Let's say you buy a brand new home and then a couple years in, life changes and you've gotta sell. But the builder's still there, still selling your exact floorplan in the same community. So you're not competing with the house down the street - you're competing with the builder now.
You paid five hundred grand. The builder lists slightly above you, say $515,000. Feels like you've got equity. But then they stack twenty grand in incentives on top a rate buydown, upgrade credits. So their real price is more like four-ninety, and a buyer takes the brand-new one every time.
You will need to offer big credits or drop your price to around 480k to compete. In this scenario, after you pay all selling costs, you would walk away with around 450K.
Good news: this only happens while the builder's still selling out your community. Once they're sold out, they're gone, and you're back to competing with normal homes.
So if you're buying new there are two rules: Hold at least five years. And buy somewhere that's actually growing. If there's any chance you're selling in the next couple years, a resale you can fix up is the safer play.
Remember, the last person you want to compete with is the company that sold you the house.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!