A new build gets you current code, a builder warranty and a floor plan you pick yourself. A resale gets you a finished yard, a tax bill you can read today, and comparable sales to price the offer against.
Three questions decide it for most buyers here.
How soon do you need to move? How much unknown can you live with on the tax bill? Do you have a house to sell first?
How do you compare the prices?
You compare them differently, because the two numbers are built differently.
A resale has a list price, and recent sales nearby tell you whether that price is fair. Your agent pulls those comparables and you negotiate from evidence.
A new build starts at a base price off the builder’s price list. Then the lot premium goes on, then the upgrades, and the figure you sign is often well above the number in the advertisement.
Get the builder to put the base, the lot premium and each upgrade on one sheet. That total is the only number worth comparing to a resale.
What happens to the property tax bill?
This is the single biggest difference and the one that surprises people.
On a resale you look up last year’s bill before you write the offer. The house exists, the county has valued it, and the figure is public.
On a new build the first bill can reflect a bare lot, because the county valued the parcel before your house existed. It arrives low, you relax, and then the bill for a finished house lands the following year.
Budget for the second bill. Kane County works from one third of market value, so you can estimate it.
Our post on the Illinois equalized assessed value shows the math. Our post on Kane County property tax rates gives the composite rate for your district.
Whose contract are you signing?
On a resale you use the standard Illinois form, and both sides start from the same document.
A builder brings its own contract, written by the builder’s lawyer for the builder’s benefit. The terms that protect a buyer are the ones you ask to add, and plenty of buyers never ask because nobody told them they could.
The sales office is part of that. The person at the desk in the model home is paid by the builder and represents the builder, however helpful they are. Bring your own agent to the first visit, because most builders require your agent to register with you on that first walk through.
Does a new house need an inspection?
Yes. New houses get built by people, and people miss things.
Book two. One before the drywall goes up, when the framing, wiring and plumbing are visible, and one before you close.
On a resale the inspection tells you the age of the systems and what fails first. A twenty year old furnace is not a reason to walk away, it is a number you plan for.
How long does each one take?
A resale closes in about thirty to forty five days on a normal loan, and you know the date within a week or two.
A build takes months and the date moves. Weather, materials and inspections all push it, and builders quote a range for a reason.
That gap decides things for anybody who has to sell first. Two closings have to line up, and a moving target on one side makes that harder. Our page for move up buyers covers how to sequence a sale and a purchase.
Where is the new construction around here?
Newer subdivisions cluster on the west side of St. Charles, out toward Campton Hills, and south into South Elgin and Pingree Grove.
The resale stock is everywhere else, and the older neighborhoods in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles have the housing nobody builds anymore. Big trees, walkable blocks and a school assignment nobody is guessing at.
Drive both on a weekday evening before you decide. A subdivision half built is a different place to live from a subdivision finished eight years ago.
So which one should you buy?
Buy new if you want current code, a warranty on everything, and a layout you choose, and if your timeline has room in it.
Buy resale if you need a firm move date, a tax figure you can read today, or a yard that is already finished.
Either way, bring somebody who is not paid by the seller.
Our page on new construction homes in the Fox Valley covers the builder side in detail. It goes from lot premiums to what to ask before you register. Send Dale the subdivision you are looking at on (630) 940-7016 and he will tell you what to ask there.
