Choosing a building site for the construction of your home.
Building your dream home is full of exciting, fun decisions. However, before you can get started on designing the floor plan, choosing paint colors, and calling dibs on the best bedrooms or home offices, you have to find a piece of land on which to build your new house. Whether you’re purchasing land in a subdivision or a rural area, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions to help you figure out which one is the perfect lot for you:
- • Where do I want to live?
-
• How much space do I really need and want?
-
• What are my priorities?
Choosing where to live.
When you’re building a custom home, deciding where you’d like to build might be as easy as deciding where you’d like to live and having a real estate agent help you find an available lot in that area. For most people, it’s not quite this simple. Even if you know you’d like to stay close to a particular town, you’ll need to think about whether you’d prefer a rural setting or if you’d rather find an available plot of land in a nearby subdivision.
Figuring out how much space you need.
Once you’ve chosen a general area, consider how much land you’ll need to suit your lifestyle.
What kind of house plan do you want?
If you want a large, sprawling one story home with southern exposure (and therefore more exposure to natural light for more time during the day) and a spacious outdoor space complete with a side-load garage, you’re going to need more space than a homeowner who would rather have a multistory home with minimal yard work.
Do you need and want a large yard?
If you love gardening, throwing a frisbee around with your dog, or playing soccer with the kids, an L-shaped lot with a narrow front yard and limited room to roam probably won’t live up to your expectations. However, if you want the amenities of a single-family home with the convenience of being close to town, having fewer landscaping and maintenance demands, and won’t miss having a sprawling yard, a smaller lot could be a great fit for you.
What are your thoughts on privacy and traffic?
If you don’t want to hear the hustle and bustle of traffic in and out of your neighborhood, building your home in a cul-de-sac could offer more peace and quiet than a corner lot, but you might risk feeling a little isolated from your neighbors. If you’d prefer a little more land and like the idea of being surrounded by more neighbors, a corner lot offers a great compromise between privacy and inclusion, but corner lots have more traffic noise from nearby streets and intersections.
Determining your priorities ahead of time.
Make a list of your priorities and determine how much land you really want before moving forward with a purchase. While building a home affords you the opportunity to design your dream home, knowing where you’d like to put it is vital for your getting the most out of your new home. If you’re torn between a rural or urban property, two lots in different neighborhoods, or which amenities and features are the most important to you and your family, make a pros and cons list for each of your options to help you see the big picture and confidently decide where to build your dream home.
