If you’ve ever thought about buying new construction on Long Island, right now is the time for you to be looking. With the real estate market where it is, it is more affordable than ever to buy new construction. On Long Island, your opportunities are limited. The amount of vacant real estate available in this once farmland area, isbasicallycompletely developed. Many neighborhoods have placed limitations on construction, conserving the remaining farmland and open space.
However, new construction is still available and may be perfect for the new homeowner. If you’ve been searching at real estate, and have thought-about new construction, you should review this:
1. Older homes, while “charming” on the outside, are, in fact, old houses. Over time they age. Many houses in the 50 to75-year-old range have become “knock downs”bought by builders to put up new housing. If you’re buying an older house, it could cost you more in the long run with upgrades and repairs.
2. New construction allows you more flexibility. Very little people ever locate the “ideal home” of their dreams. Usually, you need to paint, spackle, change carpeting, move walls, rip-out bathrooms and kitchens and a list of various tasks that become increasingly costly. That older houses that looked like a bargain becomes very expensive once you’ve completed the repairs and modifications you want.
3. With new construction, you do not have to live through renovations. Kitchen repairs, expansions and changes to your house could take months-even years. All the while, you are living in a construction zone.
4. You also have the added costs of doing these upgrades, which must be paid on top of the purchase price of the home. Many families have to save for many months to have the available money for improvements. Others may try to take 2nd mortgages or home-equity loans, but this can prove unsuccessful-especially with more stringent lending requirements.
You may look to borrow an additional $175,000, but your house is not worth an additional $150,000 today. Therefore, you lack the collateral to support that home equity loan. In comparison, new construction, even if slightly more expensive, has the full value in the house already, which is what mortgage companies want to see.
5. When choosing real estate, and evaluating existing houses, you have very few options. The real estate is “as is”-meaning the grass is what it is, the plantings are what they are, and the yard is what it is. Usually, with new construction, it is either newly landscaped or in raw form so that you can landscape as you choose (generally, new construction without landscaping is less expensive than landscaped). With new construction, you are getting beautiful new property or freshly graded land that is ready for landscaping.
When you’re ready to consider new construction, be sure to remember all of these factors in mind. As you review the expense of the house, acknowledge the real costs beyond the asking price. Many families discover far better values with the newly built home versus a less expensive existing home that needs improvements. Even if you are handy, a improvement are not free. You also need to come up with the money to pay for those renovations (whereas with new construction, those expenses are built into the purchase price and are covered by the mortgage).
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