Brand new homes offer so many benefits, from energy efficiency to thoughtful design to excellent return on investment. If you plan to build or buy a new home in New Jersey soon, you’ll want to keep these factors in mind before you make a decision.

Location

Location not only influences price but affect your enjoyment of your home. If your new home is far from highways and stores or is in an iffy neighborhood, its poor location will soon outweigh all of its positives. Although your idea of the perfect location may be a little different than your friend’s, good locations typically have these features in common.

• Convenience: You won’t have to travel to buy food and clothing, commute to work or see a doctor or dentist.
• Good Schools: Schools are safe, have an impressive four-year graduation rate and offer an exceptional education.
• The View: No one wants a garbage dump or gas station in their backyard. No matter how much you like the floor plan, a new home may not be such a good deal if it’s located close to a major highway or within view of a commercial district.

It’s also important to consider your lot’s location within the community. If you want privacy, choose a lot that backs to a wooded area or is situated at the end of a cul de sac.

Floor Plan

It’s much easier to find a floor plan that really works for you than to try to make a poorly designed home fit your needs. The best floor plans:

• Offer good flow and a logical arrangement of rooms and hallways
• Include the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you need
• Provide a little extra space for growth (for example, an office could be turned into a guest bedroom or the basement could be finished and turned into a game room)
• Contain amply sized closets and plenty of storage
• Feature generously sized kitchens, family rooms and bedrooms

Available Upgrades

Tweaking the features in your house is one of the most satisfying aspects of a buying a new home. In fact, your builder probably offers hundreds of upgrades that will help you personalize your new home. An upgrade can be as simple as changing the paint color of your master bedroom to adding a sunroom to the first floor of your home.

Although upgrades do add to the cost of your home, they offer a simple, cost-effective way to make your new house feel like home. Extending the size of a room, incorporating green features or even adding extra outlets is much cheaper during construction than it would be if you renovated your home later.

Aging in Place

Moving somewhere warmer has fallen out of favor lately among older Americans. In fact, 87 percent of homeowners 65 and older surveyed by AARP reported that they wanted to remain in their homes during retirement.

If you think that you would like to age in place, it pays to buy a home that can be modified to include key aging-in-place features, including:

• Wider hallways that offer enough room for wheelchairs
• Lever-style door handles instead of door knobs
• First-floor master bedroom (or a first-floor guest suite that can one day become a master bedroom)
• At least one entrance into the home that doesn’t require climbing stairs
• Lower light switches and higher electrical outlets
• Motion-activated lights and faucets
• Curbless showers
• Showers with built-in seats
• Non-slip flooring

Builder Reputation

We’ve all heard horror stories about new home communities that were never finished or homes that began falling apart soon after they were built. Choosing an established builder with an excellent reputation in the community can help you avoid a new home nightmare. Before you select a builder, tour a few of the company’s established communities, ask for references from current homeowners, and don’t neglect your gut feeling. If you don’t feel comfortable, there’s probably a good reason for your feelings.

The best builders have plenty of experience constructing new houses, have a long history in the area and truly enjoy creating comfortable, attractive homes that will stand the test of time.

Have you been looking for the right team to build your new home? Country Classics has been constructing award-winning homes since 1988 and would be happy to help you build yours. Take a look at the communities on our website, and let us know when you’re ready to schedule a tour.