What should I look for in a new construction community?
New construction is so much fun and is a regular topic here. When doing your research you’ll want to know the community and the area around your new home!
Communities include what I like to call the 3 S’s school, stores, and services. Each of these come with their own set of wants and needs. So lets jump into them!
Schools
Schools are a thing to consider if you have children, are wanting to have children, or never want to have children. Also take into consideration how long you are wanting to live in the community and how that will effect your child’s education.
For us, we are planning to stay in our home indefinitely with a minimum of 5-10 years. So we needed to understand our elementary school the best. After looking at school reviews, their website, their instagram page :), and seeing how far away it was from the house we could make a decision.
The school is within walking distance, but will not bog up the road in front of us during peak times. If the school wasn’t that close we’d need to consider bus routes or if we would drive every day.
If you do not have children and don’t plan to have children then this still can apply to you. Do you want to be close to a school or have kids around? If you don’t then it would be great to further property from a school.
Having older children at home will also change your priorities. Both proximity to middle and high schools and what types of extra curricular those schools have. If your child wants to do concurrent enrollment during high school validate the school allows it.
Another great thing to consider is if you plan on renting out the home later on. If you are building a single family home, you’ll likely rent to a family. Being closer to a school will help you rent that home.
Stores
This is another great point to consider when looking at the greater community that you’re planning to build in. What kinds of grocery store do you need and how far are you willing to drive for that store?
Costco and Walmart seem to be the biggest contenders here. Is Costco and/or Walmart with in a reasonable distance or will they build those stores soon?
For us, they have a Walmart and the Costco will be finished before we move in. Other stores you might consider are home improvement stores, coffee shops, or particular restaurants.
Other stores might be pharmacies, amazon fulfillment centers (how long till you get your package), target (I see you moms), or a store like TJ Maxx or Ross.
Services
Services are by far the largest category when considering an area. This will likely take the most of your time when researching and have way too many categories to go into depth with.
However, one service that is important to cover in depth is the HOA. This is usually a monthly fee to the community that helps to pay for community services.
Some of these services include snow removal in some areas, pools, clubhouses, waste removal, and street maintenance. Be sure to check for the monthly fee and what it covers for your area.
Master list of services to consider the distance and quality:
- Medical
- Primary Care
- OBGYN
- Mental Health
- Pediatrics
- Emergency
- Cardiology
- etc.
- Religious
- Beauty
- Hair
- Nails
- esthetics
- Animal/Pet
- Cleaning
- Legal
- Recreation
- Outdoor
- Indoor
- IT
- Home Repair
- Library
- Childcare
- Non Profit
- Government
- Accounting
- Fitness
- Classes
- Gyms
- Outdoor recreation
- Hospitality
- Travel
- Waste Removal
- Snow Removal (if applicable)
- Internet/Cell phone
- Landscaping
Closing
What do you think of the list? Is there anything that I missed or anything you’d add? Let me know in the comments. Also would love to hear how your home building process is going!
Happy House Building!