Buying Ottawa New Homes vs. Used

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OCHBA claims that assumption to be a myth based on the nostalgic belief that older homes are built with a dedication and craftsmanship which no longer exists. It's simply not true, - "Today's workers are just as committed to quality and they have the advantage of being better trained.", says OCHBA. Ottawa Home buyers already know that owning a house or apartment is the best financial investment they can make. And in a comfortable and well-designed new home by an Ottawa home builder, with a modern kitchen and bathrooms, a cozy entertainment area or home office, and an efficient heating and cooling system, you can spend your leisure time indoors in comfort, enjoying quality time with your family. You can also enjoy a low-maintenance garden in the spring and summer months, instead of being a slave to the oversized garden of old, with their endless demands for lawn-care and leaf-raking to consume your time, rather than allowing you to spend it entertaining friends. The Home Builders Association lists seven reasons why they consider new homes are better than older ones. There is no doubt that new technologies have improved our standard of living. Canadian Building Standards are higher than ever, and building materials are better. Most detached houses, and even townhouses today, generally include two full bathrooms upstairs and a powder room off the vestibule. Labour-saving kitchens are standard. Main or second-floor laundries are gradually replacing old-fashioned ones stuck down somewhere in a basement (except in smaller homes where there won't be enough space for one otherwise).  And in most new apartments, including Terrace Homes, an in-suite laundry replaces old-fashioned communal laundries which were usually stuck away in the basement too.  Central air-conditioning was a rarity in condo apartments in the 1970s - not so today. And a Home Office has become essential, now that at least one member of the family continually goes online for information, banking and shopping.  When everything in a home is fresh and new from the very beginning, and today's advanced building materials have been used, any concern over maintenance costs can be postponed for 15 to 25 years. Vinyl-clad window frames don't crack from the heat of the sun and don't need regular repainting inside or out, like older wooden ones, for example, and nor do today's aluminium-clad roof fascia's and soffits. And there is no need to worry about the impending requirement for "a new roof", or a safe electrical system with a decent capacity, or a plumbing system with adequate pressure and no contamination. In other words, if you buy an older home you may have reason to be concerned about aluminium wiring and lead or steel plumbing. Also, today's preference for full-brick frontage means no maintenance and considerable durability, so that your home's appearance and curb appeal always remain first-rate. Energy efficient furnaces are now standard in new homes, and insulation standards have been increased throughout the house. Basement insulation up to ground level became common practice from 1993 - "In conjunction with foundation leak-proofing measures which will ensure warm, dry conditions below grade." Minimum basement ceiling heights were raised at the same time, so now the basements of new homes are actually viable when additional warm, dry and comfortable living space is needed. Weather and security-challenged sliding windows have now been replaced by double-glazed casement windows that keep warmth in and cold drafts out. Recently, the new Energy Star Program has taken the economics of heat-loss even more seriously, and now Ottawa new homes meeting the Energy Star Program requirements have considerably lower monthly energy costs. (Details of that program and participating Ottawa home builders can be found in our New Homes Information section). The TARION New Home Warranty Program defines what should be corrected or repaired in each Ottawa new home, and buyers are protected under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. For more details, read our article on the the TARION New Home Warranty Program to see how new home buyers and their homes are protected. Every new home built in Ottawa today is required to meet safety standards, with smoke-detectors on each level wired into the up-to-date electrical system. If you buy an older home you may have to replace aluminium wiring. Most Ottawa home builders are conscious of the need for new communities to have well-designed parks with playgrounds within easy walking distance for small children. And other environmental factors are constantly before them in the planning process. Some builders are better than others at designing, landscaping and creating streetscapes and some even specialize in building young communities. And all are aware of the need to create attractive family neighbourhoods where children grow up remembering how carefree they were as kids. As OCHBA puts it, in new communities "Fencing and lighting details, scenic walkways and neighbourhood parks and playgrounds are all designed to invite residents to extend their lives beyond their own homes and back yards." Added to these persuasive reasons are important health issues. New information about the hazards of damp, mould, microbes, and other sources of allergies have changed our attitudes in the past decade about where we live. In the used homes market we now see "Smoke-free" homes advertised, and "Pet-free" homes, and "Child-friendly" homes. All of which shows how, more and more, home buyers are demanding "transparency", so they can be aware of possible causes of health problems they and their families might be exposed to. Wall-to-wall carpeting - once considered a luxury that promoted warmth and comfort, but now, because of the manufacturing process, acknowledged as problematic for some allergy sufferers, is now being replaced by many new home builders with hardwood floors throughout the main level, and ceramic flooring which can be easily kept dust-and-germ-free. Some allergy-sufferers are sensitive enough to dust and pollen that only an efficient and up-to-date air cleaner and ventilation system can provide the comfort level they and their families need. Allergies are more widely recognized nowadays, so its important to consider that their causes, often biological agents that include viruses, fungal spores, pollen, dust mites and - where a previous owner kept a pet - animal dander, cat saliva and stray hairs, may be concealed in the pile of carpeting that is old. All are genuine health hazards. And there may be others, like asbestos or hazardous insulation - which means you'd need to make your offer on an older home subject to the approval of a Building Inspector. As for possible microbes, mould, fungus, pollen and dust likely to affect allergies, there are companies that specialize in eradicating such health hazards. But you have to be sure too allow for such costs. Obviously there are also good reasons why some people prefer to buy an older home, or their prices would be much lower. Some prefer older established neighbourhoods closer to downtown areas, for example. But if we examine the multitude of red-brick boxes with tiny windows so prevalent in Ottawa's central suburbs we see they were not built-up for comfort or convenience, but built down to fit into a low price level that most buyers could afford at that time. (Perhaps as little as $25,000 in those days.) Side-splits and back-splits and raised bungalows frequently made use of basement space for the second or third bedroom - with horizontal slits for high windows and a chill-factor from concrete floors. Even in residential developments on what we might now describe as one or more acres of Estate Lots, houses were built down to fit everything in to maximum of 2000 Sq Ft .on two main levels. That's all most people could afford in a "luxury" home. And it left no room for an en-suite bathroom off the master bedroom. A single upstairs bathroom was often meant to be shared from both ends and a sliding pocket-door separated the toilet from the bath and sink in case a family member was in a hurry. Toilets seemed to be an afterthought. So were decent kitchens. Everything was sacrificed to get bedrooms and living rooms into the two main levels like a jigsaw puzzle. Whatever was left over was stuck in a corner somewhere, or in the basement (like the laundry) or left out. The Study - what we today would call a home office - would most likely be situated in the basement with the furnace. New homes in Ottawa have come a long, long way since then. But it's not only bigger lots and mature gardens or settled communities that genuinely lend some older homes their appeal. The most important criterion for buying a home is still "Location,"(Price enters the buying equation next, as a reality-check on what you can afford to pay). And many of the best locations in Ottawa are already built-up with older homes. That's why there's so much excitement when a builder finds a parcel of land downtown and builds a low-rise condo apartment building on it.

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