A brand-new, customized home offers many advantages, and with today’s ultra-competitive real estate market, now could be the right time to move forward. Choosing to build, buy, or renovate is one of life’s biggest decisions – and there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. To help you decide, consider these seven benefits of building your own dream house:
1. Truly Make It Yours
When you build your own home, you can tailor every feature to your needs and preferences. From the floorplan to finishes, you’re constrained only by your imagination and your budget – not by decisions made by previous homeowners.
While customization may not be the least expensive, it can be highly cost effective: when you make the most of every square foot, you make the most of every dollar spent.
2. Select the Ideal Site
They say the three most important factors in real estate are location, location, location – and when you choose to build, you can take your time to scout out the perfect spot without being limited by the existing housing options.
House-hunting usually means having to compromise between location and amenities, but building means you can optimize both factors, one at a time.
3. Overcome Low Inventory
In any kind of real estate market, traditional homebuyers are limited to whatever happens to be for sale at any particular moment. But in the red-hot conditions we’ve been experiencing in recent years, the selection is even smaller and time on the market is even shorter.
That means you’re less likely to find a home that’s a terrific fit for your lifestyle – and less time to explore your options and make up your mind.
4. Avoid Bidding Wars
In this overheated seller’s market, homebuyers have to be prepared to battle.
Fierce competition over limited housing stock means that prices can escalate unpredictably. Cash is king in a sellers’ market, and important concessions like home inspections often get removed to stay ahead of the competition. It’s harder than ever to set and stick to a budget, choose a sensible financing option, and know what you’re getting into. Building places a lot more of these controls into your hands.
5. Go Greener
Energy-saving construction materials, utilities, and appliances are rapidly evolving – and building a brand-new house means that you can take advantage of the very latest technology and know-how.
This can translate to a smaller carbon footprint and smaller energy bills, as well as greater creature comfort in all seasons. Plus, you’ll enjoy peace of mind knowing that your home is fully up to code.
6. Save Time and Money on Maintenance
With typical maintenance costs running between 1% and 4% of a home’s value every year, it should go without saying that one of the best things about a new house is that it’s new.
You can enjoy more leisure time and easier household budgeting with workmanship and components under warranty. Additionally, you’ll rest easier knowing that big-ticket improvements like a new roof are likely many years or decades away.
7. Find the Right Lending Solution
Citizens Bank has been helping Tennesseans to build their dream homes for four generations and counting. We offer a flexible construction-to-permanent loan product with a one-time closing cost and a 12-month interest-only construction period. If you’re just interested in buying land at first, we can help you with that, too.
For more information, reach out to any of our lenders or start your application online today.