Today's new homes offer more benefits than ever before. Here's a quick list of reasons why so many home buyers prefer new homes.
1. Customization: Many home builders allow buyers to participate in the process of designing their property, which helps create a living space specifically tailored to the consumer's tastes. New home buyers, for example, can often decide where their bathroom might go, choose their favorite type of flooring, or pick the color of the exterior paint.
2. Efficiency: Newly constructed homes use energy more efficiently. Due to modern building codes they have a tighter-sealed building envelope that helps prevent conditioned air—cool air in the summer, warm air in the winter—from escaping. Features that create this envelope include higher-efficiency insulation, doors, and windows. Homes will not only be less expensive to heat and cool but more comfortable as well. The more energy-efficient mechanics of the house also help reduce utility bills for new home buyers.
3. Fewer repairs: The features of newly constructed homes should also hold up better than those of existing homes which have experienced years of wear and tear. At the same time new homes are engineered specifically to minimize maintenance requirements. For example, many builders use composite products for a home's exterior trim instead of wood requiring less maintenance.
4. Warranty: In addition, builders often agree to take care of the repair work that becomes necessary in your newly constructed home for at least the first year. "A new home is generally fully warrantied by the builder for a minimum of a year and most of all the other components are warrantied for extended periods.
5. Fire safety: Newly constructed homes include fire safety features that may not be present in properties built years ago. Builders’ use fire retardant in carpeting and insulation to limit fire risk. In addition, all newly constructed homes are required to include hard-wired smoke detectors. These devices can provide better protection than battery-operated smoke detectors, which can fail to perform if their battery runs out.
6. Concessions: Buyers agents may be able to negotiate more concessions out of a home building company than an individual seller. Individual sellers often have an emotional attachment to their property that can blind them to its true value. Builders often have greater financial wherewithal to absorb a loss on a sale than individuals creating more room to negotiate.
7. Financing: New home buyers may be able to take advantage of mortgage financing perks made available through their builder. Many times new home builders have their own mortgage companies or they will offer paying points or closing costs and buy down certain rates for you.
