Many people dream of owning a homestead. It’s hard to beat the feeling of waking up at dawn to water the garden, tend beehives or collect fresh eggs, especially when it all belongs to you. But should you buy a property with existing buildings or construct your own? Here are the pros and cons of each decision.
6 Reasons to Build From Scratch
Is your heart set on building a homestead from the ground up? While it may be a challenge, there are several reasons constructing your own home and outbuildings is so rewarding.
1. You Can Customize Your Homestead
One of the most compelling reasons to build your own homestead is that you can personalize it. Twins on the way? Go ahead and build two nurseries. Love to cook? Design your dream kitchen with as much shelf and counter space as you need.
Designing your own home is especially useful for household members with mobility challenges. You can build ramps, sidewalks, wide doorways and walk-in showers to accommodate people who use wheelchairs, walkers or other mobility aids. Forego the stairs and build an expansive one-story home instead.
You can also customize the outdoor buildings on your property. Maybe you’ve always owned horses and would love to build a large stable, or you envision growing plants in a greenhouse in the winter. Whatever your dream, it’s possible to build what you need to your exact specifications.
Plus, you have a chance to design your house in a modern style, raising its value if you ever choose to sell. Or, you could build your home in your own unique style that makes you happy — whether it’s trendy or not. Building a homestead from scratch means these choices are all up to you.
2. You’re Growing the Community
Building a new house expands your community, creating a new place for yourself — and future generations — to live. That’s especially important in countries like the U.S., where the pandemic disrupted global supply chains and contributed to a housing shortage. U.S. home prices have risen 32% since 2020 and builders need to construct several million new homes to house the growing population. You can help with that.
3. Everything Will Be New
Nobody will have ever lived on your homestead. That means no one has smoked cigarettes in the house, owned cats or painted the walls a bizarre shade that’s hard to cover up. There won’t be existing mold problems or a mouse infestation, and you won’t have to clear out a bunch of unwanted furniture left over from a previous occupant.
Unless you decide to outfit your home with used appliances, everything inside it — including the wiring, plumbing and HVAC system — will be brand new. There will be less of a chance that things will break so soon — and even if they do, the warranty will probably cover it. It could be decades before you have to replace your tankless water heater or reseal your windows.
Additionally, you can build your home to be energy efficient by outfitting it with thick insulation and modern, Energy-Star-rated appliances. You can install solar panels to generate your own electricity and disconnect from the grid. These choices could save a lot of money on your energy bills over time.
Plus, since you likely won’t have to do much repair work on the house, you can concentrate on outdoor projects to get your homestead up and running. You can also rest easy knowing your house is up to code.
4. It’s Straightforward
Gone will be the days of combing through Zillow and entering bidding wars with other potential buyers. If you build your own homestead, it’s all yours, guaranteed. You can also estimate how much it will cost — and budget for it — rather than hoping the price of a house you want will come down. For some people, the peace of mind this brings makes building a new homestead worth it.
Plus, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. You won’t have to drive several hours to tour a property only to find out it lacks plumbing or heat. If you have the funds for it, you can get started building your homestead right away. It’s a lot simpler than waiting months or years for that perfect property to hit the market.
5. It’s Satisfying
Few things are more rewarding than putting in the time, money and effort to build a new home. Over the course of months, you’ll watch it grow from a barebones wooden frame — if you’re doing a stick-built home — to a fully furnished, livable space with paint and trim. It’s exciting when you realize the house is finally ready for you to move in.
It’s a similar process for the other buildings on your property. Whether you’re building a new barn, chicken coop, smokehouse or outdoor shower, watching it all come together and finally being ready to use is more than gratifying.
6. You Can Live in Your Desired Location
Properties in ideal locations often sell quickly or at high prices, making it hard to find an existing home where you want to live. If you find a piece of land close to your parents, a good medical center or the local elementary school, it might be worth building a homestead there.
Buying land is also important if you plan on growing crops or raising livestock. A property with fertile soil, flat land, a stock tank and healthy pasture might be too good of an opportunity to pass up. These factors are more important than a house for some people.
6 Reasons to Buy an Existing Homestead
Once you’ve considered why you might want to build from scratch, here are some compelling reasons to purchase an existing house and outbuildings.
1. Building Is a Big Commitment
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, it took an average of 10.1 months to construct a contractor-built, privately owned home in 2022, rising to 12.1 months for owner-built projects. That’s a long time to wait if you’re in a hurry to move out.
Unless you’re wealthy enough to expedite the process, you’ll be spending a lot of time planning, designing the home and waiting for contractors to complete the job. You must communicate with numerous contractors and try to work with their busy schedules. In many ways, you’ll function as a project manager and may have to spend more time on the job site than you prepared for.
If you already work full time, have kids or live far from your future home, you might find yourself juggling several responsibilities related to building your homestead. Be realistic when deciding if you can handle this additional stress. Buying an existing homestead can be a lot simpler for busy people.
You’ll also need to get the whole family on board with the idea of building a house. You might be prepared to wait a year to move, but some people may find the construction process mentally taxing or have other reasons they want to move sooner. Make sure everyone is committed before starting a new build. If they aren’t, consider buying a house instead.
2. An Existing Homestead Can Be Cheaper
It’s usually less expensive to buy a house than to build one from scratch, and that’s just including the cost of the home itself. You also need to consider these factors:
- Double payments: If you build a new home, will you continue to rent your current home, stay in a hotel or pay a monthly mortgage payment? Buying a move-in-ready house could help you save money.
- Food costs: If you’re camping on the property or staying in an outbuilding while you build your new homestead, you might end up paying more for prepackaged food in the meantime. Having a kitchen in which to prepare your own meals generally saves money.
- Other soft costs: Architectural and engineering fees, land surveys, permits and inspections can add up quickly when building a new house.
- Potential revenue: You’ll need to construct a barn or other shelter if you plan on raising animals. If you want to grow plants, you may need a greenhouse. Buying a property that includes these buildings means you can start earning money sooner.
In some cases, you could save a lot of money by doing part of the construction yourself. However, this leads to the next good reason to buy an existing homestead rather than build one.
3. DIY Building Is Challenging
If you’re planning on building part or all of the homestead yourself, be honest — are your skills up to code? Anyone can learn to do construction, but it takes time, practice and money to get there.
Building a home often requires heavy lifting and long hours spent in inclement weather. From roughing in plumbing to adding the finishing touches, you need an enormous amount of experience with different power tools, building techniques and local code compliance to successfully build a structure from the ground up.
Your homestead also has to be livable. While doing part of the construction yourself could save money, it could also be dangerous or lead to a poor-quality house that needs frequent repairs. For example, even something as simple as improperly installed gutters can lead to flooding or roof damage.
It’s also worth noting that many insurers won’t cover a DIY home. Buying a house doesn’t guarantee the building will be perfect, but it’s a safer bet than trying your hand at construction for the first time.
4. A Home Offers Security
One of the biggest benefits of buying a house is to quite literally have a home base. After a hard day of clearing brush or planting gardens, it’s nice to sleep somewhere sheltered from the elements. You can use the bathroom without battling hornets or mice in an outhouse. Plus, you can take a shower when you inevitably get covered in mud.
It’s hard to describe how refreshing these things are when establishing a new homestead. Since you’ll likely be spending much of your day outside, having an indoor space to retreat to at night can be a huge morale booster compared to sleeping in a tent or trailer.
It can also keep you safe. Depending on where you live, there might be bears, blizzards or bugs to contend with, and having a move-in-ready house can protect you and your family at night.
5. You Can Move in Sooner
Even if you’re staying in an apartment or renting a house while you wait to move — rather than roughing it in a temporary shelter — the homestead won’t really feel like home until your belongings are there. Buying a house means you can start moving in much sooner.
In addition to helping you get comfortable, moving in means you can store things like tools, animal feed and building supplies in your house. That makes it much easier to start doing projects on the land. For example, you can build a fence to start free-ranging your cows — which eat for six to 11 hours per day — so you can clear overgrown fields and get an ag exemption.
You can also relax knowing your supplies won’t be damaged or stolen while you work on the property. It’s a lot easier to lock your miter saw in the house rather than hauling it to and from the job site every day.
6. You Found a Great Deal
Maybe you had your heart set on building a homestead, but you found an existing property on the market at a great price. The house — and surrounding land — has everything you’re looking for. In that case, it might be a better financial option to buy the home than to build a new one, especially if you’re ready to move in now.
Just be sure to take your time when making this decision. Even if your dream homestead is for sale, determine whether it’s affordable and if you truly want to buy a house rather than build one.
Weighing Your Options
There are pros and cons to creating a homestead from scratch compared to buying a property with buildings already on it. Either one can be a great choice depending on your lifestyle and circumstances.
Whatever you choose, moving to a homestead is an exciting, rewarding experience that is sure to change your life. You’ll know what to do the time comes.
[Editor’s Note: This was a guest post.]
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