It can be very satisfying to have a home built to your exact specifications.
You don't have to tolerate a kitchen that's too small in order to
have a great view or settle for an ugly pink modern bathroom vanity because
you want to have two full bathrooms. When you build your own house you get everything
you want, including, of course, the trouble of getting permits, designing the
house, hiring the contractors and actually putting the place together. To help
you navigate this process and understand what about Greensboro will make it
unique, we've created this guide to building a new home in Greensboro.
Housing Trends in Greensboro
Greensboro is very much a city that is expanding. With the amount of land still
available in inland North Carolina, it can afford to. An Etobicoke real estate
agent is largely limited to selling structures that already exist because the
town is penned in on all sides, but Greensboro has an open field for miles around.
The city is already at over one hundred square miles and population density
remains low, only 2361 people per square mile on average. Scarcely a year has
gone by in the last decade in which there haven't been between 1,000 and
1,500 new permits issued for building single-family homes. The average cost
in 2007 was $136,000.
Choosing a Site
It's important to know what you want in a new home before you go about
buying the land it will be built on. If your storage unit is filled with gardening
hand tools obviously you'll want a large lot that can accommodate greenery,
in which case you'll want to look in the outer ring neighborhoods near
New Irving Park and Reedy Fork Ranch where the land is still undeveloped. However,
if you want a more central location convenient to shops, offices and infrastructure
downtown without a long commute, you might consider purchasing and pulling down
an older home in the southern part of the city, which is experiencing a trend
of urban renewal.
Designing a Home with Resale Value
As exciting as it might be to design a home on stilts or with secret passages
behind the fireplaces, if you want your house to be an investment that brings
return in the future, you would do well to balance these instincts with what
most people look for in a home. Fireplaces are a major selling point, as are
decks, yards, and multiple bathrooms. Design rooms to be open and airy rather
than closed and dark. Try not to build decor into the house, swapping
your indoor lion statues for some removable vinyl wall letters or artwork
if you really need to leave your mark on the place.
Finding a Contractor
Greensboro is a city experiencing major residential growth. You can hardly
walk down a street downtown without seeing ten "Gallery Lofts by"
signs advertising the contractor in front of unfinished structures. Collect
a list of names and get estimates from each before you settle upon one, making
sure you're choosing them based on trust rather than cheapest estimate. |