Right-sizing
I’ve seen it time and again, an elderly couple building a giant mansion on 4 acres of land because they have the money to do it. There’s nothing wrong with spending your money how you want, but you’re getting quantity over quality. The most common reason for this is they want space for all the kids and their grandkids over holiday visits, but what they often don’t consider is that they will be paying for all this space both upfront and year-round. There may be better ways to accomplish their goals and limit the associated costs and maintenance headaches that follow. Whatever happened to searching around for realtors such as these William Pitt homes for sale and others while trying to bridge quantity and quality together, therefore getting the most for your money. Ensuring that you get the most out of your money is essential, which is why a lot of people do decide to build their own property. However, when there are luxurious builds available in capital cities like London, from space station for example, it might be worth considering looking at them beforehand. However, if people want to build their own homes, then they should do that!
It’s not just ederly couples buying more house than they’ll ever need (although it is the most common.) Many beach front homes in this area have severe restrictions on space from height limitations to floor area requirements meaning that you can very quickly fill up a house and instead of having 3 nice bedrooms, you end up with 4 tiny ones. If the house is a rental, honestly, 4 tiny bedrooms will pay off better than 3 luxurious ones due to the ability to list 4 bedrooms, but if it’s your home, maybe you need to reassess your program and talk to an architect about the most efficient use of your limitted space. Getting an architect involved as early in the process (and by this I mean the second you decide you want to build something and have some loose purposes) can lead to a much happier process. Sometimes 3 nice bedrooms and a pull out couch are fine for the 3 weekends a year the house is full and sometimes that 4th bedroom can be combined with a loft space or office or some other use. Each project can be different due to different budgets, sites, and goals and a professional can really help you sort through your options.
In the case of the grandparents designing a 7 bedroom house so everyone has their own space for Christmas and the holidays, think about the difficulty your children will have in selling such a massive structure when you move out. Think about all that space you have to heat and if it’s on a large lot you’ll have to maintain (or more likely pay someone to maintain someday), maybe trading in size for a view is a good idea. After all, you’ll be living there year round and the entire family will gather 2 or 3 times a year (this is less true if they live closer, but the closer they live, the less they will need to use these bedrooms.) Again, sometimes the giant family compound is appropriate, and sometimes tweaking the program and building a smaller guest house, wing, or floor for the families is a more efficient use of your cash (especially if you can rent out that space during tourist season by the week and turn what used to be an expense into income.)
I suppose the point of this post is to try to get potential clients to think hard about what they want, and not to get bogged down in square footage or numbers of bedrooms and really priortize what they need. Sometimes a professional can really to help clarify things for you so that you can save money, or spend it in ways that enhance your appreciation for your new building. Sometimes they can even point you towards a way to get a property for cheap, such as via those that are reo bank owned and up for auction. You may not have considered these before due to the size, but after all this give it another thought. At the end of the day, most quality design professionals know that we are playing with your money and we take that role seriously. While we all would love to design those multimillion dollar homes you see in the magazines, it’s more important to us that you spend your money sensibly in ways that make you love your space and recommend us to your neighbors, friends, and coworkers.
