New or Used Homes (hardwood, how much, vinyl, pool)

[GloryB]

With the current economic real estate problems.....would you be more prone to buy an already built home or would you rather start from scratch and design your own?

Is re-sale a big element of making that choice or would you just go with whatever you currently want or need?

[Janecj]

I'd be very leery of building a home from scratch as you stated, especially in FL. You are putting yourself in the position of: Will this builder go bankrupt and not finish my house? You betcha ya. So no, it certainly would not be my first choice to build in this economy in FL. If I wanted a new home, some builders are providing excellent deals on already finished homes... but understand that a warranty may not be in place or fulfilled. It all depends on what you want. You probably can get some great deals on resale homes. It will be more of a personal preference, but building to me would not be something I would risk in FL imo.

[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by GloryB

With the current economic real estate problems.....would you be more prone to buy an already built home or would you rather start from scratch and design your own?

Is re-sale a big element of making that choice or would you just go with whatever you currently want or need?

Current economic problem? Dont be so kind. We are in the heart of an economic depression despite what your govt tells you.

And as home values continue to fall like a rock I see it as not so smart to even buy a home. Why buy a depreciating asset? Ask Day Traders about buying momentum. Traders like to buy as a stock is climbing and trade as they are falling.

But dont let me stop you. BUY BUY BUY BUY, lets get this economy back if we can.

New VS resale?

With new you are buying something that everyone else has. Most tracts have 3 or 4 models. Do you want what everyone else has? You will have an easier time establishing value when it comes time to sell since there will be exact comparables. Many times builders toss in a community park or pool which people love.

Brand new custom is scary now though it will always remain the American dream to design your own and watch the builder bring it to life. But like the Realtor just said above, most builders are in serious trouble and probably will not make it another year or 2. So warrenty work will be a challenge. The homeowner warrentys, HOW among some are pretty useless in making good on claims.

Buying resale you get to buy some one elses junk but you can customize it to your liking. So you dont have the hassle of new construction but it really is like new construction as you rebuild it in an already established neighborhood with established landscaping.

Many people want to buy that red ribbon deal. They want the key to be handed to them and watch some one else move their furniture in and be done. The logic to this escapes me. I personally look beyond peoples junk and lack of style. I look at what I can make it. I want to look at houses that Realtors will not show and houses that buyers would never get out of the car to look at. These are the houses no one wants to buy because they are dumps. These are the houses you can buy cheap. If these houses are in a nice neighborhood you will win in the end.

Well at least in theory it has worked since the beginning of time. No one knows what this economy will bring.

Perhaps we all need to look at buying a home as buying a shelter and not an investment like our parents and their parents did.

[BigDGeek]

It used to be most homes were "used." It is strange to me to hear houses discussed this way, it's almost like we are talking about cars instead of houses.

Around here unless you want to pay in the high six or low seven figures for a new build, you must move to the far out suburbs to get a new house. I personally would not do that because the quality of a lot of new builds is crappy, and I do not want to live 40 minutes from the office. Plus, nobody would visit me in the northern exurbs of Dallas; we call them "Southern Oklahoma."

So I bought a "used" house. My house is 52 years old and is in better shape than many newer homes. Since all the carpet is beige, all the vinyl flooring is off-white, all the hardwoods are stained the same color, and all the walls are white, and one of the two bathrooms is done top to bottom in white tile, I do not see how it could be made any more neutral than it already is unless you wanted to tear out the exquisitely retro Mamie Eisenhower-pink 1950s bathroom. (That bathroom is STAYING.)

If you are going to buy a "used" house, I think you should look for one built in the 1950s or before. A lot of them that are still standing were either very well cared-for or have been totally renovated already. I prefer older homes, they have a charm that today's homes really do lack. Around here houses built in the 1960s or after are almost always built on slabs, and most of the 1960s and early to mid 1970s houses I have seen have aluminum wiring which for me would be a dealbreaker.

[Puddy4LyF]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

So I bought a "used" house. My house is 52 years old and is in better shape than many newer homes. Since all the carpet is beige, all the vinyl flooring is off-white, all the hardwoods are stained the same color, and all the walls are white, and one of the two bathrooms is done top to bottom in white tile, I do not see how it could be made any more neutral than it already is unless you wanted to tear out the exquisitely retro Mamie Eisenhower-pink 1950s bathroom. (That bathroom is STAYING.)

Sans the neat bathroom, why does your house sound like Intro to Hospital decore 101? Sounds awful, imo. Do you not plan on staying long?

[Coldjensens]

Designing your own home is very very expensive. When you are done, you have a home that is more valuable than other simlar houses only to you, but at a much greater cost. If it is to be a home, and you can afford it, design and build it just for you. If it is just an investment, find the best deal that you can on an existing home.

[Cosmic]

I've been looking to build a new house myself. Me doing all the work. Only game in town. Been going very, very slow ever finding the right land.

This market is all messed up. Part of it is the huge premium still demanded by many over replacement value. Any house is only worth so much, when that premium gets hugely out of whack with what a compariable house might cost new fairly priced, everybody is in trouble. Especially if the older house is quite defective compared to a quality built similar design.

Lots of problems with the concepts of how something were priced in that last boom. Common sense still has not returned IMHO. Until then it is best to be very careful in all regards. There has to be something in the deal for the buyer. Basic problem is far too much overhead is built into each house sale with commissions, fees, taxes, every parasite and his bro with their hands out. All those expenses have to be rolled forward every time that house is sold in order for the last sucker to attempt to get out anywhere close to even.

That fact alone, can result in used houses be outrageously priced above anything realistic close to a fair value. The buyers hold the keys, refuse to pay inflated premiums, the last Greater Fool in the line has to take a real bath. Come up your own method of figuring out what something is worth, never listen to that prattle from them agents, you could very well be the sucker holding the bag on some very over priced pig. Just remember the only thing anybody in that real estate industry cares about is a paycheck. Everything else can be anything they want it to be.

Florida has its own set of problems. Don't make no difference if it is new or used, you probably are still paying too much. Tax man sure ain't going to cut them taxes any time soon. Neither are the insurance companies.

[DKVA]

We've had both used and new. There pros and cons to both sides.
our first house was a resale,then bought new,then were a few rentals after job loss.
After we were back on our feet we bought a new construction small ranch. It took forever to our landscaping and interior to where we were happy. But then we were relocated.

Our first relocation we bought resale. Not an old house it was about 8 years old. Wow-refinishing floors-repainting and recarpetting. Not to mention ripping down old and dated wallpaper and residing. Never got to the bathrooms or kitchen because we were relocated again.

This relocation we bought a builders spec house. At least we have all the rooms painted the colors we want and we have a small but quality house . We are diy's as far as landscaping goes albeit sod and irrigation. We have spent numerous weekends on the landscaping. We've had it! We just want to see our kids who have not done this move and we can't blame them. We were from the east coast and to move to the midwest is just not for us. We miss the ocean!

So I guess to summarize-our next place will be a patio home near our kids. We are just tired of inside and outside work. But I still would rather have new construction and not deal with all the inside renovation.-BUT to me it all depends upon your age and how much you want to tackle.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Puddy4LyF

Sans the neat bathroom, why does your house sound like Intro to Hospital decore 101? Sounds awful, imo. Do you not plan on staying long?

Because it was decorated by the heirs of the late owner. I have not even moved in yet (I close on Thursday) so give me a little time to decorate it before you start dumping on it.

[potatosoup]

Well I'm in a similar boat. If you follow my saga on this board lately you'll see how bad the market is. Where I'm looking (Seacoast, NH), there is mostly garbage houses on the market, with only a few exceptions. Those exceptions are owned by people unwilling to price their house in line with economic realities, therefore the houses sit there. I have become fed up of looking at junk, and decided to build.

Don't let everyone tell you not to buy a house because it's a depreciating asset. The way I look at it is that things could get so bad that would you not want to own your own piece of land and home? You could be in a rental and the landlord could be foreclosed on. There is always an if involved. Now I don't know the FL market. I would just do your due diligence, ask your builder to show some cash flow statements or prove their business health. Chances are if you go with a local reputable builder you will not face as much risk, but just do your due diligence. Ask endless questions, talk to people who've built houses with that builder, etc.