How to Find the Perfect Lot for Your Custom Home

You’ve dreamed for years about building your custom home, but have you thought about where that home would be located? Sometimes finding the right setting is just as important as planning your new home, or selecting a custom home builder but how do you go about the process? Here’s a quick look at our checklist to help you find the perfect lot for your custom home so that you can enjoy the area you’re living in just as much as your new home.

How to Find the Perfect Lot for Your Custom Home

1. Determine Your Desired House Plan

If you haven’t figured out at least roughly what your dream home will look like, its rough dimensions, the space it needs or the lot features it will need to be pulled off successfully, this is the time to get started on this process. If you don’t have that information, deciding whether the home will fit on the lot will be virtually impossible. Make sure to consider the lot’s shape and any setbacks or easements.

2. Do Your Research

Once you find a potential lot, it’s time to start digging in and finding out more about the area. What will happen if you build on this lot? Will you have a longer or shorter commute? How good are the nearby school systems? What are the property taxes like? One couple discovered that the great deal on the lot they were considering purchasing was due to the neighboring dairy farm’s terrible odor a few weeks every year.

3. Tour the Neighborhood

Don’t just run through quickly – take your time and look over the entire neighborhood and at different times. Stop through during the day to see what’s happening, possibly over your lunch hour. Take a weekend afternoon and chat with a few people around the area to get a better feel for the local community. Make sure you drive through a couple of times at night to check whether it still seems safe and secure.

4. Examine Sun Exposure

What direction is the sun coming from compared to the layout of your home? In the summer months, that southern view may suddenly get expensive, as solar heat gain makes you crank up the air conditioning. A northern exposure may leave you feeling a bit chilled in the winter, while the morning sun in your bedroom can make your night owl grumpy and a western exposure can quickly fade your furnishings.

5. Determine the Topography of the Lot

Now you need to look at the layout of the land to ensure it will meet your needs now and in the future. How will you landscape your new home? How will the slope of the land impact your plans for a walk-out basement or that front-yard gazebo? What about your future plans? Is there room for the pool you want to add down the road? Is the land flat enough for the backyard patio you want to relax in during your downtime once the kids leave home?

6. Assess Potential Issues

When you visited the neighborhood, did you hear about any future plans for nearby undeveloped land that may impact your new home? How expensive will it be to develop that wooded lot? How much grading will need to take place so that you can have that walk-out basement plan? Are there power lines or other utilities running through the property that need to be accounted for in the plan? Is the property under a common flight path for the nearby airport?

7. Consult with a Custom Home Builder

Once you’ve selected a potential lot, are you planning on consulting with a builder? This can be one of the most important steps on the list, because an experienced homebuilder may spot issues that you hadn’t considered. Will a rural property have proper soil percolation for a septic system? Is there extensive bedrock near the surface that will impact your ability to have a full basement created for a reasonable price?

Find Your Perfect Lot Today

By carefully considering these potential issues when selecting a lot for your custom home, you can ensure that your new home is perfectly situated in a fabulous neighborhood. If you haven’t had the opportunity to start working with a custom home builder yet, Simonini Homes would be happy to work with you to create the home of your dreams. As a home builder in Charlotte, NC for nearly half a century, we can help you make your dreams come true. Please feel free to reach out today to get started.