If you've been keeping up with the times, you're already aware that it's a buyer's market out there, and that if you choose to buy a home now you'll have more options, no matter if you're buying condos here in Washington, D.C. or new homes London, Ontario. One of the hardest decisions you'll have to make is whether you want to buy a brand new home that has just been constructed for you or purchase a resale home from its previous owner. Each option has its advantages and disadvantages. We'll outline some of them for you here.

Features

In terms of dictating which features you want your new home to have, you simply cannot beat a brand new home. Whether you design it yourself from an Erin Homes catalog or buy into a newly developed subdivision, the house can be tailored to suit your exact needs. The bedrooms can be built to your size specifications, the flooring and fixtures hand selected by you, and the whole thing built right before your eyes. Even if you're buying into a half-built subdivision, you can usually choose from several builder-offered options.

Character

Unless you design a quirky home built from bottle caps or something, your new house is likely to be just one of a series of homogenous cookie cutter homes in a bland new suburban neighborhood. It is the existing neighborhoods with their hodgepodge of home styles, sizes, and eclectic collection of neighbors that are the real unique gems. If subdivisions aren't your thing, buying resale houses for sale in Danforth Village, Toronto is definitely a better bet for you, since they've had time to evolve a certain character.

Security

No, we're not talking about the alarm systems you can buy to protect Oakville homes and D.C. houses are littered with those. What we mean is that buying a new home offers you more financial security because the developers of new subdivisions will usually offer some kind of warranty on their workmanship. You will not find this with a resale home. You're responsible for finding out, through inspections, what's wrong with the house before you buy, and also responsible for fixing it once the sale has gone through.

Landscaping

If you've seen a photo of a new home in Georgetown, Ontario you were probably struck by how bare the neighborhood looked. Developers rarely leave anything but rolled sod behind when they're finished, so if you're looking for a place with a garden or some nice shade trees, you need to look into an older neighborhood where the vegetation has either been preserved or has had time to grow from saplings. It is possible to plant full grown trees into new yards, but it is very expensive.