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model homes

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Style Inspiration: $2.4 Million Mansion

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November 15, 2015
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When your local paper features a story on a new model home with a two story master closet, you go. Thus my lazy Saturday style adventure began. After you choose and purchase your new home, there seems little reason to continue looking at model homes. But this is actually the most beneficial time to go to model homes. As I mentioned in my previous post Model Home Mirages, model homes set a pretty unrealistic expectation of what your home is going to look like. They have all the bells and whistles and are decorated so fine, that you feel like you’re in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

And that is EXACTLY how you should see it. Now that I’ve already chosen my home, I am using this opportunity to walk through model homes only focusing on the amazing interior design. Instead of buying magazines for $10 a pop, I can simply drive to a few local model homes and experience the designs first hand; walk through the living exhibit, touch it, live it, and figure out what I want in my own home. Therefore price doesn’t matter and of course I chose to walk through a $2.4 million dollar, 5000 sq ft monstrosity.

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Plenty of Fish in the Sea

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August 13, 2015
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You started out going to one model park and looking at five houses. Maybe you visited a few other communities, a few other houses. You looked at a few below your price range and too many above. Feel like you looked at enough to make a choice? WRONG. Look more. If I learned anything from my house hunting excursion, it was that there are MANY beautiful houses out there. This is not like human relationships, you will fall in love many times. Over and over again, you will think to yourself “THIS IS THE ONE”. I don’t want to be a cynic, but this isn’t like that. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and there is no one soulmate of a house. Builders are good at building houses. That’s why they are builders. That means you are going to fall in love with lots of floor plans. And just when you think you’ve found the one with the perfect kitchen island and the high ceilings that you love, you’re gonna find an even better one with an even bigger kitchen island and even higher ceilings.

So, what I’m saying, is that you can never do enough research. Obviously there is a point to call it quits. But more often than not, you could stand to do one more viewing, even if to eliminate an option from your mind. In the end, the perfect house is not just going to be a floor plan. The perfect house is going to be the perfect floor plan, the perfect incentive package, good building quality, good customer service, a good neighborhood, a great lot, and the right price. I would advise that you don’t settle on any of these things. If you ever consider settling think about how you will be paying for this for the next 30 years of your life.

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Model Home Mirages

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August 13, 2015
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Model homes are always fun. They are beautiful and exciting, but honestly, they tell you nothing about the builder and their quality. You cannot compare your finished product to their model home. If you do fall in love with a model home, ask how many upgrades were put into the house. This will also tell you something about the culture of the builder. If they are selling a $350K house with another $350K of upgrades in the model home, most likely they are crooks. Haha no, that’s extreme, but they are definitely pulling a bit of a bait and switch.

You can look at the fit and finishes of the model home, but pay more attention to the floor plan and if it suits all of your structural needs. If it does, check to see if the builder has anything in inventory. Even if it is not the floorplan you are in love with, check out an inventory home, because it will give you a glimpse into their finish quality. Do they have sloppy paint jobs? Do they hang the doors straight? Is the tiling messy and uneven? Is the sealant around the plumbing a mess? That is the first thing. Is the quality any good? Because of course the quality of the model home is going to be immaculate. But the quality of an inventory home will reveal the truth.

The next thing you can check out in an inventory home is how nicely did they do upgrades? Most inventory homes will have a medium amount of upgrades because they want to make it desirable but not to have to overprice and then drop the price and make all the upgrades free to the buyer. So, how well did they choose their upgrades? Did they put any wood flooring in? If so, what is the quality? What does the standard lighting package look like? What about standard plumbing fixtures? Are they good enough for you? Or are you going to want to upgrade them when you build your own?

Now that you have browsed some of the inventory, how do you feel about the house? Do you still feel like they are a quality builder who are going to give you the house of your dreams? Or do you feel like you are going to have to pay double the starting price in upgrades just to get it how you want?