Top 5 Reasons Why Buying is Better than Building!
Written by FrugalTrader on May 16, 2007 filed under Real Estate
Last week I posted about why building a new house is better than purchasing an older home. This time around, I’m going to go through the reasons why buying older is better!
5. Established neighorhood with trees and other greenery
Older homes are established with trees and other greenery whereas new homes are just getting started with little or no vegetation. Depends on the person I guess, but we enjoy mature trees in a neighborhood.
4. You know exactly what you are getting
Even though you are picking out the designs in the new home, there is no way of seeing exactly how it’s going to turn out (unless you copy an existing new home). With older homes, what you see is what you get. Predictability can be comforting.
3. No loud construction going on nearby
Construction crews start really early in the morning and moving into a new neighborhood will be full of construction. Although the construction noise is temporary (year or two), less noise is better. :)
2. You don’t need to go through the pain of building
Lets face it, even though I’m not driving the nails myself, it is still a pain to ensure the work is being done right on a daily basis for 3-4 months straight! Older homes enable you to move in right away without the hassle of building.
1. You can negotiate the price
I like getting deals. Even if it means just a few thousand dollars off the asking price, it’s still a deal. In popular new neighborhoods around here, there is no negotiating with the builder. What they tell you to pay, you pay. With older homes, you can negotiate a deal with the vendor.
2010年9月10日星期五
The Cost of Building a House
The Cost of Building a House
Written by FrugalTrader on Sep 6, 2007 filed under Building a House
My close friend Joe is also building a home, but he is a bit further ahead in the process than we are. He was gracious enough to take some time and post about his experiences with some of the costs involved.
As some of you readers may consider building in the future, this may help in planning a building budget. Note that the costs below are based upon building a home in Newfoundland, but it should give you an approximate cost for other areas in Canada.
$90-$95/sq ft of living space based on 2 story homes (ranch bungalows cost more/sq ft) – includes 10×10 patio, paved double driveway, and landscaping in front only.
$15,000 for single garage
$30,000 for double garage
Add the cost of land
Above price includes approximate allowances: $5000 for kitchen, $5000 for flooring, and $1000 for lighting.
As you can see, even though it costs a bundle to build a house, most builders only give you a skimpy allowance that will most likely NOT cover the expenses.
Also note that the prices given below are "contractor" prices which you will also mostly likely get if you are building through a reputable builder.
For kitchens, after getting many quotes, I found the general rule of thumb of $230 per linear foot of kitchen. My future kitchen is approximately 30 linear feet of kitchen cabinets/counter tops which would cost approximately $230 x 30 = ~ $7,000. Note that this estimate is based on a standard laminate counter top, not the fancy granite/marble stuff.
The floors, we're looking at getting mostly hardwood/ceramics and carpet in the bedrooms. The budget killer is if you want to get hardwood stairs which cost around $200/stair; extra if you have a landing, and super extra if you have a winding stair case. For us, we have around 12 steps + landing (thank goodness for no curve), quoted as $3000. For us, flooring worked out to be around $6.50/sq ft, so in total around $11,500 (1800 sq ft developed).
Onto the lighting, we're hoping to get some pot lights installed, but man, these little buggers are expensive! We were quoted approximately $100/pot light. We're going to get a few pot lights for the main floor, other than that, we're just getting cost effective (aka cheap), interior fixtures from the local hardware store. There's not doubt that we'll be exceeding the $1000 electrical/lighting allowance.
Something that most people neglect to consider are the exterior doors. Most builders give you a very low allowance for your front door, and you're bound to go over the given amount. We did anyways. Both our front/patio doors combined will cost us an extra $600
Written by FrugalTrader on Sep 6, 2007 filed under Building a House
My close friend Joe is also building a home, but he is a bit further ahead in the process than we are. He was gracious enough to take some time and post about his experiences with some of the costs involved.
As some of you readers may consider building in the future, this may help in planning a building budget. Note that the costs below are based upon building a home in Newfoundland, but it should give you an approximate cost for other areas in Canada.
$90-$95/sq ft of living space based on 2 story homes (ranch bungalows cost more/sq ft) – includes 10×10 patio, paved double driveway, and landscaping in front only.
$15,000 for single garage
$30,000 for double garage
Add the cost of land
Above price includes approximate allowances: $5000 for kitchen, $5000 for flooring, and $1000 for lighting.
As you can see, even though it costs a bundle to build a house, most builders only give you a skimpy allowance that will most likely NOT cover the expenses.
Also note that the prices given below are "contractor" prices which you will also mostly likely get if you are building through a reputable builder.
For kitchens, after getting many quotes, I found the general rule of thumb of $230 per linear foot of kitchen. My future kitchen is approximately 30 linear feet of kitchen cabinets/counter tops which would cost approximately $230 x 30 = ~ $7,000. Note that this estimate is based on a standard laminate counter top, not the fancy granite/marble stuff.
The floors, we're looking at getting mostly hardwood/ceramics and carpet in the bedrooms. The budget killer is if you want to get hardwood stairs which cost around $200/stair; extra if you have a landing, and super extra if you have a winding stair case. For us, we have around 12 steps + landing (thank goodness for no curve), quoted as $3000. For us, flooring worked out to be around $6.50/sq ft, so in total around $11,500 (1800 sq ft developed).
Onto the lighting, we're hoping to get some pot lights installed, but man, these little buggers are expensive! We were quoted approximately $100/pot light. We're going to get a few pot lights for the main floor, other than that, we're just getting cost effective (aka cheap), interior fixtures from the local hardware store. There's not doubt that we'll be exceeding the $1000 electrical/lighting allowance.
Something that most people neglect to consider are the exterior doors. Most builders give you a very low allowance for your front door, and you're bound to go over the given amount. We did anyways. Both our front/patio doors combined will cost us an extra $600
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