Pro’s and Con’s of Renovating v. Building a House

Buying a house comes with many decisions, but choosing to build a brand new home or purchase an older home that needs renovation will be one of the first. There are many pros and cons to both, so we’ve gone ahead and listed some of them here to make your decision a bit easier.

Renovating

Pros

One major benefit to renovating an older home is the personalization it can offer. A home that is outdated may need a lot of work, but allows you to make all the decisions to create a space that is the perfect fit for you and your family. This gives you the creativity to choose a design style that matches your taste, room to room.

Cost can be a huge factor in purchasing real estate, and buying an older home is much more cost efficient. With all the work you put in through renovations, you can easily earn your money back and even make a profit. Real estate is tricky and complicated, but with patience it can be a great way to make money through large and small renovations.

With renovating an existing space, you can mitigate the up-front costs by going room by room. Start by updating the rooms that are most outdated first, such as the bathrooms. If you aren’t an experienced designer, a good piece to focus your design around is what everyone faces while in the space–a statement bathroom vanity of your choosing. With the focal point in place, the style will be more obvious and you’ll be able to match other fixtures and decor to tie the whole room together.

Lastly, older homes typically have a higher quality build. They tend to have better bones to start and can sustain renovations and projects without creating structural problems down the road. With an older home, you can usually be sure that the structure and foundation are solid and reliable.

Cons

One negative to renovating an older home is that fixtures may need to be replaced; it can be a lot of work, and you may need to outsource contractors and/or architects depending on how much work needs to be done. Fixtures such as water heater, kitchen appliances, and plumbing may all need to be replaced simply due to aging. This can set you back in your budget before you’ve even started the moving process.

Renovating is a lot of work and therefore can take a lot of time. If you have a short timeline and need a home that is move-in ready, renovating may not be the best option unless you find a home that you can live in while completing smaller projects. 

With all these projects and potential outsourcing, you may experience setbacks in your timeline and budget. Things like structural changes and electrical or plumbing work that could be required are time consuming and will require a professional for those who don’t have prior experience.

Building

Pros

One huge pro to building a new house is that everything is new! That may seem obvious, but having all new appliances and fixtures is a bonus that not all homeowners get and will definitely cut out initial maintenance that may occur with an older home.

Being move-in ready, a new home doesn’t require any physical labor. So if you’re busy and don’t have the time to put into home projects, building a new home may be the perfect fit for you and your lifestyle.

Location is another huge bonus to building a new home. As long as you can find land in a city or town that you love, you’ll get to be super selective when it comes to exactly where your new home will be located. This can be a big benefit, especially for those who have a family or want to start one because you’ll get to be picky with which neighborhood your kids will grow up in and where they will attend school.

Cons

Builders can be tricky to deal with and many times can and will cut corners to make things cheaper for them. This can cause problems down the road with things breaking and needing to be repaired or replaced.

Building new can also be extremely expensive and should mostly be considered by those who plan on building their forever home or have the budget for it. Obtaining a construction loan can also be difficult and can become an obstacle in your timeline right off the bat. It will be worth it to some, but others may not find building a new house necessary, or budget friendly.

Though building a home isn’t a lot of physical work, unless you’re the builder, it does come with a lot of decisions. You’ll have to choose the right builder and all the finishes, including flooring, tile, backsplashes, paint colors, etc. Or you can let the builder decide, but it may not match your exact style or preference. This means taking full creative freedom, or letting it go, and not meeting your future needs.

Conclusion

Take all these pros and cons into consideration and ultimately decide which is best for you and your family. This list is just a start and it is smart to do more research when making such a big life decision. Homeownership is stressful, but is a big part of life and you’ll want to take joy in whichever decision you end up making.