series of cramped bedrooms and never-used spaces, the modern floor plans found in new homes conform to how we live, frequently including multi-generational living spaces, spacious and open kitchens that satisfy inner Iron Chefs and customizable areas ready for transformation into libraries, studies or sunrooms.
The benefits of modern floor plans do not end at the versatility of the living spaces. New homes make more efficient use of space, with more available storage and more creative storage spaces. Families that buy new never have to worry about cramming their things into the garage because they can take advantage of walk-in closets for master suites and larger and more efficient kitchens.
More storage makes it easy for homeowners to arrange their home in a way that suits them, without having to deal with clutter or crowding.
More Living Space
The average pre-existing home is 36 years old and almost 1,000 sq. ft. smaller than the average new home. Buying a new home lets families enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle than a cramped older house can provide. The increase in space, combined with more efficient floor plans and storage, gives families the option of allowing each child to have their own bedroom and gives families the flexibility to allow grandparents to move in without forcing children to move out. #hellomultigenliving
3. Ability to Personalize
When people buy an older house, they have to decide if they want to spend thousands to transform the house into home to suit their needs or live with the previous owner’s potentially questionable design choices. (The avocado wallpaper isn’t going to peel itself off the living room walls.) For families willing to take the plunge to make their house fit their needs, remodeling can be expensive, time consuming and stressful. Building a new home allows families to customize the space before the construction process begins, saving time, money and effort when it comes time to move in.
Personalizing a new home is one of the most fun parts of the homebuying process and helps transform your living space into a serene and comfortable retreat, tailored to your lifestyle and personal tastes. Even quick move-in homes (offered by production builders, but are already completely built or close to being complete) allow personalization that makes a home truly yours.
4. Lower Maintenance Cost
Nobody wants to spend time and money putting a new roof on an old home or fixing the AC or heater. Maintaining an older house is expensive and home shoppers know it. Because new homes are built better, they cost less to maintain.
A combination of new building techniques, green features and high-quality building materials makes new homes more attractive to home shoppers who want to relax after they move in. They are done with the days of dealing with the leaks, pest problems, retouching and redoing minor aspects of the home or serious maintenance that comes part and parcel with older homes.
5. Energy Efficiency
In addition to saving money on maintenance costs, new homes reduce utility bills by reducing the energy needed to heat and cool the home and wasted water. A new home is up to 30-percent more energy efficient than a home built only five years ago, and that doesn’t take into consideration homes that have additional green features. Home shoppers love the energy efficiency of newly built homes and consider it an important reason to buy new – and they get to save money while doing so.
From EnergyStar and high-efficiency appliances to WaterSense fixtures to tighter building envelopes with better IAQ (indoor air quality), newly built homes are designed to be more efficient and healthy for today’s families.
6. Safer Neighborhoods
Location is a major factor home shoppers consider when they choose to buy new. New homes and new home communities get built close to urban hubs and local amenities, providing families with both a comfortable new home and a vibrant community. Living in a safe neighborhood is at the forefront of home shoppers’ minds and investing in a new home allows them to feel safe in the home and neighborhood they live in.
Close to the Good Schools
For home shoppers with children, getting zoned to the best school districts in the area plays a role in choosing to buy new homes. Children who live in new homes can attend good schools and tend to have higher achievement levels in math and English
7. Lower Cost Per Square Feet
Ah, yes, the money. When it comes to purchasing a new home, cost per square foot is very important to home shoppers. And why not? Very few people want the best value for the buck.
Even though new homes offer great features, new homes still cost less per square foot than older houses. Home shoppers consider buying a home a major investment and choosing new construction homes maximizes their investment, while saving time and money over the life of their home.