Tips to Finding The Perfect Lot for Your Custom Home
If you have put together a house plan years in the making but have never thought exactly where that home might be located, you aren’t alone. Sometimes, finding the right place is just as important as planning your new home or choosing a custom home builder, but how do you go about the whole process?
In this article, we will take a close look at a few helpful tips for finding the perfect lot for your custom home so you can thoroughly enjoy the area that you plan on settling down in.
- Decide the Desired House Plan
Jerry Hendriks of Niagara Homes offers this: “If you haven’t sorted out at least roughly what your dream home will look like, the rough dimensions, and the space needed to be pulled off successfully, this is the opportune time to get started on the process. If you don’t have any of the following information, deciding whether the home will fit on the lot will be nearly impossible. Make sure to consider the lot’s shape and setbacks.”
- Conduct Research
Once you find a lot worth considering, it is time to begin digging in and finding out more about the area you are interested in. What might happen if you build on this desired lot? Will you face a longer or shorter commute? What are the ratings of the nearby school systems? What do property taxes look like?
- Take a Tour of the Neighborhood
Don’t run through the prospective neighborhood quickly, take your time and look over the entire neighborhood at different times of the day. Stop through during the day to see what is happening in the area, possibly over your lunch hour. Take a weekend afternoon and chat with a few people around the area to get a good feel for the community you are considering calling home. Ensure you drive through a couple of times at night to see if the area still seems secure and safe.
Related: How to Tell How Many Homes a REALTOR has sold
- Examine Sun Exposure
What direction is the sun shining from compared to the layout of your home? In the warm months, the view might suddenly become expensive as solar heat gain will make you turn up the air conditioning. Northern exposure can leave you and others in the house feeling a bit chilled in the winter months, while the morning sun in your bedroom can make any night owl grumpy, and Western exposure can fade your furnishings.
- See If You Don’t Mind the Topography of the Lot
Now, take a look at the layout of the land to ensure that it will meet your needs now and in the future. How will you landscape your brand-new custom home? How will the slope of the land impact plans for a walk-out basement or a front yard gazebo? Is the land flat enough for the backyard patio that you had plans to relax in during your downtime once the kids leave home?
- Assess any Potential Issues
When you visited the neighborhood, did you hear about plans for any nearby underdeveloped land that might hurt your new home? How much grading might be needed to take place so that you can have a walk-out basement plan? Are there any power lines that run through the property that need to be accounted for in the plans?
- Set Up a Meeting with a Custom Home Builder
Once you have chosen a potential lot, do you have plans on consulting with a builder? This can be an important step on your list because an experienced homebuilder might spot issues that you hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps there is a rural property that has proper soil for a septic system. Or maybe there is an impressive amount of bedrock near the surface that will impact your ability to have a full basement created for a more reasonable price.
Conclusion
By taking into consideration all of these potential issues when selecting a lot for your custom home, you will ensure that, in the long run, your new home is going to be perfectly situated in a stunning neighborhood. Putting a house plan together can be stressful enough, but finding a place to plant that house down and settle in can be even more difficult. From conducting the proper research and taking tours of prospective residents to making sure that the sun exposure and topography of the land will suit your home and needs, we hope that this article has helped guide you to find the best lot for your family.
