Renovating vs building from ground up

[Avishkar Sabharwal]

Hello everyone

We are in NJ and currently in the process of looking for a house to move out of the current rental apartment since our kids need more space and the tenants downstairs from us have already complained that the kids are making too much noise. We were initially looking for a house to buy then someone suggested buying either land or buying an old house and building a new house on the property which will be appraised at a higher value hence causing forced appreciation. Do you think it is a good move? While we want to move into a house, we also want it to be an investment.

I know this question was posted recently but could not find a clear answer. It would be great if anyone with the housing market in NJ can give some insight into this.

We are not builders/contractors and this is going to be our very first project.

Thank you