Advantages and Disadvantages of a Custom Built Home

If you want to buy your own home, should you buy a custom built home, a home built specifically to your own specifications? There are plenty of online articles about the disadvantages of buying such a home. There are not as many about the advantages, but there are advantages. If you are even considering buying a custom built home, you should consider the disadvantages. To be fair to yourself, however, you should also consider the advantages. Know the facts, and make the best decision for you and your situation.

If you buy a custom home, you will hire an architect. He will design the home to your specifications. You can then have your home built just the way you want it.

The Internet has its share of articles on the disadvantages of buying a custom home, and some of them are on Associated Content. One is Custom Home: Dream or Drag? The Downside of Buying a Custom Home, by Dawn Reavis.

She points out that buying a home built to your own specifications might seem at first glance like a dream come true. She notes, however, that building a home the way you want it may cost as much as $250 a square foot or more, compared with the $125 to $225 a square foot average cost for building a home. She obtained her facts from the National Home Builders Association.

According to Reavis, there are also more upfront costs in building a custom built home, compared to buying an existing home. You will have to pay fees for soil testing, permits, and other inspections. The tests alone can cost thousands of dollars, and you still won't have blueprints. You might pay $1,000 in appraisals alone. A regular new home would require just one such appraisal.

She also points out that getting financing is also harder for custom homes than for buying a traditional house, as few banks will provide construction loans. Reavis notes that even Wachovia, which does still offer the loans, has very strict guidelines for those hoping to obtain such a loan.

Reavis also points out it might be 18 months before you can move into a custom home. In addition, building a custom home will take a lot of planning. She also points out custom homes depreciate faster than traditional homes.

She points out that one alternative to a custom built home is a spec home. When a spec home is built, a builder offers the buyer limited choices in how the home is built. He does have many more choices as with a custom built home, however.

Even though there are not as many articles about the advantages of a custom built home, there are some. A custom built home does, in fact, have its share of advantages.

The Pro's and Con's of Custom Built Homes, at http://www.articlesbase.com, mentions some of the advantages.

You can get all the desired features in your custom home. You can get the color you want for your walls. You can get the color you want for your carpets. You can have your kitchen and bathroom carpeted or with tile; it's your choice. You might want your walls or carpet to have colors not normally used. Do you want a covered patio? You can have it. You can have a butler's pantry. Do you want large walk in closets? You can have them. You can have that garden tub. You can have that ceiling fan.

If you're paying the bills, a builder will be glad to work with you to see that you get everything your heart desires. No doubt whatever you want, your builder will have heard the same request before. He knows what it will take to have that covered patio, that garden tub, that ceiling fan.

If you have a custom home, you can make sure all the cable drops, phone jacks, and electrical outlets are where you want them. You can have that entertainment center in just the position you want. If you buy a regular home, there might not be an outlet where you want it. You would then either have to change your plans or pay extra money to have it installed. Even though such work could be done later, it is so much more convenient if it is done before the installation of paneling and sheet rock.

Even though the cost of a conventional home is often much less than a custom home, there are things manufacturers do to lower your costs, such as offering highly engineered framing structures, and using "lean manufacturing" techniques to reduce waste, which will naturally lower your costs. They can also reuse and recycle scrap when building to lower your costs, make certain your house will have fewer air leaks, which will reduce your heating and cooling bills, and offer heating and air conditioning, water heater options, and lighting systems which will save you money.

There are even kits to build your own log cabin homes, which can save you money. There are also kits that will allow you build your own custom built home. Some companies claim you can save $20,000 to $100,000 if you do so. They also give advice on finding contractors and materials.

Indeed, there are disadvantages of buying a custom built home. There are advantages too, and you should consider both and research the topic before making any decision about buying a home.

Citations:

Why Custom Smart? No author listed, Customsmarthomes.nethttp://www.customsmarthomes.net/informationlearning.html WhyCustom Smart?

The Pro's and Con's of Custom Built Homes, no author listed, Articlesbase.com

Custom Home: Dream or Drag? The Downside of Buying a Custom Home, by Dawn Reavis. Associatedcontent.com You Can Save Thousands of Dollars with UBuildIt's Help, whether you are Remodeling or Building your own Custom home, no author listed, Ubuildit.com .