new construction house vs 10-15 yr old house

[emm74]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

You are better off doing the upgrades after construction. If you buy through the builder you pay a huge premium. They often make more profit on the upgrades than on the house itself. If you wait, you can research the best products, best value and best prices. Among other issues, if you get them through the builder, your have a coice of 1 -3 products for any given application where doing it on your own, you have a choice of hundreds or thousands of options. Builders do not offer the "best" product for any given applicaton, they offe the one that gave them the best bulk deal so that can make more profit on the upgrade. Then pay a handyman or small contractor to install it, or DIY. You do not get any real credit for the builders grade stuff that you replace when you do upgrades through the builder/developer. There is no significant savings for them. They will show a credit on an invoice, but it really is not there (a tiny bit, but no where near the difference you pay between buying the materials yourself and having them install it.

I had a spreadsheet of every item I was considering upgrading and comparison shopped on every one of them. In some cases, the builder price was less than I could have done after construction, esp. when the cost of labor was factored in. Electrical outlets for instance - I paid about $100 for the whole house to have rocker switches put in. I couldn't have bought all the switches and plates for what I paid, before even considering installation. In other cases, the builder price wasn't lower but the hassle factor made it worth it, such as not having the builder install flooring I didn't want, only to have to pay to rip it out and install new.

And in many cases, the builder options didn't cover what I wanted or it was more cost effective to do on my own, so that's what I did. Lighting fixtures are a good example - they can obviously only offer a very limited selection and I wanted other options. Or the central air - I paid less than the builder price for a higher quality, better sized unit. I also replaced all the toilets right after closing with Toto since the builder didn't offer those. But overall the systems aren't bad because they had certain energy efficiency mandates as part of the build due to master community association requirements.

Or in some cases, I am still doing upgrades - my last big project will be to replace the laminate counters with granite or quartz. In that case, it was a combo of cost plus the limited builder selection, and I knew I wanted to pick my own slab if I go with granite. The laminate I got actually looks very nice, so I've been fine with waiting a few years to save up the money and also figure out exactly what I want.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Nonesuch

I specifically looked for houses built in the 1980s, after the end of lead paint (1940), aluminum wiring (1973), and asbestos (1984), but before the advent of toxic Chinese drywall (2004).

I think my next house will be custom built, mostly to get the advantages of the latest and greatest in insulation, HVAC, etc.

I agree with you - lots of great homes were built in the 1980s and 1990s.

We LOVE our home, which was built as a custom home in the mid 1990s. The quality is excellent. We are the third owners and each owner (including us) kept up maintenance on everything structural, and updated appliances (though the flooring and wallpaper and bathrooms and kitchen layout needed updating).

When they pulled up all the old flooring and we saw the concrete foundation, it was a veritable work of art. Not a hairline fracture in it - smooth as silk.

Lots of attention to detail throughout the house.