patrick.net

If you're talking about 1 day old home vs. 4 yr old home, I'd say go for 4 yr old home.
You must be talking about new development. 4 year old home is not "old" or "used" in my area where most homes out there are 50 yrs old or over.

Shinny brand new does not mean defect free. The same goes to new home too. New home need to be settled down, and those settlement issues like little cracks on the wall, few nail pop ups can be happen quite often. Gardening problems, HVAC malfunction, some minor fixes here and there, you know, all those things can happen during first few years, and you should fix them when it happens. So, would you do that yourself or move in when all those are taken care of by someone else?

Your realtor is giving you slightly incorrect information. It isn't certain specific % up because it is new vs used (as seaside pointed out).

It just depends on how much work the "old" house would need to bring it up to code, maintenance, etc... In our area some houses were built in the 40's and the 50's so some are falling apart as a maintenance nightmare.

Some new housing isn't that great either. I've seen new development where I think the architect must have been a drunkard because of the terrible and cluttered design and layout.

Bottom line new vs used.... would really depend on a house itself. And in this market you can always offer less than asking price to whatever you feel comfortable with.

Thanks guys. Keep in mind, the comps that she pulled (5) are all less than four years old. So "used" is really more like "certified new" because she is not using the three foreclosures in the comps, I suspect because they are about $80 a square foot..she doesn't know I picked up on this.

At best, she is cherry picking comps, trying to add some "new" factor (here 15%) then adding things like "it would be a good starting point, keep in mind the lot of this house is better than the comp lots" to get the price to a point where we can negotiate. This is the agent that supposedly has "fiduciary duty" to me. Yeah right.

She's good enough to know that a fair deal is a driving point to me buying a house, so she is trying to massage the numbers so that my perception of a fair deal is where she thinks the seller will go right now without much struggle.

Instead of, oh, I don't know, going to the seller's agent and convincing them that based on the comps $130 a sqft is way overpriced, and the fair value is around $100, and they should count their blessings at $105. But maybe I am confused what "fiduciary duty" really means...

Offer what you are willing to pay period.
The realtors job, is to create high commissions. If he can get you to cave to HIS demands, then you set the trend for the next guy.

Now try to honestly answer this question, what was the last New product you saw that was "Better Quality" than the previous generation of product? Now I'm not talking about nifty electronics, that strive to get smaller, and cheaper to make. I challenge you find furniture in a furniture store that is even 1/3 of the quality your Grandmother, and even your Mothers Furnishings were.

Now get this the building materials in new houses are the same whether it's in a gated exclusive community or a habitat for humanity dwelling.

You couldn't give me a new house.

I have a local (San Antonio) Realtor who is trying to sell me on a new KB Home. KB Homes? OMG. New home slums in the making.

http://www.kbhome.com/Community~CommID~00865255.aspx

I think KB is paying Realtors a bonus for selling their shacks.

Here in So. Cal. 10%+ over would be very high for a new house. 5%, maybe. Plus, it still needs to appraise to neighborhood value.

Thanks for answering the queston sfv. 15% just doesn't sit right with me. I could see 2-4%, 5% tops. I would buy the house for $104 a square.

New home vs 4 year old home, IMHO, should be only a minor price difference. Higher difference if owner-occupant seller is in a hurry. Here is the thing about a 4 yr old home. Somebody has already figured out if the basement leaks or there are other defects that can't be known until a home is lived in. They have either fixed those things or must disclose them to a buyer. Home is not old enough for stuff to start needing replacement or repair. Mechanicals and structural are at the beginning of their useful life.

I would much rather have 4 year old home than a never-lived-in home. There are also some items that are usually included with a 4 year old home that you must purchase in a home that has never been lived in. They add up. Storm doors (or hurricane shutters), drapery rods, window treatments, closet organizers, washer/dryer, refrigerator, landscaping. Then there are those pesky upgrade$ for new construction. Will you be taking the builder grade cabinetry, lighting, flooring, plumbing fixtures? How about that extra exterior electrical outlet and hose connection, heat pump? In a 4 year old home, the previous owner may have already upgraded these things. Even if you aren't crazy about some cosmetic choices, you can change them over time. You don't have to do it immediately.

My primary concern with anything built in the last 10 years or so, is the quality of construction. I might seriously consider a 12 year old home over anything built during the bubble. Good luck to you.

New homes can indeed have serious problems which can result in many thousands of lost dollars and years of stress. Your legal recourse is almost always slim, a surprise to most who find themselves in that spot too late.

Get a GOOD home inspector, not one your real estate agent recommends, but one who's known as a deal killer. Such inspectors do not kill good deals; rather, they help buyers avoid surprise money pits, and that's a very good thing if you're a buyer. Not so great for a real estate agent's commissions but that's not your problem.

DO NOT count on "home warranties" to save your bacon. Most are at best a false sense of security and a great marketing tool for builders and real estate agents.

Please visit these two sites before you do another thing regarding buying a house:

Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, www.hadd.com

Home Owners for Better Building, www.hobb.org

Good luck. And don't forget to google "mortgage fraud."

Run david1 ! RUN!

In San Antonio, builders hire illegals to build houses. Quality construction for sure.....

Katy Perry says

Run david1 ! RUN!

The Sandmen are comming!

I knew someone who never bought new homes because he didn't want to have to install the phone, cable, alarm systems, backyard landscaping, etc.
Sometimes a house settles after a few years and walls crack, you wouldn't see that in a new home. Plumbing might also leak if it wasn't done correctly.
Most things that will break will show up in the first few years and are taken care of by the current owner. Buying used isn't such a bad deal.

Second ont he settling. Builders definitely can/will build in places nobody would have 70 years ago. But we are fairly happy with our DRHorton we bought new last year. They come and fix the nail pops and such after a year and we haven't had any issues. The deal here in Charlotte is you can buy a new for less than what most people want for their used houses. Used with improvements is good though and the cost to add a paver patio, fire pit, etc is probably more than it used to be and certainly not something you will recoup when you sell. $3-5K for a fence, $2k-$10K for a patio (cement verus paver with seating wall), $400-$2K for sod, $100 - $1000 for trees and bushes. I definitely would have tried to drive a harder bargain and asked for more customization but we were urgent to get out of our rental and the house was a fallen through mortgage so already spec'ed before we got it. We did get our granite and stainless though. LOL!
One thing for sure, from the Project Management perspectice its much easier to do all those upgrades at once when building rather than throughout several years while you live there. E.g. our cement patio costed $2300 versus $1400 for the neighbor because they could not access the back with the cement truck and had to chitterbox in the cement. Etc.

Most of all, I say to learn to evaluate the construction yourself. Look for the rot/mold/cracks. We've seen cracked basements even in brand new.

happy house hunting!
(update, well, the rental the LL wanted $209K for and said he was giving us a deal and would normally want $220K finally sold for $161K). We paid $191 for new but got granite, a nice yeard instead of clay, and new versus 5 years old. Otherwise not a huge difference. Our yard is nicer and road area maybe less congested. We are a few blocks closer to the pool. Our loft is better sized. otherwise, fairly identical houses in sq ft and style.

PPS

Today the average service life of a wooden house is between. 80 and 100 years, with some builders guaranteeing a lifetime of 125 years

http://www.roadmap2010.eu/wisd/pdfs/58-67.pdf

5/100=5%. So, figure 1% a year in value loss roughly?

jvolstad says

In San Antonio, builders hire illegals to build houses. Quality construction for sure…..

Out here its common too. The guy who does all the contracts is your average white guy. All of his employees barely if any speak English and probably are from the crowd that hangs out in front of HomeDepot store waiting to be picked up for work.

ChrisLA says

Out here its common too. The guy who does all the contracts is your average white guy. All of his employees barely if any speak English and probably are from the crowd that hangs out in front of HomeDepot store waiting to be picked up for work.

I think some of you are confusing ability with legality. the inspectors have the last say folks.

I don't buy that illegals do shoddy work argument. It's BS and most of you know it. It has no basis in reality. wouldn't want to blame the inspector or contractor whom are most likely at fault.

I'm legal. doesn't mean I'm good at building a house. see no connection. if you want a job and you want to keep it, then you have to do the work that the boss man says to do.

Doesn't matter what language you speak, of skin color, or if you have a US passport.

Yes Katy I understand that and I agree. Just people who are stressed out as much as these guys and often not necessarily skilled don't do the best job. Sure they are capable of learning, but often they are not picked because they are the best, but picked because they are the cheapest.

And it really is the fault of the contractor, he is cutting corners where he shouldn't.

One time we had to deal with an electrician who couldn't comprehend Ohm's law, had to cut that business proposition.

Don't we happily use thousands of things our daily lives that come from China? How are those things made by them different then an illegal nailing the planks?

Here is one just on Yahoo:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-homes-are-becoming-a-bad-apf-507780796.html

Apparently buyers are starting to go for the used homes more and more with all of the great deals out there (foreclosures, etc.)