Should you build or should you buy?
It’s a question that many future luxury homeowners face. On paper, building a home can seem like a daunting task. A multi-stage process, a custom home build can take up to a year or more to complete. It doesn’t carry the instant gratification of buying an existing home and requires many more decisions than a traditional purchase.
Conversely, building a custom home puts you in control of the home acquisition process. A process where the market and availability doesn’t drive your decision making—you do.
Let’s explore five misconceptions about custom homes.
Building a Custom Home is More Complicated Than Buying a Resale
We won’t argue that building is a time-consuming process—one that takes much longer to complete than your standard luxury home purchase. Is it more complicated? No. It’s simply more involved. That ongoing engagement, however, is the primary draw of building. You serve as the principal driver for building the home. You choose the area, the lot, the floorplan, the modifications, the materials, and finish-outs. You decide how much or how little space you need. Is your ground-up home a modern build? Or something more traditional, steeped in classic architectural design? Ultimately, it’s up to you, and that’s the greatest luxury of all.
The Construction Loan Process is Harder to Navigate
Arguably one of the more common deterrents to building custom is the belief that construction loans are fraught with more hurdles than those for conventional homes. The truth is, every home acquisition loan carries its own set of approval requirements and parameters. Construction loans are no different, and similar parameters apply—money down, excellent credit score, interest rate considerations.
Partnering with the right development firm adds a layer of support in navigating the approval and disbursement process and the short-term nature of construction lending. When the time comes, you can convert that same construction loan into a more traditional mortgage.
You Need a Lot Before You Engage a Builder
Yes, the perfect plot of land helps make the home building process easier, but having a property ahead of time is not a requirement before engaging with a builder. In fact, many luxury custom home builders offer real estate services to assist you with finding the ideal neighborhood, undeveloped lot, or both.
An Architectural Background is Necessary to Build a Home
For many would-be custom homeowners, the belief they need building or design knowledge for the process to be a success can prove intimidating. The reality is you only need to know what you want from the home. Your builder or development firm will happily take care of the rest. Often, the most valuable part of building is not compromising your lifestyle or desires as you would when buying a conventional home. The architect takes your directives or needs and translates them into the home you want.
A Custom Home is an Expensive Home
Let’s be honest, when building (or buying) a luxury residence, the price is relative. A custom home is no more or less expensive than purchasing a resale—it’s based on what you’re willing or want to spend. Aspire to a luxurious but cozy three-bedroom, two-bathroom getaway to fit a small, narrow lot? That’s an easy ask. Prefer a larger, more opulent footprint with a $5 million budget? You can have that, too. The point is that you can create the ideal house to suit your lifestyle and budget.
Ready to create the Dallas custom home of your dreams? Contact the team at S&R Development today to start your home building journey with the best luxury custom home builders in the metroplex, including homes in Preston Hollow, Highland Park and University Park.