Buying New Construction? 5 Expenses You Must Budget For

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When my husband and I purchased a new construction home back in 2009, we knew that doing so would mean paying a higher price than we would for a home that had already been lived in. And with that would inevitably come a higher monthly mortgage payment.

Thankfully, that’s an expense we were prepared for. What we weren’t prepared for, however, was a bunch of added costs that crept up on us. Here are some of the expenses we had to bear in the course of buying new construction — and why every buyer in that boat should plan for them.

1. Temporary housing

Our home was supposed to be completed in June the year we bought it. Instead, we moved in about five months later. During that time, we had to secure temporary housing, which meant paying a lot of rent since we were not only moving in on a short-term basis, but also, moving in with a dog.

If you’re buying new construction, expect delays. And also, expect those delays to potentially create a scenario where you need to move to a short-term rental while your builders are doing their work.

2. Storage

When you’re forced to move out of a house before your new house is ready and find a short-term apartment to rent in the interim, you end up having to store a whole lot of stuff. That was another expense my husband and I had to bear due to our new construction home being delayed. And it’s an expense you should plan for if you’re buying a home being built from the ground up.

3. Window treatments

Our new construction contract spelled out exactly what our builders were required to provide. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize window treatments were missing from that list until we moved into our home and realized there were no blinds, shades, or shutters to offer us any privacy. That led to an emergency Home Depot run for temporary shades, and an almost $2,000 investment in nicer window treatments a month or so later.

Now your new construction contract might include window treatments, or an allowance for them. But if not, then that’s another expense that will be on you.

4. Bathroom accessories

The bathroom accessories our builders provided — things like towel holders and lighting fixtures — were just about the ugliest ones imaginable. They looked like the sort of fixtures you might find in a public bathroom in the back corner of a neglected playground. And so we had to spend our own money to replace them with nicer ones.

If you’re buying new construction, you should know that the fixtures and accessories you get will likely be builder-grade — meaning, just passable. So prepare to spend a little money to upgrade.

5. Closet shelving

Our new construction home was designed to come with several closets. But nowhere in our contract did it specify that our closets had to include shelving, so our builders used that as an excuse to barely provide any.

Case in point: Our kitchen pantry came with a single shelf, so we had to buy and install three more to make it usable. You might run into a similar issue with your newly built home.

There are many benefits to buying new construction, like getting to customize your home and move into a space that’s spotless. But there are also a number of financial drawbacks you might encounter — like the expenses above. Be sure to plan on them so your budget isn’t thrown off-course.

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