OLD v NEW

We have been looking at listings for months. I could pretty much double as a real estate agent since I had spent what felt like years on the MLS in California and now with our recent move to Dallas an exorbitant amount of time on Realtor.com.  I always loved looking at real estate so I never thought I would say this but I'm...

I am not a total novice when it comes to Dallas real estate.  I lived in Dallas for 8 months, and my husband previously owned and sold a home in Dallas too, so I have some familiarity with the area.

The question on our most recent search is OLD versus NEW.  I am very much drawn to new construction, which probably has something to do with my affinity for wandering through model homes, a very old pastime of mine.  I know that model homes can be very bland filled with all of the stagers decor, but of course I am insistent on infusing your own personal style in what I look at is not stager heaven but a new blank slate. 


And hello! I practically lived in Pleasantville or what could double as the set of Wisteria Lane in what one article termed Zombieland (which has more to do with the bad loans, falling home prices, short sales, and foreclosures rather than Stepford Wives, but still I loved my Zombieland!).

With that description, I think NEW is winning out to an older, more prestigious community, where we would have to buy a real fixer upper in an area where dilapidated brick ranch homes stand next to Texas sized multi-millionare dollar mansions.  Not that these areas don't exude charm, and not that I am scared nor fear for lack of vision, but mostly, it's that you can't change the floor plan without bulldozing the house and starting over.  The floor plans are very chopped up and always missing something on my must-have list (like a defined entryway).


I find myself constantly comparing these older homes with the new construction home that I fell in love with (and it doesn't escape me that this community happens to bear a striking similarity to my beloved Zombieland), along with the process of picking out every single detail of the home as it is built from the ground up, which sort of sound like design heaven. 

Nothing has been formally purchased yet, but we are heading in that direction...