Top 4 Signs That It’s Time for a New Home
- 1. Your entering into a new phase of life – Many factors can determine whether you’re in a new phase of life like a marriage, having children or even having elderly family moving back in. All of these reasons could make your current home inadequate.
- 2. Your outdoor living requires too much maintenance – As our lives change, so do our interests. Often when purchasing a home, it’s easy to get excited about all of the possibilities that comes with outdoor space. After a few years with a pool or acres of land to maintain, it can become cumbersome instead of enjoyable.
- 3. Your current home has too much unused space – If your children have left the home, it can be glaringly obvious the amount of space that one person can use or not use. What once could fit five people happily, can become overwhelming with only two or even one person remaining in the home. Cleaning and maintaining can seem like a daunting task – meaning it’s time to downsize.
- 4. You’re sick of the stairs – Whether you have an upper level master or extra beds/baths that need maintaining on the second floor, after a while it can be strenuous to walk up and down the stairs. Maybe you have a basement that’s only used once a year for holidays when there’s a big group of people coming to town. Either way, this may be the most frequent reason for a new home.
Next Steps Toward Your New Home
1. Find out what your current house is worth and how to list it – The first step when deciding to sell your home is to find out the market value and how to get it listed. This is easiest to complete by working with a Realtor*. Having a full evaluation completed on your property will help you get clarity on how much you are able to list your home for, thus giving you a price range of where to look for your next home. You can list your home whenever you’re ready but knowing the numbers will allow you to move forward with confidence when the time is right.
2. Consider working with a Realtor* to find a perfect community and builder for you – While there is a tremendous amount of benefits from working with a Realtor*, one of the best can be a Guaranteed Buy program. This is a program where the Realtor* who lists your home, will buy it for a pre-determined amount if your home does not sell within a certain time frame. Many sellers are uncomfortable planning or starting their new home without the confidence that their existing home is sold. A program like this can eliminate those fears.
3. Explore your financing options – Speaking with a lender* that specializes in new home construction will help you identify all applicable programs and products available such as a Blanket Loan or Bridge Loan. This will also help to avoid a double-move or allow you to start a build before your home sells. Be sure to check out a few different lenders to see which will best fit your needs.
4. Start designing your new home – The design process (plot plan, layout, exterior elevation and final pricing) typically takes between 45 to 60 days. The sooner you reserve your lot and start working with our in-house architectural design team, the sooner we can start making your dream home a reality. When entering the design phase, think about what is working well in your current home and also what is a must-have in the new home.
5. Ready, set, stage! – One of the most important things to do to sell your old home is to properly stage it, which aims to make it more appealing to buyers prior to listing. If you’re struggling to come up with a checklist to get your home market ready, our partners at Everything Home offer a free consultation to give you a list of action items that will have your home looking it’s best and allow you to get the best value.
At Old Town Design Group, we make it a priority to make sure that you are always in control and aware of what to expect during the home building process, from start to finish. By utilizing our in-house team of experts, we are able to create your dream home in a timely manner and help guide you each step of the way.