Buying Vacant Land or Buying Ready-Built Property: Pros and Cons

Which of these options is the better value-for-money choice? Which one is a better long term investment? If you are having a difficult time in deciding, here are a few tips which might make things easier for you:

When considering which choice is wiser for you, keep in mind that both have associated costs on top of the ready-built property and land. These costs can add quite significantly to the final expense.

Buying ready-built property is many times more accessible, it enables more immediate use and it saves the hassle of building on vacant land, which can take 2.5-3 year approximately. On the other hand, buying ready-built property is almost always the more expensive option. If you are considering this, it would be wise to take along someone who really knows their way around real estate when you are browsing the market, so they can give sound advice about all the different aspects you might not be aware of.

Buying a good piece of land (there are different variables such as location and suitability for building, and this is worth investigating fully) can be very worthwhile and in many aspects may produce more risks than buying property which is already built. One should always bear in mind that the time required for getting the permit to build requires 12-18 months and about 18 months to build.

When you buy a vacant land, you are fully in control of everything that happens from that point on and plan it exactly according to your needs. You can even leave the land as it is until you are ready to start building on it.

When you buy a house/villa you should have a thorough check of the permit, systems (electricity, plumbing, AC etc.), wetness problems etc.

When you buy land, for a good price, it can be a very a beneficial long term investment. Yes, the initial expense might be large, but in the long run you will have no mortgage payments to make, no utility bills to pay and it is basically a tangible asset with value that will most likely go up continually, as the amount of land available in Israel - is limited. This can be an investment just as stocks and shares are.

Whichever option you choose, get advice. Be realistic about the money you can spend, the loans you take, the mortgage you might sign on to and so on.