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For me brand new, we are not a handyman couple or even DYI, so it's cheaper to buy as new as possible!

Brand new and start from scratch, only because the old houses around here are completely deteriorated and would cost a ton of $$$$$$$ to renovate.

Our home is 250+ years old so I say older home, with renovations. I would love to be able to change part of the layout of our house though, but that isn't an option so we focus on upgrading/improving other areas like the deck, kitchen, bathrooms, etc.

We purchased our condo brand new and it was stressful picking everything out! I cant imagine doing that to a big house! Also for the 1st year we were constantly finding things wrong that had to be fixed - what a pain!

Our current house is 20 yrs old but was gutted and re done (by previous owner) and I LOVE it!!!

I like homes with character and old charm too but at the end of the day it's still an old home and with old homes generally ca problems ! When we bought we were stuck between an older (1920s) home or a 5 Yr old home. In the end the newer home won out!

Both. It completely depends on how it's built. I've seen more solid older homes, whereas a lot of homes being built in subdivisions now are a lot like matchstick houses.

We are hoping to build, but will go with a construction company that specializes in historical reproductions.
Best of both worlds!

We opted for a brand new house. It was cheaper than established houses and it was nice to have everything be brand new and perfect and have a home warranty for stuff that pops up. The sacrifice is on having a cookie cutter house that has no unique character. But for this point of my life the benefits outweigh the uniqueness issue.

I've seen so many clients with "new" houses come in with some really disastrous construction problems. I've seen the same with 150 year old home owners.
I prefer old homes that have been renovated. But only ones that I have done, because I'm soooo picky and uptight about my contractors. I just can't trust someone else's work.

We live in a new build. Love it!

I do prefer older homes, but there weren't any available in the neighborhoods we love when we were buying our house, so we fell backwards into a brand-new house. I feel like we have the best of both worlds because we bought a brand-new house in an old, established neighborhood. We have huge, mature trees on our lot, and that is a huge plus to me - our house stays so cool in the summer thanks to all of the shade. Our builder had built a few other houses in our neighborhood, so he added a lot of touches that add character and keep (at least somewhat) with the historic Craftsman feel of the neighborhood.

We bought an older home ('52) and remodeled it in 2 stages. I may want to start from scratch at some point (ie. architect), but its SO much work. Plus, there is a real lack of extra land in the area we want to stick to, so we would have to find a dilapidated house to tear down.

Older home because I like established neighborhoods and tested construction.

@mrs. tictactoe: I love older homes. The charactera, the built ins, the doorways....I also think that newer homes sometimes are not as well built as older homes!

We moved into our second new build in August.

DIY stores and shows have made older homes so much of a risk. We wanted to know what was behind our walls, and not worry about someone else's work or re-work that we'd never see! We're handy to a certain extent and the new builds have kept us busy enough both as FT WOH parents! We made a lot of money on our first new build with the "work" we did, and I don't think we would have gotten anywhere near what we did had we gone older and put equal money and time into an older property. Helped us get into this new build that we hope is our lifer!

Both homes have been in subdivisions, DH and I are both outdoorsy people and haven't had any issues, for me, most people don't use the space they have as-is, so why take up more farmland than necessary just to be further from neighbours/for selfish reasons! We paid a substantial lot premium this time to back on to greenspace and a park, and it's great because we don't have 8 zillion backyards behind us, and we get to feel like we have more space but still have neighbours a few feet on either side. It's not sustainable to all have space! Mature trees will come with time and it will be neat to watch them grow as we grow as a family in this house!

old but renovated

When we were looking for a house I did NOT want a new build. I don't trust them!

We wanted an older craftsman style home but ended up buying a house that was 50 years old and renovated in the 90s.

I'm also not really that into an open floor plan. Ours is semi open - the living room is divided from the kitchen/dining area by a wall where the stairs are, but there aren't doors blocking it off or anything. I find them to be kind of loud. People are trying to cook and watch tv at the same time and all. I also never got the whole "the kitchen is the heart of the home be where everyone ends up at the party anyway" line you hear on HGTV shows all the time. I mean that's definitely true, so why are they doing away with it with the open floor plan??

For me the neighborhood matters most. New makes me think suburban which I will never be! the only way I would enjoy new is if I designed and built myself.

We did old. That was a disaster. So we bought new the second time.

There was just problem after problem with our old house! I love the character of old houses too but it's not worth it to me. If I had to buy another house, I would probably choose a house that's 15 years old, high quality, been well maintained, on a good size lot, in a friendly neighborhood with upkept houses, somewhat mature trees and a private, lush backyard.

Depends. Around here, brand new homes are practically on top of each other. There is absolutely NO yard. So we bought a 15 year old home to get more space and love the mature trees and landscape. However, if we could've put the new build we liked on this older house's lot, we would've. So it really just depends!