Which is cheaper? Buying or building a house?

[Etini]

Those that intend to own properties are often faced with two options. These options are
1) Building a house from scratch
2) Buying a building that has already been built.

There are arguments for and against the two options. But looking at it strictly from an economic standpoint, which would cost less?

When you build a house from scratch, you tend to be in control of the design and other technical aspects of the house. At this point, you would know how to manage the costs of the inputs so it would not overshoot. On the other hand, buyokh an already built house takes away the power of choice. Whatever the builder had incorporated in the house, you have to buy it at the cost of the builder.

I believe that it is far far cheaper to build your house from scratch. It would help you to reduce the cost of owning a house.

 

[Mikevms]

If you’re a first-time home buyer, it’s usually better to go the cheaper route and buy an existing house. These way you’ll save money and get some homeownership experience before you take on the challenge of building a new house.
Also give you time to build equity (your home’s value minus how much you owe on it). When you sell your first home, you can use that equity to help pay to build your next home.

 

[Carpon]

The answer to this really depends on a whole lot of things. Personally, I think that it is actually more cheaper to buy a house than to build it.

It is true that you can be able to decide what your house will look like and all the components that will be featured in it when you build it from a scratch. But that is what even makes it worse. You pay for all the works: house plan designer, construction blocks, payment of workers at every level of the building and etc.

All this can be able to cost you a net amount higher than that which you will pay when you are purchasing a house. And purchasing a house comes with ease since you will not have to suffer trying to acquire a land where you will build and other things of this nature.

But nevertheless, I also agree with your views on this.

 

[niche]

It depends on the location of the house and how much free time you have. If you have plenty of free time to supervise and manage the construction of the house, it will be cheaper to build the house yourself, especially if the house is close to the place where you live. If the house is far away from the residence, it may not be feasible to supervise the construction, especially if you have a job or any other work. So the right option varies depending on the individual.

 

[eldavis]

There is actually no definite answer when it comes to questions like this, there are various factors that might determine which is cheaper. In most cases, the location plays a major role. There are certain places where buying a house is much cheaper than building one, while in undeveloped places you might actually find building your own house cheaper, especially in rural areas. Though most persons prefer buying than building because they do not have to deal with land issues and community issues as well.

 

[Shaf]

Buying a house is definitely cheaper but the repairs that you may have to do might not be worth the stress. It's also possible you don't find a house that is up to the standards or design you envision.

Some people are professional though at buying, renovating and then flipping houses for profits. This is is skill that not everyone has though.

If you want to build from scratch, it may take years to finish it and some people never do so. There is more money involved in building a house than most people realize. You may have the perfect budget, but somethings may run short, there will be damages along the way and the prices of materials can vary within the span of a few days.

This can frustrate you if you do not have additional money to spend on the work.
However, you get to do everything the way you choose, from foundation to finishings.

 

[Shigobad2020]

I beleive the cheaper between buying or building houses depends your choice of house you are planning to buy or build , at first , if you are into real estate business and investment , there are some houses that seems lesser when you buy them rather than building a house , you first have to look for the structure of the house and the location of house which you are planning to buy or build .
And I have some people that are professional at buying and selling of houses , they buy house at a cheaper rate and after that , they will renovate the house to the customers taste and then sell at a higher price which brings them huge amount of profit .
And you also have to look at the location before deciding if you are going to buy a land and build a house or rather buy , land is very scarce in some area and the only thing you can do is to buy a house .

 

[Finger Geek]

As for me I would say that building a house from scratch is cheaper compared to buying a house. Because if we start a house from the scratch from buying a land to building a foundation to raising it up , we will see that it is cheaper.

I don't know of any other places but in my area, if they are to sell a house no matter how big or small the house is, they will sell it high. But if we find out the amount it will cost to buy same quantity of land in same area and estimate the total amount of money that will be enough to complete the building of the house, we will see that buying a house is far more expensive than buying a land and building a house from scratch. But sometimes buying a house might be better option when there is no more free lands in the area we want to have our house.

 

[Heartstrings]

It depends on the type of house you really want to buy or build,that's when you have to sit down to do an estimation and know which is more cheaper,but personally I think buying a house is more cheaper but then when one build a house,you have total control of the decors,designs and every other things. You have total control of what you would like to do and not to do.

When it comes to buying,you have to make sure the house it to your taste,infact there is a possibility of you changing something in the house or adding something to it,which is another cost of money,but in all, buying is more cheaper. I have seen where a lot of people are buying houses worth millions of naira,why because I believe most people think is far more better, especially if you happen to see the one you really like or just like your dream house.

 

[moonchild]

Well I think buying a house is cheaper than building a house because when you want to build a house you can't just allocate money, like a fixed budget.

There will always be fluctuations between the price of materials, this can cause building a house to be very expensive. We also have to factor in the cost of labor and a lot of problems, like plumbers, roofers and many others, it will be very expensive to build a house from start to finish at at go.

But buying a house is quite different because you can just get a real estate agent and tell him the type of house you want specifically, he'll get it for you and you own it outrightly.

Building a house is typically for people that have maybe a low income or a grandiose taste that have to be built from scratch.

Either ways, I'd rather splurge and buy a house than build from scratch.