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Hi, I'm Marianne Howell Wright. When you're thinking about purchasing a new
home in a new home neighborhood, something that's really important to look
at, that's often not investigated as closely as it should be is the home
site. The neighborhood will usually have a plat map. The builder and
developer will have provided that, and it'll be beautifully colored, show
the different lots, and the walking trails, and amenities, and the roads,
and the different phases of the neighborhood, houses that have sold. It'll
have all kinds of information on it, but not all the information you need.
So let's take a drive and I'll show you some things to look out for.
When you're driving through the new home neighborhood, look up. New homes
have underground power, but in almost every neighborhood there are
powerlines that bring electricity to the underground power. Look for these
green boxes. Sometimes clients are surprised to find one in their front
yard. The slope is really important when choosing your home site. If a
house is going to be located up a hill, it could have many steps. I can be
pretty sure that these people didn't realize just how many steps they would
have when they chose those home sites. This is sort of an extreme example
of an uphill home. Look at all the steps. There's retaining walls in the
front, and then to get to the front door, there's two more flights of
stairs. In order to avoid that, you could have a retaining wall in the back
on a slope site, but then your backyard is going to be right up against the
hill.
A slope downward is great for a basement but it adds costs. If the lot is
small, the front of the lot can be filled so the house can actually be at
street level like this one you're looking at now. A level lot seems like
oh, there wouldn't be any problems, it would be easy to build on. And
that's true, but there's also a problem with getting the water away from
the house. The builder will need to use swails or even yard drains to carry
the water away, and your yard could still be soggy for months. Cul-de-sacs
are very popular but there's very little street parking. Houses tend to be
closer together because the lots are narrow in the front. This neighborhood
had a problem with street parking.
Erosion control is something else to look at. Sometimes detention ponds are
temporary but other times they're permanent, and they can be either
beautiful or a mosquito breeding ground. Also, don't fall in love with
trees because, with the smaller lots we have in new home neighborhoods,
they're often gone. This is a pump station and sometimes they're hidden
back behind trees and the representative usually won't volunteer where
they're located. You could have an unpleasant surprise, sitting on your
screen porch one day. They really can smell. Take a look at the lot you're
interested in and notice the relationship with the lots around it. Has it
been cleared? Is there a different slope? It's possible the lot could be
filled, and it's something you need to know.
Look for streetlights and other things that might cause unwanted light
coming into your house at night. If you like to sleep in the dark, a bright
streetlight outside your window could be a problem. Also, take note of
streams. That could be an indication of a flood plain. And while your lot
may not be in a flood plain now, flood maps can change, so it's something
to be aware of. And then just drive down the street and notice your
neighbors, what the houses around it will look like, and always keep in
mind when you buy in a new home neighborhood that some things can change
and another builder could come in and build a completly different product.
And that could be good or bad.
Well those are just a few things to consider when you're choosing your lot
in a new home neighborhood. Let me know if you have questions or if you
would like buyer representation. This is Marianne Howell Wright from
Chapel Hill, North Carolina.