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hi this is anita from real estate crunch
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you know a question a lot of people ask
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themselves when they're looking to buy a
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property is should i buy a new
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construction or an existing home so let
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me talk a little about some of the pros
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and cons one of the pros of a new
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construction is that has usually has
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modern features and you know may have
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some customization that you're able to
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do depending upon the builder it can
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have lower maintenance costs at least at
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first because you know things should be
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working because they will be new a lot
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of your appliances and other things
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should have warranties on them so you
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won't have to worry about that they
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should have some energy efficiency built
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in most a lot of new homes looking for
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you know energy efficiency windows and
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other type of things and a lot of them
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could have smart technology already
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integrated into the home
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itself but some of the cons of a new um
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new construction home could be you know
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higher initial costs there could be some
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higher costs you know more upfront costs
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than um older homes in some developments
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you homes can be very similar you know
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of of new of the cons they can almost
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look like cookie cutters you know i
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remember a si my one of my sisters
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bought a new home in california and all
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the homes had the same color and i could
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only tell her home because i know she
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was the only one on one side of the road
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that terracotta sidewalk you know so you
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know it can be really hard for you to
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you know do something that's different
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with your home if you you know you may
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end up with just a cookie cutter design
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like everyone else you know the
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landscaping in the neighborhood may not
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be very mature so there the other there
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could be you know trees haven't grown
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yet it may not you know be a really
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pretty area in some ways um because
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things are not very mature as far as
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landscaping goes or you might be in an
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area where your neighbors are always
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constructing and you've got you know
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construction and dust and all this
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constantly going on in your area there
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can always be construction delays you
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know construction is not perfect it's
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not always on time and there can be
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location limitations most developments
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are built further from city centers
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where land's available so you know you
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could be limited in exactly where you
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are where you could be
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located you know for an older home some
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of the uh pros of an old older home is
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you know they can be a more affordable
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price per square foot a lot of the times
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the older homes will be a little bit
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less per square foot uh they can be an
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established neighborhood so there could
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be a nice neighborhood there they can
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have the character and architectural
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details depending upon when the home was
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um you know was built there could be a
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lot of great architectural details with
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the home itself it could have a great
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location advantage might be in a really
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prime location a great neighborhood you
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know because of um just because it's an
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older home there could be room to
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renovate a lot of the older homes like
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they might have larger plots of land
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they might have more land if that's
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important to you and they might have
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more potential for customization or for
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renovation or for even for expanding you
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know some of the cons of an older home
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is there can be higher maintenance and
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repair costs for the home there might be
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outdated you know layouts and and and
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features of the home itself there can be
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some energy inefficiency unless they've
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been um upgraded older homes may have
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poor insulation you know drafty windows
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and um air conditioning and heating
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systems there could be possible safety
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or code issues with an older home and
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they can be less predictability for
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expenses so you know older homes you
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know can have their own set of problems
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too with them and that's one reason why
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if you're ever looking to buy an older
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home we always recommend that you get an
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inspector and have the inspector check
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the home even for new construction you
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might want to have somebody come in and
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check it there has been you new
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construction too which has had problems
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and issues which um you know hasn't
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always been up to code or has had
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different things even with the new
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construction there could be you
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something that they put in that's not
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quite tested and it could end up failing
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or in an older home maybe it's been
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tried and for a long time if you'd like
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to go read more about this we've written
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a blog post entitled "is it uh better to
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buy a new construction or existing
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home?" and hopefully this could give you
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some ideas as to different things that
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you can look for how you can compare
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cost you know some different things that
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you might want to look at and some
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things also that you should watch for in
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both um new constructions and in older
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homes some things you want to look for
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and also we just want to point out that
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what's really important in real estate
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is location location location so you
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know depending upon where you want to
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live you may not have a choice for a new
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construction you may only have a choice
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for an older home or maybe where you
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want to live you only only have a choice
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for a new construction and not for an
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older home so it really depends upon the
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location of where you want to live
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because location is one of the most
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important things in real estate that you
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are buying real estate in a very good
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location this is anita with real estate
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crunch thank you so much for listening
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