
Would you rather buy a new, updated house or an old house and update it the way you want?


To an extent, the second option. My wife and I bought a house in the verge of being condemned and brought it back to life with our own design and layout preferences put into it. It's been 10 years and there's still parts of the house we wanted to update that we haven't touched, but we have done the master suite, nursery, living room, kitchen, office, half bath, windows, roof, foundation, and HVAC.
Since we did most of the work ourselves we will get a ton more equity out of the house than we put into it. That being said, I'm not doing that again. I'll likely want to renovate any master bathroom in any house we buy since nothing will live up to what we have in our current house, but I want whatever house we move into to be mostly what we want when we buy it.
new/updated preferred, with old you have most of the time a solid foundation but not always, that's the good part. The bad parts are the plumbing and electrical issues that always come with age, and the house may have settled leaving doors and windows that aren't true anymore and stick or are hard to move and have gaps. It may not be insulated well, or the roof needs replaced. The siding may need to be replaced as well. If it has a septic system is it in good working order? Is the furnace/AC old and not very efficient and is it in good working order? How much work does it need and how much are you willing to do, how much is it going to cost? With a new home all those headaches are avoided and there are warranty's. But if you find a good deal on a decent house and don't mind the work then go for it. I prefer relaxing after work than doing more working when I get home, but that's just me.
I prefer the new because you won't have any piping issues and things falling apart for a long time because it's new yet the con is homes today aren't built as well as older homes. a lot of cheap materials.
Pros of an old home is you can do renovations by adding your own touch which will increase the calue of your home. Con, it is not cheap and you should have a crap load of money on the side for repairs because older homes tend to have pipe and roofing issues.
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I think you nailed it. The problem is both the plumbing and the electrical and older homes. And that can be very expensive to deal with. Structurally, as you said they are often better than the newer homes. But it's the systems that aren't up to today's standards.
Yes, electronical!!!
I grew up in an old house which was later demolished when I was about 14 and my parents built a new one on the same spot. The new house is great but when it comes to my own place I do prefer something older because I like the style but I’m not sure if I would want to do the updating myself. I’d prefer something that was an old style exterior with the interior already updated.
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Given that choice I would definitely purchase a pre-loved house and update it , there is just something about making a house your own by placing your stamp on it which is really attractive.
However , having complete control over the location , building , spec and configuration of my house would be the true dream.
If you mean American style home, then I would have neither, compared to a house built to The Passive House Institute (PHI) Standards they are woefully inefficient, and I say that as someone who has lived in both American and European homes, the only plus American houses have is space.
i've always lived in new houses but i'd love an old house done by Jeff Lewis
this is a house from the 1920s he did for himself

by the way it is the house from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
I'd rather buy a new house, for its latest technology and energy efficiency, and then do some minor remodeling and updates to make it my own.
For sure and older home. And then re do it . I'm doing this right now. To be honest I should have finished already and sold it. But life got in the way.
And now back on track and should finish by summer time. Will sale it and do it again
I bought an existing house and worked on fixing it up. Then I sold it and had a new one built. Having a new one built just the way we wanted it was definitely better.
My parents built their house. It looked great in the end.
Going through it was an emotional process. Took so much time deciding on every little detail. Colours of the walls,. the tiles of the floors, carpet, kitchen colours, sliding door colours etc.
I'm looking for a house now and I want something that's done and ready to be moved into.

One of our new neighbours bought their house quite cheap, but four years later it's still a building site. It's not fun.
Depends on the architecture, style, and when and where it was built. I’d rather build my own home though. I wouldn’t mind owning and kind of flipping like an older 1930s/40s house.
new house
old houses you have to compromise and there's problems with it like pipes. they got awkward layouts and it's just A LOT of money to put into it. not worth it
Only if I can pay it in full immediately and without enslaving myself to a bank.
Which means: no way.
Where... I do make improvements to my rented home in agreement with the owners.
Whichever I get for spending less money overall.
moving into a new build flat was awful. give me a old house
Don't have a preference I wouldn't mind either of the options.
I love antiques, would love to live in an old Victorian. Our house burnt down in the 50s and rebuilt so its 60s modern...
We bought land and built our own house. Seemed much better than buying other people’s ideas.
None of the above, so far, I'm not on a path to buy any new house nor adjusting an existing one
I would want a house that is move-in-ready.
Old… can't get that character in new builds. But depends…
Newer is always better. Having owned an older house, I know there is only so much updating you van do. Newer homes have better plumbing and electrical, and more modern design. You can't change the "bones" of an old home.
Older. At they built them for tall people, back then!! Today's houses are built for midgets!!
If I have the money and patience, a house with classic architecture.
Depends on how much you can spend, these days I rather have it already done and not deal with old stuff
Old house can be fine as long as it was built well and has been taken care of. Main problem is figuring out whether or not it has been cared for. With a new house, I don't have to worry about that.
That depends on if the new house was built right. A lot of new houses are built by amateurs and hacks.
I'd rather buy a old house and update it the way I want. I my opinion, old houses have more charm and character than new houses.
It depends on the budget. I would like to buy a new house. If my budget is tight, I would like to buy a old house and renovate it.
The cost of said project aside, I'd choose and older house (but not too old) and update it my way

thats my dream house
New. Fixing houses is difficult and often unexpectedly expensive.
Old Victorian house that had already been refurbished while remaining historically accurate
A lot of the houses today are poorly made. I'd like an older established house but only if it's be maintained decently.
Definitely old because if you can see it try to restore it
Have my own house built from scratch.
Older house and fix it up.
New so I could build it exactly how I wanted it.
Old and work on or build one from scratch
New, never had a house
Old house. It's fun to fix them up.
New cause old house might need more work.
If I were rich, I would built a new house.
A new house
I would update..
No preference
New.
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