- In this video, we look at buying a used home
versus buying a new home.
That's starting right now.
- [Narrator] Welcome to Homebuyer's School,
brought to you by Brookfield Residential.
- Hi everyone, I'm Karl Yeh,
and welcome to another Homebuyer's School video,
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Today I'm joined by Cory McDonald,
community manager with Brookfield Residential,
and the topic we're gonna discuss is
should I buy a new home, or a used or resale home?
- That's a great question.
Everybody's lifestyle is gonna require something
a little bit different.
Me being from a builder, I would have a strong bias--
- Of course, of course. - In buying brand new.
But there are times when buying a resale home
does fit needs better.
Sometimes timeframe is a big factor.
Sometimes a resale home might accommodate a quicker timeline
if you're moving brand new to the city,
or you're being kicked outta your parents' house,
and you need to find something within the next month.
Sometimes that might,
they might accommodate those needs a little bit better.
Or, older communities that you're really wanting
to try and be a part of,
new builders might not be building in there,
which would require you to have to buy resale instead.
I think there are a lot of benefits
in buying a brand-new build.
The grossest one that I use would be you're not living
with somebody else's toenails
in your carpet because it's your home.
Or you get a little bit more specific customization
to the colors that are used,
to the materials that are used in the home,
and you get to see the construction process
from start to finish, so it's more your home
instead of buying somebody's else's life.
As far as repairs and warranty,
there's a benefit because a lot of the newer homes
are coming with a warranty, so that if there are
any mistakes in the construction
or if there's anything that comes up after moving in,
you're kind of secured and not having to dump a lot
of extra money into getting repairs done
because your warranty covers a lot of those issues as well.
The brand-new builds are also following
the latest in guidelines and code,
so that it's the latest building materials
and the latest energy efficiency
that you're typically getting with a brand-new build.
- So, obviously, and you touched on that, right,
so they're up to codes, you might not have
to do additional renovations, but on the other side,
though, when you talk about location,
sometimes there isn't a new community, right,
that's being developed.
So the builders maybe don't build infills.
They build in brand-new communities,
and it might be a little bit further away
than where let's say you work or where you wanna be
or how long the commute you wanna take, right?
- And that really depends, too.
A lot of cities in Canada now are trying
to take that initiative to revamp older communities,
so there is a stronger emphasis on infill projects.
Now, again based on finances,
you're probably paying a little bit more to get closer
to those inner cities or into those older communities
because they might have larger lots, as an example.
So there are benefits in there,
so you're paying a little bit more.
But you're right.
Sometimes some of the newer builds
or more of the price-sensitive builds
are being built a little bit further away
from the downtown core.
- So is price really the only factor
determining new versus used?
I guess maybe more what I'm saying is,
is it cheaper to buy used versus new?
Or it depends?
- It really depends.
It's impossible to predict market from day to day, right,
which is why it's not a guarantee at all.
But there is potentially an opportunity
to get a little bit cheaper buying something
that's either used versus a brand-new build,
depending on certain circumstances that the seller,
they might need to get out of their home really quick,
so they might be a little bit more motivated
to move on the home, so it really depends on
how patient you are and how much research you do
in looking at some of these different resale homes.
You might be able to get a little bit of a better deal,
where with builders, a lot of our margins
have already been set in place,
so we kind of know how low we can go,
and we're usually not gonna be fluctuating
too much from what our margins
will dictate the home should sell for.
- So obviously there's a lot of factors to consider
when buying a used versus new, and a lot of the things
that we've already talked about,
such as location, community, even fees, right?
So let's say you buy a house in a community,
you still have to pay those fees.
If you buy a condo, you still have to pay the condo fees.
So there's a lot of things to consider
when buying a used home that you would also consider
when buying a new build as well.
- Correct, but as you're buying in these new communities,
a lot of times there's some incentives, right?
Because if you are in a community that has HOA fees,
or if you are into a condo or town home that has condo fees,
if you're getting in and you're pioneering a brand-new site,
a lot of the times there's not only price incentives
on the purchase price of the home,
because you're in a construction site,
but a lot of the times, those condo fees or the HOA fees
are minimized initially as it starts developing.
So this bodes well for resale down the road
because as you're buying in at that initial price,
and the community starts getting built around you,
those amenities become fully functional,
the value of your home is going up, too.
So there's potential for a greater rate of return
on buying a brand-new home in a brand-new community
versus getting into a community
that's already fully established.
It might not necessarily have that same room,
or percentage of growth.
- So, Cory, do you have anything else to add
in terms of differences
when we're buying a new home versus a used home?
- Yeah, again it comes down to do your research.
Have a look at resale and the new home builds,
and figure out which one would be best for you.
- Perfect, thank you very much, Cory.
The question I have for you is
what are your thoughts on buying a used versus a new home?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Thank you very much for joining us,
and we'll catch you next time.
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