(Our forever home currently exists somewhere in San Francisco proper, it's just waiting patiently for us to some day win the lotto and come and claim it. A nice fantasy.)
Because it was a new home, we were able to decorate it to our wants and needs, and our design and style choices very much reflected our personalities as they were back then. Some before and after shots:
As you can probably tell, we lived in sunny San Diego, but we preferred our townhouse (at the time!) to be cozy and den-like to counteract all of the blazing sunshine we were exposed to 24/7!
We lived in our home for seven years and enjoyed every day there, but now we're ready for something different, and I can already tell you that our NV Home will pretty much be the complete opposite of what our Brookfield Home was. Buying new construction doesn't have to mean staying safe and playing only to current trends--on the contrary, it's your house, it's customized to you, no other owner will have any say in your design choices, so take a chance and do what you want!
This house was a three bedroom/three bathroom, at around 1800 square feet. It was the perfect size for our small family, not too much space to clean, didn't take a lot of money to paint and decorate, and we never felt like we were house poor or struggling to maintain it. Some things I wish I'd done differently:
Lighter cabinets. These were great and totally in style at the time, but think of really dark cars and how hard they are to keep clean, and apply that to kitchen cabinets. I'm an avid cook and baker, so every speck of food and every particle of flour dust always showed up--and it's something that you don't really think about at the time, but residue from oils, smoke and grease doesn't show up for a long time, and when it finally does, good luck getting off all the grime!
Busy patterned countertops. As the Mom of young kids, I wanted nothing more than to be able to hide dirt and grime because kids always makes your house messy and you can't spend your life cleaning up after them constantly. Now that I'm older, my kids are older and we can devote more time to cleaning ... nope nope nope NOPE. There is nothing like thinking you have a spotless countertop, only to sit down at the nearby eating table and from a unique angle, notice a fine line of crumbs that you couldn't see while you were standing directly over the countertop. Or worse, resting your hands or arms on the countertop, and coming away with something sticky or crumbly clinging hold to you. NOPE again! I want to SEE everything. Every crumb, every smatter, every single drop of everything, so that I'm not surprised later.
And also, the pattern is and will always be gorgeous, but I think it dated my kitchen a lot and looked very nondescript and builder grade-ish. I think a solid pattern granite or quartz will definitely age better.
And also, the pattern is and will always be gorgeous, but I think it dated my kitchen a lot and looked very nondescript and builder grade-ish. I think a solid pattern granite or quartz will definitely age better.
Builder grade appliances, fixtures, and toilets. HGTV lies to you. Constantly. Just because it is "stainless steel" does not mean that it's "high end". Stainless is just a skin or a color of an appliance. Builders get discounts for buying mass quantities of cheap appliances. Just because it is stainless does NOT mean it is good quality. My suggestion--if you can afford it--is to get a credit from the builder and apply the credit to other things you want in your home, like upgraded flooring and tile, and buy your OWN appliances. (I'm not sure, but it might not be legal for them to sell you a home without a cooktop or oven, so you might want to check in to that).
In our first five years of ownership, we had to replace our oven (Whirlpool Gold), our dishwasher (Whirlpool Gold), our kitchen faucet, and terrible, TERRIBLE ecoflush/dual flush toilets. The toilets were a relatively inexpensive fix, but replacing an oven and dishwasher so soon was a bit of a pain. And to be honest, the refrigerator (Again, Whirlpool Gold) never worked quite right, but we put up with it for as long as we could.
In our first five years of ownership, we had to replace our oven (Whirlpool Gold), our dishwasher (Whirlpool Gold), our kitchen faucet, and terrible, TERRIBLE ecoflush/dual flush toilets. The toilets were a relatively inexpensive fix, but replacing an oven and dishwasher so soon was a bit of a pain. And to be honest, the refrigerator (Again, Whirlpool Gold) never worked quite right, but we put up with it for as long as we could.
All of the fixtures are cheap, cheap, cheap. Just go into Home Depot, look at the cheapest faucets, light fixtures, and other fixtures you can find in each section, and I guarantee you'll find your finishes right there, and can be had for pennies. You're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home, but your fixtures are apartment rental grade. They are functional and will do okay in the short time, but please budget to get that kind of stuff replaced. Believe me, if/when you go to sell, the next owners WILL appreciate the special and unique touches you put inside of your house to differentiate it from the other 20 new builds that might be on the market at the same time. Put it this way--we put our house up for sale, and it sold over asking in three days. Two months later, our neighbors who also had their houses on the market at the same time are still sitting unsold. The difference? Our custom paint jobs, upgraded fixtures, upgraded appliances, upgraded flooring, and upgraded window treatments. All in all, probably a $5k initial investment which resulted in a $20k premium when it came time to sell. And we didn't wait until it was time to sell to upgrade our stuff either, we did it while we were in the home so that we could enjoy it too!
Outside of that, our house was pretty much perfect and headache free. There are a ton of perks to buying new construction--updated amenities, modern floor plans (large closets, spacious hallways, dedicated laundry areas, higher end flooring, upgraded insulation, windows, electrical wiring, technology, and energy efficient appliances that will save you lots of money in the long run), and that wonder that comes with being the first to live in a house. No, it doesn't have the "history" nor the "character" of an older home, but don't let people make you feel guilty about that! THEIR homes were new at some point too, and a home is only as special and characteristic as the families who occupy it. It's nice to know that in fifty years, another family will be living in that house and creating their own special memories and quirks the same way you did.
Next blog post, why we chose NVHomes John Jacob Astor Plan, and what to expect ...
