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You have two paths to owning your own house: purchase an already completed property or build one from scratch. Regardless of the one you go for, you’ll enjoy some benefits and incur costs. But which is the better option? What’s the right choice for you, given your tastes, finances, and other factors?

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In this article, we’ll survey the pros and cons of constructing your home and buying an existing one. Hopefully, the points we discuss here will make it easier for you to choose.

Building Your House: The Advantages

  • Build according to your specification: If you build your house, you’ll get to decide how it’s constructed. You could have it designed and fashioned in line with your taste. You’ll factor in every aspect of your desired lifestyle, and come up with something that’s the stuff of your dreams.
  • Could be less expensive: This won’t apply in every situation. But it’ll be up to you to decide how much you’ll spend on building your property. Developers may add a significant markup to the house they build so that a house similar to the one you’ve built will cost much more if you were buying it from them.
  • No repairs needed: Because your house is new, it won’t need any major repairs. This is something you might not escape if you’re buying already existing property—especially if it has previously been occupied.

Building Your House: The Disadvantages

  • It takes a while to complete: The whole process of planning, designing, and building a house takes time—more time than it does to buy a preexisting one. And that’s true even if there are no financial, seasonal, or design constraints.
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  • Budgeting is difficult: The cost of building materials seldom remains fixed over time. So you’ll probably struggle to stick to any budget you draw up for the project. The longer it takes to finish the property, the more likely it is that you’ll exceed your budget.
  • Land disputes may stifle construction: Land disputes, land grabbers, and indigenes seeking illegal monetary compensation may slow down the construction process. They could even cause so much trouble that the building is stalled for significant lengths of time.

Buying A House: The Advantages

  • You can negotiate prices: More often than not, you’ll be able to negotiate a lower price for a property than its asking price. This is somewhat the reverse of what you get with building a house, where you end up spending more than you budgeted on construction.
  • Less time-consuming: You don’t have to spend months or years to get your house if you’re buying one. And you can move in as soon as you pay for it. This is perhaps the single most important factor that sways people towards purchasing a property.
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  • It’s clear what’s on offer: You can inspect the house before deciding whether or not to settle in. It’s also often the case that existing houses are located in the already inhabited neighbourhoods. So you’ll know what quality of abode you’re going to occupy and the sort of neighbours and infrastructure you’ll be facing.

Buying A House: The Disadvantages

  • You may need to carry out repairs: It could cost you a considerable amount of money to repair and upgrade the house you purchase (if there’s a need to do so). It may also take a lot of time, something you’ll fret about if you want to move in quickly.
  • It won’t be your perfect home: It’s almost certain that the house you’ll buy won’t match the dream image you’ve thought up in your mind. You may have to settle for the best approximation to that dream or spend a lot of money conforming it to your ideal.
  • It could cost a lot more: As we’ve already noted, developers and property owners could include a significant markup on the cost of constructing the house they offer you. So you may have to pay a lot more than what you’ll spend on building a house yourself. Do note that this won’t apply in all situations.

Final Words

In the end, it’ll be up to you to decide whether to build or buy your house. The facts we’ve presented here should make it easier for you to choose.

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This article was first published on 25th July 2022

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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