Is It Better to Build or Buy?

When it comes to choosing between buying and building a home or between buying a new or resale home, there are a lot of variables to consider.

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Is it better to buy or build a house? Or is it better to buy a new or existing home?

One of the pros of building a house from scratch is that you’re allowed to pick out the details of the home, such as the floor plan and other certain amenities. 

Personally, however, I always think it’s a little more expensive to build a home, and I wouldn’t look forward to picking out the thousands of details necessary to build a house. These include all the building codes and regulations from the city that you have to deal with. 

More importantly, with all the recent natural disasters in Florida, Texas, and California, I believe that hiring people to build a home will be more expensive than normal. Due to the shortage of supplies created by these natural disasters, the cost of materials will be more expensive as well.

I wouldn’t look forward to picking out the thousands of details necessary to build a house.

When it comes to buying a new or existing home, buying new construction is like buying a new car because it’s a brand-new property. No one has ever lived in it before, and projects like landscaping will need to be done after the fact. If you can find a similar home that’s maybe three to 10 years old in a similar neighborhood, you’ll find that projects like that have been taken care of. 

When buying a brand-new property, landscaping can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000. Adding upgrades to the home itself can also cost you thousands of dollars. If you buy a resale property, there’s a good chance those upgrades will already have been done. Because that resale home isn’t brand new, the list price will also be lower too.

There are a lot of variables to consider, so what’s best for you depends on what your specific needs are and what you’re willing to do and pay for. 

If you’re trying to weigh the options of each of these scenarios or you have any other real estate questions, feel free to give us a call or shoot us an email. Until then, have a happy new year and we look forward to seeing you again in 2018!

How WiseOceans Is Working to Restore the Coral Reef

I recently talked to Hannah Harries from WiseOceans about their Reef Restoration Project. Learn more about how they are working to reverse the effects of climate change.

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The Seychelles is composed of 115 scattered islands in the Indian Ocean. This tiny nation finds itself at ground zero of climate change. 

The sea level has risen almost a quarter inch each year.  El Niño’s warmer sea patterns are killing the coral, which usually prevents beach erosion. 

However, one local organization is trying to make a difference. 

Today, I’m joined by Hannah Harris, a Marine Educator at WiseOceans. 

A lot of people don’t know this, but 70% to 90% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed over the past year thanks to climate change and El Niño. 

El Niño is a global weather event which occurs every two to seven years. It causes a shift in temperature patterns in the equatorial Pacific, which has global repercussions. El Niño is the warm phase of the cycle. Higher-than-average sea temperatures are bad news for corals. 

70% to 90% of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed.

WiseOceans is working hard to reverse the damage done to the coral. 

WiseOceans has been based in the Seychelles for five years now. They are dedicated to raising awareness about the fantastic marine life in the area. Getting people up close to the fish is an important step in getting them to care about the environment. 

About two years ago, WiseOceans launched their Reef Restoration Project. The aim of the project is to restore an area of reef within the bay. Guests at the Four Seasons hotel can come out and snorkel in the bay to see the wildlife, and WiseOceans educates them about restoring the reef. 

WiseOceans has a coral nursery to grow new coral. They take corals that have broken off naturally from the reef (“We call them corals of opportunity,” says Hannah) and place them in the coral nursery. There, the coral can grow and thrive in a protected area. After a few months, the coral will reach a healthy, reasonable size. From there, they are transplanted straight onto the rock. 

People can sponsor their own corals in the nursery and sponsor the reef. 

This process is very time consuming, which is why a project director is there to look after the coral day in and day out.

Sign in the capital Victoria says in Creole, "Climate change is already here."

Guests can get involved in the Reef Restoration Project, as can the local community. The education provided by WiseOceans helps people understand how vital the reefs are to us as human beings. 

WiseOceans gets everyone they can involved. Hannah says, “We have workshops, talk at the local schools, run youth groups, take people snorkeling—the more local people we can get to care about the environment, the better.” 

I would like to thank Hannah Harries for taking the time to educate us all about the Reef Restoration Project. You can visit www.WiseOceans.com to learn more about how you can help give back and protect your environment, and for more information visiting Seychelles, visit the official website of the Seychelles Tourism Board www.seychelles.travel.

As always, if you have any real estate questions, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!