The San Diego housing market is picking itself up and gaining new momentum. The California housing market slump and economic fallout of a few years ago is slowly beginning to reverse itself.
San Diego new home starts are rising, indicating renewed buyer confidence. It’s also indicative of many consumers’ desire to avoid some of the unknowns and extra chores that come with purchasing a previously-owned home.
Having suffered a real-estate crash in California, buyers have seen a large number of bank owned properties and real estate owned properties for sale. These are in addition to homes being sold privately.
Sometimes in a slow economy buying a previously owned home can be financially shrewd. However, purchasing previously owned San Diego homes also has risks.
In fact, buyers have numerous reasons for choosing a new home. Of course, every buyer’s individual reasons are different, but San Diego new home buyers most commonly cite these common reasons, five major advantages of new over previously owned homes:
1) Knowing that your house won’t have age-related issues: Rot, decay and malfunctioning components are just a few of the major problems associated with purchasing an older house. Even houses that are just a few years old can have some costly age-related problems.
Purchasing a brand new house virtually eliminates such problems. While new homes are not always issue-free, those problems are typically easily corrected and cost less to fix than age-related problems. Often, they can be nipped in the bud before they become major issues.
2) Better building standards and stricter building codes in San Diego new homes: Like most industries, the construction industry has improved vastly over the last few decades. Better, cheaper and more efficient building methods have evolved. Better quality materials have also been developed.
As these technologies and methods have improved, building codes have changed to reflect these improvements. Methods and materials that might have been luxuries or simply didn’t exist in older homes are now standard in today’s San Diego new homes.
3) Access to modern technology and greater efficiency: In addition to better building methods and materials, new houses also incorporate technologies that are more fitting to life in the new millennium. Solar energy is one such example.
It would be virtually impossible to find a home outfitted with solar energy built before the 1990′s. Retrofitting an older home with solar energy technology is possible, but likely cost-prohibitive in most cases.
The same goes for other modern technologies, like geothermal and radiant heat. It’s far more cost-effective to incorporate these technologies right from the building phase.
4) The ability to be involved in the building process: Depending on developer, buyers are sometimes able to get involved in the design and construction process. Your control over the finished product is even greater when you are building your home yourself. Either way, the chances that you’ll need to make cosmetic changes after you take ownership are greatly reduced.
You may even be able to customize your own home when purchasing new. This is especially beneficial to buyers who have out-of-the-ordinary needs. Extra-high kitchen counters for a taller owner are just one such possibility.
5) Warranty protection: A significant number of San Diego new homes come with at least some type of warranty. The warranty provided by the developer typically protects the buyer in cases of failure or malfunction of plumbing and electrical systems. It usually also covers the overall structure of the home, including walls, floors, supports and roof.
If you opt to build your own house rather than purchase from a developer, you still may be able to receive some kind of warranty. The warranty in this case may come directly from the contractor or contractors who worked on the home.
Of course, you get no such protection when you purchase an existing house. In this case it’s “buyer beware.” You’re stuck with what you get, and have little legal recourse in the case of unexpected or previously undetected problems. Though financially-crippling after-purchase fixes are rare, they do occur. No such unknowns exist when you buy a new home.
Shea Real Estate & Investment Group specializes in San Diego real estate development opportunities in partnership with New Pointe Communities!
http://www.shea-realestate.com/company.php
http://www.shea-realestate.com/sd_investment.php
|
|