Nobody owned it before you, and you get a hand in the creation.
Buying a new home can be and should be an exciting process. You get to pick out the cabinets, the flooring and paint colors – not to mention lighting and appliances. You will often have a say in the choice of lot, and if you start the process early enough, you’ll even have the opportunity to choose from a handful of different floor plans. The home will be yours; nobody owned it before you, and you get a hand in the creation. For most people, this really is a fun process.
You don’t know what you don’t know: We believe it is our job to present you with the questions you may not know to ask, and to offer insight that only comes from years of experience.
Buying a new home is exciting largely because the process is emotional. Many emotional expressions – like joy, happiness and excitement, are good, and these are largely the emotions we experience when building a new home. These emotions, though, sometimes need to be checked. When decisions are based only on emotion it is easy to ignore flags that pop up that may indicate a different course should be considered; it is when these “good” emotions serve as our only compass that we can tend to make uninformed and risky decisions. This is where we come in. We are here to serve as regulators; we will help you balance your understandable enthusiasm with a bit of practicality. We do this by presenting questions you may not know to ask, and we do this by offering insight that only come from years of experience. The more you know about not just the present circumstances, but also future implications of any decision you make, the more confident you will be in the path you choose.
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With new construction, the variables (both known and unknown) are both larger in number and more subtle in their complexity.
There are hundreds of “moving pieces” when it comes to buying or selling any home, but with new construction, the variables (both known and unknown) are larger in number and more subtle in their complexity. For example, there are seemingly innocuous decisions you can make that, when the day comes for you to sell the home, can be the difference in selling quickly (and for a premium), and not selling at all (or selling at a price well below the market).
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While not “absolutes,” there are a few fundamentals we believe you should think about.
We’ve found that there are a few fundamental ideas regarding new construction. To call them absolutes would go a bit too far, but they are close. In the second part of this series we will give you more depth regarding the “why” piece of the puzzle. For now, please consider:
- Superficial upgrades (like carpet, countertops, cabinets, light fixtures and paint) should be purchased in moderation. These types of upgrades not only depreciate daily, but the style you choose today will become more and more dated over time.
- The opposite of a superficial upgrade is what we would call an “enduring” upgrade. This category includes things like an upgraded lot, a “better” floor plan, a three-car garage (when two is standard) a walkout basement, or even a basement with a higher than normal ceiling. We suggest you would be well served to spend more of your budget on enduring, as opposed to superficial, upgrades.
- It is impossible to overestimate the effect of light. You may love the floor plan of your home, and you may like the finishes, but if the home is devoid of natural light, it may not only affect your enjoyment of the home, but it will likely impact the future saleability.
The second in this short, two post series, delves into why these fundamentals we are offering are largely true.