The appeal of a new home is undeniable. With fresh paint and floor coverings, new appliances and a warranty, the new home brings a serious consideration.
The pre-owned home brings with it a wider choice of neighborhoods, larger yards, mature trees, and established neighbors and a wider array of architectural styles.
Let’s look at the potential issues that come with both new and pre-owned homes.
The new home warranty is one of the most misleading aspects of new home ownership. These warranties can be a minefield of caveats that leave homeowners will little or no protection for major structural deficiencies. If you are considering a new home purchase, ask for an advance copy of the warranty and read it thoroughly. You may be surprised at how little ‘coverage’ these warranties actually offer.
The new home foundation performance is an unknown. ‘Engineered’ slabs are often designed by engineers who are hired by the builder. With this, the engineer knows that if he/she cost the builder too much money in slab costs, the builder will fire that engineer and simply hire another.
Builders and their warranties often make it the responsibility of the homeowner to properly ‘water around the foundation’. Readers are reminded that builders and their engineers have never established what properly watering around the foundation entails.
With ‘Stage 3’ water restrictions looming, new homeowners are put in the position of wasting water (expensive water) in a desperate attempt to reduce structural damage.
New products and construction techniques utilized by builders are often done so in search of greater profits. You get to be the lab rat.
Pre-owned homes can be a great opportunity or… a money-pit.
A pre-owned home that have deferred maintenance can often be purchased at below-market prices.
With the cost of composition shingles at record highs, beware the pre-owned home that has a 12+ year old roof in place. The roof may be leak-free now, but in a year or two you could be spending $10-15,000.00 on a new roof. Suddenly, the house you are purchasing is $10-15K more expensive.
With the cost of an air conditioning system approaching $5-10,000.00, buying a house with a 10 year old system can result in an unexpected and unpleasant major expense. In addition, if the system is operating as many 10 year old systems do, the monthly utility bills can be overwhelming.
One benefit of buying an ‘older’ Pre-Owned home is that it has a performance history. The foundation’s ability to function, its ability to perform under adverse soil and moisture conditions, is able to be ascertained.
