Build or Buy a House

Carl,
I'm going to graduate from college in April, and my wife and I would really like to build our own home after I graduate. My concern is the price of land. Where we live a quarter acre lot is anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000. Would we realistically save money by building a house rather than buying one already built? Homes are selling for $300,000 to 350,000. Thank you for the help.

The decision to build or buy a home is always difficult. Building a new house isn't always the best option. It depends on the situation and situations are like snowflakes, no two alike (of course, there's no way to prove that).

New homes sell for more than older homes. If they didn't, no one would buy an older home. But when you build your own, you are (in theory) building for much less than what new homes sell for, all things being equal, such as, location, location, and location.


Do some home work using my Getting Started page, and see what it will cost you to build on a $100,000 to 300,000 lot. As you'll see, I show you on the "getting started" page how you can determine costs with only using the FREE floor plans found on house plan web sites.

Then, you can make an educated decision about building or buying a home,
Carl