New homes often lack amenities like mature landscaping.
Earlier, I blogged about how my husband and I chose to purchase a new home, thinking we'd save on maintenance costs and avoid having to pay for redecorating to undo previous homeowners' design decisions.
But now, I am learning that there are hidden costs to buying a new home, expenses one might not think of when purchasing a brand-new house. When you buy a newly built home, of course everything is brand new, but if you are getting a non-custom home in a standard housing development, you are likely to find that unlike existing homes that owners have already upgraded on their own over the years, your new home will lack:
- Landscaping. Sure, the builder might plant a small bush or tree here or there, but the plantings are unlikely to be extensive, and you'll most likely want to upgrade your yard over the years.
- A deck or patio. If the new home is like mine, it will only come with a small slab of cement that they call a "patio."
- Privacy trees or fencing.
- Outdoor lighting -- the single light you'll get with your front- and back-door porches won't cut it.
- A finished attic space for storage.
- A finished basement.
- Shelving -- your new closets will most likely be equipped with minimal shelving.
Besides the cost of these projects, these tasks will eat up a lot of your time if you plan to undertake them yourself. It's also unlikely that you'll be able to tackle all of these projects right away.
I've been in my home for nearly seven years, and my husband and I have just begun tackling one of the above projects -- we are having a paver patio built this summer. And with the size of this project, it may be quite a while before tackle any other home improvement tasks.—Lauren Baier Kim