If you live in Idaho, then you know how crazy the housing market has been. My husband and I had been perusing houses on Realtor and Zillow for months before deciding we actually wanted to build. It was a decision we had been considering for months, but when the opportunity came we had to jump on it. Lots and floor plans were being sold in minutes, and we had even missed the style of home we originally wanted by five minutes.
The Decision to Build
When looking online at the existing houses in our area nothing felt right. The houses were pretty outdated, and not in our ideal part of town. Anything that was in the part of town we liked was way out of our budget. We didn’t want to buy a house we didn’t love. Buying a home would mean living there for years and putting down roots. This was a big decision and we didn’t want to settle for something okay. Buying a house was going to be the biggest financial purchase for us.
My husband and I looked into the cost of building in the part of town we loved, and it was right in our price range. We jumped on it and started building back in May. It has been a very simple process, and we’ve loved the company we are building with. We also started building at the perfect timing because prices have gone up due to housing demand, and demand for materials.
Building a house checked off all our list of wants. We were getting into a home where we loved the layout, we loved the neighborhood. We were also in a safe neighborhood, and near family.
Pros of Building a House
-Everything is new so you shouldn’t have to worry about a water heater going out, an A/C unit needing to be fixed, or anything like that.
-Newer homes are more energy efficient.
-No one has lived in the house before you, so you know it is all clean and in great condition.
-With building you get to pick out the floor plan you want, so you know you’re getting exactly what you are wanting.
-You pick all the finishes for your house, so it is catered to your personal style.
Cons to Building
-No yard! Unless you add that into your mortgage, but we wanted to keep our mortgage lower month to month so we are going to put in a yard later. But with a yard, that means you need to do landscaping, sprinkler system, fence, sod/seed.
-There can be a lot of additional fees that you wouldn’t have to think about with an existing home. Such as installing rain gutters, a water softener, A/C unit, a yard (again), blinds, granite or quartz countertops (as an upgrade), and who knows what else. A lot of it depends on the builder.
-If you’re building in a newer neighborhood there will be a lot of construction in your neighborhood for months, or years.
-You have to wait months to get into a house. That wait may not work for a long of people depending on when they need to be in a house.
For my husband and me, though, building was the right decision. The pros outweighed the cons for us. It was a new house, in our ideal neighborhood, near family. Our home is somewhere we could see ourselves being for a very long time. It is a house and neighborhood we feel very comfortable and safe in too.
So don’t think you can’t build because you’re too young, or it isn’t the “normal” thing to do. You don’t need to explain your home buying decisions to anyone. Make a decision because it is best for you and your family.
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