How to Shop for a House Plan

Choose a Plan That Suits Your Land

Choose a plan that fits the characteristics of your land. It can be very expensive to haul in dirt or grade a lot to make it suitable for a plan. It's better to make the house fit the land, rather than try to make the land fit the house. Also the size and shape of your lot affects the type of home you can build on the lot.

Be Open-minded

It's important to be open-minded when looking at houses. By doing this, you'll learn things you never realized. Over time, your 'ideal' home will evolve and change. If you are like most people, you will probably buy a home that is different from what you thought you wanted. Don't quickly discard houses. You will have a better understanding of what you want by taking a close look at many houses.

Exteriors Are Easy to Change

Some people will only look at a house if they like its appearance. However, usually the house's exterior can easily be changed. The changes to an exterior can be so dramatic that you won't realize you are looking at the same house. To change the exterior, you can use different windows, modify roof lines, and change exterior details.

You can often customize a house's exterior to suit your tastes. Don't judge a home by its appearance. It's the inside that really counts. After all, you'll spend 90% of your time on the inside of your home.

Choose a Plan That Suits Your Neighborhood

It's a good idea to look at the surrounding homes in your neighborhood when choosing a plan. To protect your home's resale value you may want to use a plan that is similar in size, features, and style of the homes normally built in your neighborhood.

Also, it's preferable to have a home that is not identical to nearby homes. If you have a private or wooded lot then making your home "fit in" to the neighborhood style is less of a concern.

Hidden Potential

You might discard the right home because you don't see its hidden potential. For example, say you don't like living rooms and you avoid houses that have living rooms. However, a living room could serve another purpose. It could become a den, a nursery, or an additional bedroom. It could also be an excellent dining room. Changing the location of a doorway, adding or removing a closet, or adding a wall may convert a room into something you would really love. Sometimes all you need to do is rename a room. When looking at houses, look for the hidden potential.

Perfect Homes Don't Exist

Some people spend years searching for the perfect home. However, they never find it because their perfect home is a fantasy. It doesn't really exist. Be realistic when shopping for a home. Ask yourself what are features you must have and what are features you want to have. When you find a house that meets your requirements, it may not have all of your wants. However, if you hold on to your dream of a perfect home you might pass up the right house and regret it later.

Blueprints Can Be Changed

Almost everyone who buys stock blueprints makes changes to them. Try to find something close to what you want and make changes to suit your needs. Common changes include doing a mirror reversal of the plan, moving walls, changing the location of the garage door (to make the garage a side garage or a front garage), and changing the size of the garage (such as lengthening a 2-car garage into a 3-car garage). Also you can usually add features to a home. For example most home plans can have a fireplace added.

Budget

Two of the main things that affect a house's price are its size and features. Some people look for a large house with many features. Because of this, they are unable to find a home they can afford.

It is possible to have a comfortable home with many features. Designers can make a house feel larger than it actually is. They accomplish this with efficient use of space, open floor plans, high ceilings, and good traffic flow. Effective window placement and sunlight can also make a house feel larger. It's not the size of a house that matters. What's more important is how comfortable your home feels. Perhaps you should consider houses that are smaller than what you think you want. By doing this you may find a comfortable home with the features you want.

Square Footage Size of a Plan

If you use a stock plan, you will probably make changes to the floor plan. Changes to a plan often increase or decrease the size of the house. Because of this, you should also look at plans that are smaller and larger than what you think you want.

After changes are made, the plan may be close to the size you desire. Also the size of the home is not as important as the functionality. A large poorly designed home may actually feel smaller than a smaller home which is designed well.

Consider looking at plans that are up to 500 square feet smaller and 300 square feet larger than what you think you want. Usually it is easier to increase the size of a plan than it is to reduce the size of a plan. Also, don't be too concerned about the square footage. Be more concerned about wants and needs. If you find a home that satisfies all your wants and needs and you can afford it then that's all that really matters.

Don't rule out a house simply because it's square footage is smaller than what you think you need. It's OK to use a maximum square footage limit to find a house you can afford, but let yourself look at plans that are smaller than what you think you want.