It’s fun but challenging to choose all the options that will make a new home uniquely yours. This month we begin a series about the choices open to new home buyers. There’s a lot to talk about, from choosing a neighbourhood to choosing bathroom fixtures.

Many people go through two or three new homes before they get one just right. With some help from industry experts, we’ll try to help you get most things right the first time.

Let’s begin with an overview of some things you’ll be thinking about as you make choices for your new home.

The first thing you’ll choose, of course, is a location. Your budget, however big or small it may be, will narrow down the range of new communities you’ll be looking at.

Some of the possibilities will be in brand-new communities, and others in developments that have been under construction for a few years. If part of the community you’re considering is already completed, walk around in it and see how it feels.

Make some allowances, though – new landscaping needs a few summers to take hold in Calgary’s climate. Use your imagination as you explore the possibilities in a new area.

Schools are an issue for parents in new neighbourhoods, and remember that developers can’t guarantee when schools will be built. Developers have floated the idea of building schools in their new communities, but they’ve been turned down because more affluent communities would get an advantage, and because of the cost of staffing a new school that will be underpopulated in its early years.

Busing will be a fact of life for school children for at least a few years in a new community. Learn which schools are taking kids bused from a community you’re interested in, and check out the schools and the length of the bus ride.

Find out, too, what it’s like to commute from any community you’re considering. Check the bus service if you’ll be needing it. In a very new community, bus service can be thin or non-existent.

Don’t forget shopping. How far is it to your preferred supermarket? How far to a shopping centre you can relate to? (But remember, at the edge of town these things change fairly fast. New retail centres near you will be coming along quickly.)

Every new community has architectural controls, designed to create streets with a nice balance of harmony and variety. There’s a fair bit of room within these guidelines for housebuilders to show off their stuff, but the architectural guidelines will establish a unique look and feel for each community. Again, walking around the built-up parts of your prospective neighbourhoods will help you decide which community feels like home.

Remember that show homes generally live up their name by showing off as many extra-cost options as possible, on the outside as well as the inside. When you’ve narrowed your choices down to a few house models, try to look at already-built examples, not just the show homes. You’ll get a better idea of what’s possible with other options.

The floor plan will make or break the house you choose. If the plan is right for you and the way you live, your house will simply work: the public spaces will feel welcoming, the private spaces will feel intimate, and all your daily routines around the house will be convenient.

Which rooms should be close together, which should be separated, and how much space should each room have? The right answers to these questions will make your house feel like home.
Two houses of the same square footage may “spend” their available space in rather different ways. One may have more but smaller bedrooms while the other has a few big ones. For some people a big kitchen is essential, for others it’s waster space.

One of the first questions about a floor-plan is this: bungalow or two-storey? A two-storey home is easier to fit on today’s smaller lots. However, a good floor plan can still provide secluded bedroom space on one floor, if the lot permits.

A bungalow is easier for wheelchair users or other people with mobility problems. If this is one of your needs, explore the possibility of wider doors, roomier bathrooms and other modifications.
Some houses offer double master suites – two large bedrooms, each with its own ensuite bathroom. For some family arrangements – parents or grown children living with you, for instance – it’s an interesting option.
Even the humble

laundry room deserves some attention when you’re planning a new home. How big should it be, and where should it be. Most laundry originates upstairs in the bedrooms, but some people don’t like noisy machinery up there. The basement is a space-saving location, but it means hauling laundry up and down stairs. All this is just one of the things to think about when you’re sizing up a floor plan.
Will you need one more bedroom for a home office? It can be a worthwhile option even for people who don’t work full-time from home.

When it comes to the smaller details, homebuilders offer more options than car-makers. Up-selling from the baseline model is part of their business plan, so budget accordingly.

Unless you have superhuman restraint, you’ll be spending more than the base price on your new house, because some of the available options are not only attractive, they’re practical enhancements that will increase the re-sale value of your home.

Some of the choices you’ll be making will be among equal-cost options: bronze or nickel doorknobs, for instance. Others, like hardwood floors or granite countertops, will be expensive but will add value. 
In the old days, homebuilders would give you a list of warehouses where you could go to choose your tile, faucets, floor covering and so forth. Now builders generally have a showroom of their own, plus some level of advice from an interior decorator.

Decor advisors can help you pull together a coherent look for your house, if you care about that sort of thing. If not, by all means have an ultra-modern bathroom inside your tudor-cottage exterior. It’s your house, after all.

Finally, for now, some advice on approaching your first house-building experience:
• Remember who you are. If you don’t entertain much, you may need a different floor plan than people who have a crowd in two or three nights a week. Upgrading a kitchen when you’re too busy to cook most nights may not be the best use of your money. If you’re not Martha Stewart, don’t buy her house.

• You do have to think ahead about the re-sale value of a home that hasn’t even been built yet, but remember to create a home you’ll be happy to live in.

• Decide what’s important to you and spend on those things first. Skip the extra-cost options in areas where you don’t really care.

• Stay cool. Remember, it’s only a house. It’s meant to make your family happy. Don’t let it become a battleground before it’s even built.

• Don’t forget that everyone, on every budget, has to compromise somewhere. Otherwise we’d all be living in Windsor Castle, or maybe the Taj Mahal. NL