Buying a brand new home comes with a whole ream of pros and cons, here are some tips on how you can weigh up the good and bad.
Moving home comes with a whole ream of pros and cons. You’ll likely be moving away from an area that you’re very comfortable with – but you’ll have the opportunity to explore a new locale, form new memories and, potentially, find a whole new way of life. Here are some tips on how you can weigh up the good and the bad when buying a new build home.
Money There are a host of costs that always come with moving home, which include:
Hiring movers (and potentially paying for storage and the cleaning of your previous property)
And additional moving-day costs (such as childcare and pet sitting)
Because of all this, it’s worth making very sure that you’re happy with a new property before buying. If viewing properties in a new development, it’s also worth making sure that you know exactly when it will be finished, to make sure that there isn’t a gap between the time when you plan to move out of your existing home and into your new one.
Made to order However, new build properties come with a wide range of benefits. They will typically be sold with a 10-year warranty on the home, protecting you from any issues with the structure, and saving you from the nasty surprises that people often find with older homes. To add to this, everything should be brand new in the property, so it should have relatively few maintenance issues. Depending on the stage of construction, you may even be able to select the fixtures and fittings that you want – so the house is decorated to your taste, without you having to pay a penny extra for it. New homes also come with all the benefits of modern design. This means that they’re generally energy efficient, and cheaper to heat than older homes, they have better-thought out storage, and they have security features (such as burglar alarms) built in as standard. What’s more, buying a new home can be an extremely profitable investment in a rising market – and buying a more expensive property can pay dividends. For example, if the value of a £100,000 property and the value of a £300,000 property both increase by 30%, the more expensive home will ultimately net you £60,000 more at sale. Additionally, if you were previously renting, then by shelling out for a mortgage you’ll be building up equity rather than simply paying out cash to a landlord – and at the very least you should be left with the building and the land, even in the event that it sees a fall in value.
Somewhere that’s right for you Furthermore, one of the big opportunities of moving home is heading somewhere that better matches your current needs – whether that means scaling up, so there’s more space (and more rooms) for everyone, or scaling down, after the kids have moved out and you no longer need all the space. You might also consider how moving closer to your place of employment would change your life – how much would you be willing to spend to save 30 minutes on your commute, for example? While moving home always comes with a cost, there are a significant number of potential benefits to buying somewhere new – and that’s particularly true when it comes to looking at new build properties.
