The most important decision a homebuyer makes after settling on a location is whether to build a new house on an empty lot or to buy a pre-built luxury home. It’s a happy quandary, really, in what for most people is a shopping experience unlike any other in a lifetime. In the world of luxury resort communities, the choices are even more profound, evolving, not ironically, from the growth of demand in this burgeoning housing market.

Is it a matter of simply choosing between homesite and home? With this match-up becoming more apparent each year, resort-community developers are designing masterplans that provide buyers with a wider variety of real-estate options. In a universe where buyers once focused almost exclusively on securing homesites with an eye toward crafting the home of their dreams, an increasing number are opting to purchase new homes that are in place and ready to be occupied.

An important step in realizing your resort-living goals is to decide between purchasing a homesite for building or choosing a completed home. This decision mandates some careful thought and a little extra work.

Changing Dynamics

Go back 10 years or so, and the dynamics of becoming an owner in a luxury resort-living environment were far different. According to IMI Partner Dan Collins, “The vast majority of buyers selected homesites. The thinking was rather straightforward and broadly accepted—not only did a homesite offer the most flexibility as to when a home could be built and occupied, it also afforded buyers the most freedom possible in building the home that they’d always dreamed of.”

Fast-forward to 2005 and the resort-community landscape has changed somewhat. Although homesites remain the choice of many buyers, an increasing number are choosing to purchase homes that are either already built or under construction. “One reason,” Collins says, “is that many buyers simply don’t want to immerse themselves in the lengthy process that designing and building a home can mandate.

“All that has to be done in the process—hiring an architect, over-seeing plans, getting approvals and other steps, not to mention the construction—is more than many people want to deal with,” he says. “While cost is part of the equation, the most compelling factor is the best use of one of their most precious assets: time. And it’s been a fairly dramatic shift in recent years.”

Move-In Ready

Other factors also underscore the move toward buying homes that are ready or nearly ready for occupancy. First is the time frame—rather than waiting months or years for various steps in the planning and construction process to take place, buyers can occupy existing homes far more quickly. That can be particularly attractive to those who are eager to enjoy the amenities of resort living.

Yet another element of deciding whether to buy or build is the process of gaining necessary approvals that meet the community’s design guidelines.

“By buying a home that’s already built, design guideline approvals are obviously in place,” says Collins. “As a rule, the more upscale the development, the more thoughtful and comprehensive the design review boards can be, making the approval process fairly extensive.”

From the Ground Up

By the same token, the tradition of buying a homesite first still holds appeal for many buyers—and with good reason. Buying a homesite affords the freedom to choose when to build and occupy the home. While purchasing an existing home has immediacy connected to it, the longer time frame associated with buying a homesite offers the advantage of customers being able to map out whatever long-term planning may be necessary.

It also carries the most modest up-front expense: “It’s really the least expensive way to become an owner initially,” Collins says.

The other obvious advantage of buying a homesite is the breadth of options it affords. Cost, location, views, natural landscape and surrounding amenities are all important considerations. Given this array of choices, buying a homesite—and subsequently building a home—provides the most comprehensive freedom of choice, the opportunity to craft a home down to the most minute of details. “Despite the trend, we still have a very strong market for homesite sales,” says Collins.

Decisions, Decisions

Answering the big question of whether to buy a home or a homesite requires some work. The first step is clearly defining long-term goals. For example, how long do you plan to own the home? How much time do you expect to spend there each year, and so on? For many buyers, the longer the anticipated time frame of ownership, the more justified is the lengthy process of planning and building a custom home.

Consider as well how quickly you’d like to be in the home. For those buyers looking for the quickest occupancy with the least foreseeable array of complications, an existing home is the clear choice. If time is not such a critical factor, a homesite may be the most fitting alternative.

And, buyers of completed homes need not feel as though they’re settling for something less than they may have obtained through their own design, Collins cautions. First, he points out that IMI and its developer-partners have gone to extensive lengths to review and catalog home features which have proven popular with prior buyers. And, he adds, depending on the stage of construction in which a buyer purchases a home, a good deal of individual choice in design features may still be on the table.

“If they buy it at the framing stage, they can certainly select such things as colors, tile and other features,” he says.

Whichever route a buyer winds up taking, however, all paths eventually lead to the same happy destination, Collins says. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to fulfilling perhaps our greatest want in life: a home of one’s own—in a place where our memories are made and our dreams are realized.”

Homes or Homesites?

Tips to help you decide which home-buying approach works for you

Buying an undeveloped lot with an eye toward building a home of your own mandates careful planning. Equally critical are considerations that go into buying a pre-built luxury home. Here, IMI Partner Dan Collins offers five considerations for both.

Choosing Land

1. Homesite size. You don’t want the homesite size to cramp your building plans. On the other hand, don’t choose a site with more room than you can reasonably use, or one whose size dwarfs the home itself.

2. Location within the community. Do you want easy access, or is privacy more important? Is the homesite location sufficiently convenient to important amenities within the development?

3. Homesite price. Manage your overall budget by remembering the rule of thumb that the cost of the home is typically two and a half to three times greater than the cost of the homesite.

4. Development schedule of roads and utilities. Will the road be finished? Will electricity, water and other services be there when you’re ready to start building? If you have to wait, will that affect your plans?

5. Views and other attendant features. Based on what you can see, will the lot afford the sort of view you want? Are there sufficient trees to suit your taste? Try to picture the home within the lot to get a sense of how each will complement the other.

Choosing a Home

1. Size of the home. Is the square footage sufficient to meet your needs? Conversely, is there more room than you need or want to maintain?

2. How are you going to use the home? Will you be occupying it for a good portion of the year, or only the golf, beach or ski season? Do its size and features match those plans?

3. What are your long-term plans? How long do you intend to own the home? Will you look to resell it or pass it on to your heirs?

4. How will the home be maintained? Do you see yourself taking on much of the maintenance yourself, or will that be handed off to someone else? Again, match size and features with those needs.

5. How comfortable are you with the home’s overall styling and features? Does the home contain many things that you would include if you were designing and building it from scratch?