By Mark Puente, Times Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Shawn Merritt liked the idea of a newly built home. No repairs. Less hassle. Better energy efficiency.
And, as he found out, the price is right, too.
Merritt, 24, paid $165,000 for a 2,384 square foot home in Brookfield Estates in Wesley Chapel. His family moved in two weeks ago.
"It feels like a dream," he said. "It's the first home I've ever bought. It was the right time to buy."
Thousands of new home buyers in the United States would agree.
Many first-time buyers are passing on the traditional "starter" homes – older, smaller, sometimes dated. Instead, they are buying new, helped by rock-bottom interest rates and major prices cuts from the go-go years of the real estate boom.
The trend helped boost demand for new homes in the United States more than forecast in April ...