Sometimes, buying an existing home just won’t work. You may be a Texas homebuyer who’s tired of competing for highly desired homes in the neighborhood you want, or maybe you just don’t like the idea of living in an older house. Either way, you have options if you’d prefer to live in a brand-new Houston area house.
Whether you’re planning to buy a teardown and build a home on the perfect plot of land or buy into a new housing development, you should prepare for a process that differs from purchasing an existing property. Here are some things to consider when looking for land to build on in the Houston, Texas area.
Orientation
Do you know whether the land you are considering purchasing is North or West facing? And if so, do you know how to make sure you have a well-designed floor plan to take advantage of its natural features?
A poor design on a West facing plot can lead to your home feeling like a sauna in the warmer months. It may also mean increased energy costs as you’ll likely feel the need to run the air-conditioning more often.
As a guide, North facing blocks do get the best sun exposure and therefore you should place your living areas there. The narrower ends of your home are better placed on the West and East of your block. The wide sides of your home are best placed facing North and South.
Make sure you know the orientation of the block and ensure your builder makes this an important factor before finalizing your Houston house design plans.
Price
An expensive piece of land can mean less budget on your new home build. Often new land purchasers will say, we have spent $500,000 on the plot so we only have $300,000 left to build our new home without a true realization that their remaining budget may not allow for all the features they dreamed of having.
Be realistic about build costs and make sure you do your research with home builders to get an idea of how much your new home will cost. Sometimes, it’s better to purchase a smaller block of land so you can use your budget to build the home you want.
When you buy land to build a house on, be wary of buying a cheap lot and then putting an expensive home on it, which may diminish the value of the construction improvements, or purchasing an expensive lot and putting a cheap or small home on it, which may damage the value of the land.
You should try to build a home in the size and price range that’s common for the area and make sure there is an appropriate relationship between the price of the home and the value of the land.
Land Variations
Ensure that you know exactly how much grading and fill your land requires before putting your money down as a deposit as this could very much affect your build cost.
Get to know where your easements are and if any covenants may apply prior to buying the land to minimise any future surprises.
Infrastructure
If there anything more frustrating than moving into a new area and not getting any mobile phone reception. Or worse, the kids not being able to get onto wi-fi!
Do your research about the infrastructure which exists and which companies better service the area.
Build By Owner is here to help you from before you buy the land to after you move in your new Houston TX custom home. Give us a call @ (281) 331-3347 or email us today and let us save you money and time and make the home building process fun.
