It’s not a secret that most, if not all, adults or young professionals dream of someday building their own homes. Often, the start to real estate ownership is with apartments or condominium units, built for single twenty-something professionals. As they age and start to think about the prospect of building a family, that’s when the idea of buying their own piece of land to build a home on comes in.
Fortunately, many contractors and real estate agencies today have what they call a house and land package. This name needs no introduction, as it’s quite self-explanatory. The purchase price you pay for the property includes both the land and the house that sits on it. All you need to add or tweak are the interior furnishings
To help you decide better as to whether or not you should invest in one of those Homecorp house and land packages or from other companies, this article discusses some of the pros and cons.
The Pros
1. Convenient
This first advantage can’t be denied. It’s really the most convenient choice to go for a house and land package. With one, you’ll no longer have to worry about all the hard work that goes into building a home from scratch. All that needs to be done is modify and tweak certain exterior and interior design elements to suit your personal taste.
2. Cost-Effective
This second advantage isn’t to say with full certainty that a house and land package is going to be the cheaper choice all the time. Depending on the properties you’re looking at, it can still be more expensive than building from scratch. But, a house and land package can, however, be the more cost-effective choice.
Here’s why—with a house and land package, you’re being charged a fixed price for everything. The only additions to your budget are those that’d account for the interior and exterior designs. The house itself, however, is priced at a fixed amount. This is unlike the situation wherein you have to build, wherein the costs can easily increase, especially when you aren’t careful with the budgeting.
3. Easier Financing
If you’re like the majority of home buyers, you’ll find yourself needing to apply for a mortgage for your home. This can be a long and tedious process for many, especially when you’re still building credit for banks and credit institutions.
The good news, however, is that if you choose a house and lot package, the financing will be a lot easier than if you take a mortgage for the lot and then restructure it again when you build a home. With a house and land package, the mortgage you’ll take out will already cover both.
The Cons
1. Possibly Smaller Lot Sizes
Many of the house and land packages out in the market today are those sold through a large-scale housing project. This means that developers build hundreds of the same type of properties in one big subdivision. You’ll still have various options to choose from, usually according to the size. But, unlike buying a separate lot and building a home from scratch, the size will usually be smaller.
However, this smaller lot size shouldn’t be a disadvantage, especially when you’ve already determined that what you have is only the size which you need. There’s no need to build a house bigger than what can hold your family, unless a bigger mansion is within your budget, goals, and preference as a family.
2. Alteration Restrictions
With house and land packages, you may be restricted from making alterations to the exterior. The interior is no problem, but the exterior has to be preserved so as to maintain uniformity with all the other houses in the subdivision.
This fact isn’t such a bummer if you’re already happy with the exterior. You’re pleased with it, and there really is nothing you’d like to change about it. If that’s not the case, then you’ll be itching to make exterior alterations, which you’re banned from doing.
Henceforth, before signing that final deal, make it a point to check early on and ask about what kinds of alterations you’re allowed and not allowed to make. That way, there won’t be any misunderstanding as to expectations when the time comes for you to do some remodeling.
Conclusion
As you can see, buying a house and land package offers great value, convenience, and ease to potential buyers-homeowners. It’s for these reasons, and so many more, that buyers consider a house and land package as the better choice. Like any purchase, however, nothing is ever perfect. There are disadvantages, too, to choosing this type of real estate property. Those cons, however, aren’t meant to scare you away from buying one. It’s on you on how you’d approach those disadvantages, see what applies to your case, and then decide on whether or not a house and land package really is the best for you.
