When Luba and Igor Liberman were planning to buy a home, they were particularly interested in looking at new construction. “We used to live in an older home, which comes with some problems,” said Luba, “We hope new construction will have less of those.”

MICHAEL KARAS/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Luba Liberman with her son Josh, 2, and daughter Mia, 1, at their new home in Paramus. It took Liberman and her husband, Igor, less than two months to find the six-bedroom house that has just about everything they were looking for except a pool.

It worked out well for them to buy a brand-new house in Paramus, a process that went smoothly after the first house they bid on fell through.

Luba’s accounting job had been transferred to New York City, so they wanted to move from Connecticut to Bergen County for easier commuting. They considered a rental, but Luba points out, “With a rental, you can’t make it your own. And we have two small kids, so we wanted to minimize the number of moves we had to make.”

They started off with a list of criteria for their new home: location, a good school district, the feel of the neighborhood, the house’s appearance.

The Libermans went out on weekends to look at houses. They visited some older homes and made an offer on a 10-year-old house, but the owners changed their minds about selling before they even got to attorney review. “We hadn’t spent a lot of money,” Luba said, “but you do have an emotional investment.”

It took them less than two months to find the six-bedroom house they ended up buying. “You look for the ideal house,” said Luba, “but you have to make certain sacrifices. There’s no such thing as a perfect house.”

They had hoped to have a pool, which their house lacks, but the yard is big enough to build one. While spacious, the house is not as big as Igor, a finance manager for a public relations firm, had hoped.

Inspection of an older home can sink a deal or lead to complex and nerve-racking negotiations, but new construction, if well-built, has fewer pitfalls.

The Libermans, who had purchased a home two years ago, appreciated the difference.

“With an older house, you look at how old is the roof, are there leaks?” said Luba. “There’s the status of the boiler, the hot water heater. But here, all that stuff is brand new. A few things had to be fixed.”

They made a list of items to be changed: They needed a fan installed in the attic, for instance, and a tree branch had to be cut that was hanging over the top of the house.

“We asked them to change a staircase outside,” Luba said. “When you’re buying a new house but it’s not completely finished during the search process, you can make adjustments before it’s done. We put a list together and sent it through the lawyers, and they fixed what we asked for.”

No post-inspection financial adjustments were made. They bought the house for less than $1 million.

The Libermans had no difficulty obtaining a mortgage and were pleased to take advantage of low interest rates. Luba said the purchasing process was “seamless.”

Their real estate agent, Vyacheslav Zborovsky of Re/Max Elite Associates in Montvale, said new construction has many advantages, but there are some trade-offs.

“They’re low-maintenance,” he said. “You don’t have to spend your weekends at Home Depot. And there’s the emotional factor to having a brand new home, with that new-home smell, just like the new-car smell.”

Another plus is the 10-year builder’s warranty, now required by law for any construction that’s completely new, including the foundation.

“For the first two years, it covers everything,” said Zborovsky. “It diminishes the things it covers as the years go on.”