What new construction usually wins on,
and where an existing home does.
By Justin Kelly
NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson
Both answers are right for somebody. These are the actual trade offs between building and buying something already standing, rather than a case for one of them.
At a glance
- New construction usually wins on low maintenance, being built to the code in force when it goes up, energy efficiency, a builder warranty, and picking finishes before move-in
- An existing home tends to win on moving in sooner, landscaping that has already grown in, and a lower upfront cost per square foot
- In South Jersey the new construction inventory is small next to the resale inventory, so the choice is often settled by what is actually available
Guide
People tend to arrive at this question having already half decided, and then get talked out of it by one detail. It is worth laying the trade offs out plainly, because both answers are right for somebody and neither is right for everybody.
New construction generally wins on the running of the house. Nothing in it is at the end of its life, so the first years are light on maintenance. It is built to the code in force when it goes up, which shows up most obviously in insulation, windows and mechanical systems, and therefore in what it costs to heat and cool. It carries a builder warranty. And the finishes are chosen before anyone moves in, which is a different experience from inheriting somebody else's kitchen and living with it until you can afford to change it.
An existing home wins on time and on entry cost. It is standing, so the move is measured in weeks rather than in months of building. The landscaping has grown in, which is a real thing worth money and years: a mature tree line is not something a new lot can offer at any price. And the upfront cost per square foot tends to be lower, which for a lot of buyers is the whole argument.
In South Jersey there is a third factor that decides more of these than either list does. The resale inventory is large and the new construction inventory is not. Homesites come in phases, communities sell through, and the plan somebody wants is often the plan that is not available in the town they want. So the choice is frequently settled by what exists at the moment they are looking, rather than by preference. That is not a reason to skip the comparison. It is a reason to know which one you would take if both were on the table, so you can move when one of them appears.
The most useful thing to sort out first is your own calendar. If you have to be out of where you are by a fixed date, that narrows the field before any of the rest of it matters. If you have room to wait, a build becomes a live option and the comparison is a real one. Tell us the date you are working toward and we can tell you which side of this it puts you on, and what is actually open right now.
Every home and every community is different, and what is available changes as homesites are released and sold. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson. More at South Jersey New Construction.
Our take
Both answers are right for somebody, and the deciding factor is more often the calendar rather than the house. If you have to be out of where you are by a fixed date, that narrows it before anything else does.
