Choosing a New Home Community

If you are planning on building a new home, selecting the right community can be almost as important as choosing the right home.  Choosing a new home community needs to be considered carefully.  The following tips can help you with your decision.

1.    Find the right location. 
As with any real estate purchase, location is one of the most important factors when building a new home.  It needs to be in a location that works for you.  Often, new construction communities are located on the edges of the suburbs in what were recently farm fields and horse pastures.  Be sure that the community that you’re looking at isn’t too far from your place of employment, shopping, or entertainment. 

2.    Drive around. 
Once you know the general location that you want for your new home, drive around to see which communities are located there.  It’s a good idea to drive through the new home neighborhoods to see what they’re like.  You can not only get a feel for the layout of the different new home communities, but you can also see how the homeowners enjoy and make use of the neighborhoods.  If you see people out walking and enjoying the parks together, that is a good sign that they probably enjoy living in that particular new home community.

3.    Know what amenities and features are important to you. 
If you know what you want in a new home, then that can make it easier to select a new home community.  What type of home do you want?  Do you want two-story or ranch-style?  Do you want a large yard or a community that takes care of lawn maintenance for you?  What about a community pool?  Consider not only the amenities available in the new home that you want, but also those available in the neighborhood.

4.    Walk through LOTS of models. 
The only way to really see if the new home community has the style and amenities in the homes that you want is to actually walk through the models.  This gives you the truest sense of the style of the new homes in the communities.  One note of caution – model homes are usually upgraded to the hilt.  There is probably a price sheet available with a breakdown of how much the upgrades cost for the particular model.  Make sure what you love about the model home is within your price range.

5.    Consider resale potential. 
As much as you love your potential new home, it may not be the last home you own in your lifetime.  So, when deciding which new home community will be the one you call your own, look at the resale potential.  If you are using a real estate agent, s/he can be a great help for this.  No one has a better feel of which neighborhoods will have resale potential a few years down the road as your agent.  If you notice that homes currently for sale in the new home community do not stay on the market for long, it’s a good sign that the community has good resale value.