Should I Build or Buy a Home in Decatur, Texas?
Whether you decide to build or buy your next home, you must understand that it’s an investment. Each process will take quite a lot of energy, time and money. To answer the question “Should you buy or build in Decatur, Texas” is dependent on many different factors, but before you make a decision you should ask yourself these eight questions:
Is this next house my dream home and the house I want to grow old in or do we plan to move again?
If this next home purchase is planned to be your final home, then building is probably the best option for you. Why? Because you can make it exactly how you want it. Hopefully you have ideas of the things you want and don’t want in a home and you can put that perfect list and perfect plan together to create your perfect, dream home. That is something that your home-builder and architect can help you with, and that is maybe the best thing about building a custom home. Just about anything can be done to make it just to your needs.
2. If this is going to be my final home, do I even know exactly what I want in that home?
If you are planning to build your final home, but you don’t know exactly what you want in it yet and you don’t know exactly how you want it to lay out and function, then maybe you should wait a little longer and get that together. The last thing you want to do is get the perfect piece of land, in the perfect location, and then build a house that you wished was different. Maybe you could stay in a rent home for a short period of time while you work out the perfect home plan. These are all suggestions, but in our opinion definitely worth considering before moving forward.
3. If this is not your final/dream home, should you still consider building?
Absolutely. You need to make sure you have the right location, finances, and time to put into it, but there are many benefits to building over buying. One of the most important is the fact that you can see how your home is constructed in every stage. Unfortunately, there are many homes that are built poorly in areas that homeowners never see. There may be corners cut in the foundation or framing stage of construction, but you cannot see these when you purchase an already constructed home. That is, when you purchase it. You will start to see the impact of these cut corners many years down the road. This is not at all to say that already built homes always fall into this category, but it is more difficult for you as the buyer to make sure how your home was built if you don’t get to see the whole process. If you are buying an already constructed home, we would just advise that you do your research on how the home was built and have a good inspector make sure it is a well built home. There are certain things that an inspector cannot see but there are many signs he or she can look for to make sure a home was built correctly.
4. Am I in a place right now to go through the building process?
Working with the right home-builder will make this process enjoyable and as stress free as possible, but building a fully custom home does require involvement from the homeowners perspective. There will be times you will have to walk the home during construction and there will be many items that you have to choose throughout the process. Your home-builder should have this process streamlined for you and they should communicate with you well in advance when certain items or schedules are happening, so that you can plan accordingly.
5. Are we in a place financially to get all we are wanting in a home or should we wait a little longer?
This is more of a question for those planning to build their final, dream home. Many people want to build but plan on moving again one day. That is perfectly fine and great. Just make sure if you fall into that category of “final/dream home building” that you can actually get what you are wanting in the budget that you have available.
6. Can we find the right location?
You have probably heard this said many times, but location is absolutely the most important part of your home. You can build an amazing house, but if it is not in the right location it will probably never be the place you want to call home. There is a big difference in a HOUSE verses YOUR HOME.
7. Is your family done growing?
This is an important question to ask for how you will design your home. Is the layout correct for your lifestyle? Is the kitchen big enough for all we will do in there? Do we have enough bedrooms? Will we one day have a parent needing to move in with us? Do we need more storage space? Are all the kids about to move out and then we’ll want to downsize? There are many questions to ask and most of these are much easier if you know the amount of people that will call this house their home.
8. Timeline for building verses buying. Do you have a place to live while building and will you be able to part from your current house in the right time to work out your finances for the new home?
This question is very important. If you decide to buy a new home verses building, this is usually much easier. Some people put contingencies in their home buying contract based on their current house selling or they just stay in an apartment for a short time. If you are building some banks may not allow you to start building until you no longer have a mortgage on your previous home. Everyone’s situation is different but definitely something to figure out before you get too far down the road of building.
Written by Chase Rolland, © Neighbors Construction Co. 2020