Do I Build, or Do I Buy?

In the glitz and excitement of an open home, you can be easily distracted from seeing the wear and tear inflicted by the decades of previous owners or tenants. Not to mention, when buying an established home that’s older, there’s always the risk of greater, unforeseen issues emerging later on down the track.

There’s a big difference between buying new and thinking all that’s needed is a fresh lick of paint, to only later find out that you need to install new plumbing and overhaul the electrical wiring.

If you are toying up with the idea of buying an older home with plans to renovate, keep in mind that any revamping ideas can be quickly derailed by mould, termite damage, harmful asbestos or even poorly built structural beams. All of which can lead to budget blowouts, financial stress and horror stories that are better left to reality TV.

If big renovations are needed, you’ll also need to decide if you’re going to tackle them room by room, or all at once. Renovating some rooms but not others can lead to a mix-match of old and new, producing a jolting effect as you walk through the home and affecting its resale value later on. While tackling the entire home at once can become incredibly disruptive, especially if you need to do full kitchen and bathroom renovations and knock down walls to achieve that highly sought-after, open plan living.

Before you know it, you’ll find that you’re left to juggle your usual 9-5 with the added stress of coordinating trades, fielding invoices and endless late nights ordering fittings and fixtures. We understand that this might not be up everyone’s alley, and that when you embark on your home ownership journey, you want to feel a sense of stability and certainty.

While buying new and moving in relatively straight away might provide you with a feeling of stability, in today’s competitive property market, you do have to be prepared to spend countless weekends at open homes, negotiating with agents and being outbid at auctions.

Instead of facing the disappointment of countless open homes and auctions, you could spend your weekends visiting one of our 127, and counting, display homes around the country. By walking through a display with one of our New Home Specialists, you can start to visualise what you want your future home to look like.

They’ll sit down with you, listen to what you need in a home, and walk you through our range of floor plans, facades and popular structural options. Leaving no stone unturned.

Our top tip? Check out our virtual tours beforehand, so you can start to narrow down displays that you know will likely suit your personal style and floor plan requirements. Did we mention you can do this all from the comfort of your couch?

This leads us to one of the best parts about building new, you get full creative control.

You don’t have to settle for someone else’s floor layout, storage options (or lack thereof), or their taste in bathroom tiles, instead you get to build your home from the ground up, and watch on, as all of your choices, big and small, come to life over the coming months. And we think that’s incredibly liberating.

Whether you need a spacious home study, extra space for adult children or elderly in-laws, or to live a stone’s throw from popular amenities such as schools, sport centres and shops, our New Home Specialists are at the ready to listen to your needs and lifestyle, to help you find a block of land and home design where you don’t have to compromise.

From the start, you get to include value-adding features that would either be costly or a big hassle (or both!) if you were to include them retrospectively when renovating. Features like stunning raised ceilings, quality flooring and practical inclusions such as ducted heating and cooling.

One of the big draw cards of building new, is that you’re able to create an energy efficient home from the very beginning. Our New Home Specialists will look at the orientation of your home design on your block, in order to maximise natural light, all year round. Combine this with solar panels, double-glazing and energy efficient appliances, and you’ll quickly start to reap the tangible benefits with each quarterly power bill. For extra assurance, you’ll also receive an energy efficient assessment and certificate from an independent, accredited sustainability consultant, based on the state you’re building in.

Depending on where you’re building, you can also take advantage of all of the various grants and incentives on offer. Stamp duty, also known as transfer duty, refers to the tax that’s paid to have a property transferred across into your name. The amount of the tax is determined by factors like the purchase price, the style of property and the type of buyer that you are.

When building new, or purchasing a house and land package, the stamp duty is only payable on the land and not the value of the home. This can mean thousands of dollars in savings. And when you think about it, when building, that could be an upgraded butler’s pantry or the entertainer’s alfresco that you’ve always dreamt of.

If you already own land with an established home, you might find yourself at a different crossroads.

You find that you love your neighbourhood, but not your current home, so should you detonate and renovate?

By choosing to renovate, you’ll risk facing the DIY horror stories or the budget and timeline blow-outs that can come with opting for a smaller, custom builder. This rings especially true with the various trade and supply pressures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But you can have the best of both worlds with a knock-down rebuild with Simonds. You don’t have to compromise on location and you get to create a home that suits the way you want to live now, and in the future, rather than resign yourself to living in a home with a closed floor layout and dated features and finishes.

Get in touch with one of our New Home Specialists and they’ll help you to navigate your local council’s restrictions with easements, overlays and driveway location, as well as disconnecting utilities and lining up a demolition company to do the job.