When looking for new homes, prospective home buyers often debate whether to purchase a resale home or a new construction house.

Resale homes typically make up the majority of homes that you’ll find on the market. These are homes that have been lived in by other people and previously owned by another homeowner.

By contrast, new construction homes are properties sold by a national or local home builder. You’ll be the first one to live there and could even have the opportunity to make decisions about the design of the home before you move in.

If you think a new construction home would be the ideal option for you, then check out our tips on how to find new construction homes for sale.

Why Choose New Construction Homes?

Before getting into how to find new construction homes for sale, it’s worth taking a little bit of time to understand why people might want new construction properties instead of resold homes. Indeed, there are two main reasons why new construction homes are wise choices for homebuyers.

You’ll Be The First Owner & Have Options

First, new constructions are, well, new. You’ll be the first homeowner to live in there, and you’ll get to decide how the builders construct the home.

Builders often have a wide range of options to customize the home, so you’ll get the opportunity to make changes to your exact liking. Do you want a pre-wired stereo system for your TV? Or, do you want granite countertops in your kitchen? Yep, builders can offer things like that. If you want a home that’s truly yours, new construction is the best way to go.

You’ll Get A Builder’s Warranty

Second, new construction home often come with warranties. When you buy a resale home, it can often be “as-is” with the option of purchasing a home warranty from a third party. However, when you buy a new construction property, you’ll typically receive some form of guarantee with it. The warranty terms and duration will vary, but it’ll usually be 1-2 years and cover any significant structural defects. There’s a particular peace of mind knowing that, if something breaks, you can call the company that built the home to come out and fix it.

One other small perk is that you are often able to forego the expense of title insurance when purchasing a new construction house.

Given these reasons, it’s not hard to see why some people would prefer new construction to a typical resale home.

How Do You Find New Construction Homes for Sale?

Now that you know some of the benefits of buying a new construction home, let’s discuss how to find new construction homes for sale.

Search for New Construction Properties & Communities Online

The easiest way to find new construction properties is to search for them online. If you live in Atlanta, for example, you could search “Atlanta new construction homes for sale” on google. There will invariably be some search results that will show new construction offerings.

Of course, you can also use popular real estate websites to find new construction properties. Typically, these sites will have an option to filter by new construction.

Keep in mind when researching these properties online that you may not be able to see an actual photograph of the home if it hasn’t been built yet. Instead, you’ll likely be able to see a 3D render of the house, a floor plan, or images of the model home.

If you want to see your exact home or the floor plan options, then you will probably have to drive out to the community to get this info.

Drive Around Areas In Which You Would Like To Live

Another one of the best ways to find new construction homes for sale is to drive around any areas you’re interested in living in. New construction properties almost invariably happen on the outskirts of a city, so if you go to an area you like in the suburbs, you’ll probably run across some new construction properties.

There’s no guarantee of this, of course, but if you know the area you like, sometimes it’s easier to go driving there and see what’s available rather than trying to search for it online. It can sometimes be hard to see what new constructions are in a particular geographic region without physically going there.

Research Popular Home Builders

Finally, another way to find new construction homes is to research popular home builders and look through their websites to see if they have any communities in your area. Many builders only list their homes on their websites, so this is the best places to find out all that they have to offer.

Beazer Homes and Lennar Homes are great examples of builders that have properties across the US, including Atlanta, Orlando, Dallas and Tampa. Toll Brothers is another homebuilder with a significant presence throughout the country. From Los Angeles to Phoenix to Miami, this company has new homes in almost every state! Other large home builders include Century Communities and DR Horton.

You can typically find home builders in your area by either driving around, seeing signs or searching online for them.

Tips for Buying New Construction Homes

Now that you have a better idea of where and how to find new construction homes, let’s take a look at some tips to keep in mind throughout the process so your home search is a success.

Read Reviews

One of the nice things about searching for a builder online first is that you can read reviews to get a sense of whether other homebuyers were pleased with their new construction home.

Keep in mind, though, that a lot of times, reviews can skew negative because those with problematic experiences will vent online while those who are pleased with their purchase won’t bother to leave a review at all. However, when reading reviews, you can usually pick up on some patterns. For example, if everyone is saying that their home had issues after the first year, then you could reasonably expect the same for your property.

Visit the Model Home

The secret to finding new construction homes for sale that work for you is a little bit of persistence and patience. Unlike other home purchases, buying new construction usually takes a little more effort as they aren’t necessarily as easy or common to find compared to resale homes. You may be able to find properties online by using the same real estate websites, but you’ll usually need to learn more about the underlying company and go to their model home before you can start the process of making an offer.

Work With an Agent Who Represents You

Before you start your discussions with any new construction home builder, it is best to secure the help of a a real estate agent to represent you.

After all, the home builder has already baked the price of your agent into the price of their homes so there’s no cost to you. Plus, the builder’s employees and model home salespeople are working in the best interest of the builder – not you.

A licensed agent can be invaluable in helping you negotiate better pricing and upgrades because they have experience in doing so.

Plus, he or she can be a second set of eyes to make sure you’re getting the best home for your circumstances.

Buy A New Construction Home & Get $5,000 Towards Closing Costs

Buying new construction makes sense in a lot of cases. You’ll get the precise home you want, an excellent warranty, and you can even arrange financing through some builders, making it even easier than buying a traditional resale home. Indeed, if you want the best home for your dollar, there’s probably a new construction that would be perfect.

When you get ready to start your search, contact SimpleShowing to get the representation you need by agents who have experience with new construction. Plus, they’ll give you $5,000 on average towards your closing costs.

It’s the smartest way to buy a new construction property!