Nerve Endings Firing Away

Our new home plans were finalized this week and thus culminated our 3-month search for our first home. Although we signed the contract with the builder last month, the seal of approval was pending changes to the plan. We are building a custom home in College Station and as surprising as it sounds, it works out cheaper than buying an existing home. Why? Because of the age-old maxim in real estate – location, location, location. Bryan-College Station homes near the university or inside the historic district can be quite expensive. so are home in subdivisions that are closer to the town. So suburbia, it is.

As much as we would have loved downtown living, this town doesn’t have much of urban living unless you are a pub-frequenting college student in which case Northgate is where you will be. Given the size of this town, even suburbia is relative. Our home is in a subdivision a little outside of town but within city limits off what is called the Water Tower exit. The commute time to the university – 10 minutes; if we have traffic then 15 minutes (mega-city dwellers, eat your heart out but then you have the museums, theater, restaurants, culture, etc).

Considering that distance and commuting to work is not an issue in this town, we relied on quality of the neighborhood and location of the subdivision with respect to amenities. Since College Station is a relatively small town, there isn’t much difference in the school district quality considering the demographics consist of university professors, researchers, and staff. Even an otherwise ‘gifted child’ in other school districts would struggle to qualify as ‘gifted’ in this school district (true story by one of my professors). But at the same time, neighborhoods like Castlegate, Pebble Creek, Indian Lakes, Austin Colony, Cove of Nantucket (yeah, really), and Emerald Parkway can be relatively expensive and thus beyond our range. At the other end of the spectrum, the neighborhoods were either too far (even for this town; 2.5 miles from the highway) or located in not-so-desirable neighborhoods.

The first rule of home-buying that we quickly obeyed was getting a realtor. We got a referral from Ash’s parent’s realtor who referred us to their local office (Coldwell Banker). First, having a realtor doesn’t cost you a dime. The seller pays them their commission. Second, it is always useful to have someone knowledgeable about real estate and home buying at least enough to give you advice and help make an informed decision. You don’t have to listen to everything they advise you and you must back it up with independent research. Also, you need someone to draw up the paperwork, do the grunt research of home prices and neighborhood quality, and set up appointments to see homes or builders. A realtor can open doors (literally) that someone casual home browsers cannot. Finally, it doesn’t hurt to have someone with access to important resources and people in the business to bounce off ideas with. Fortunately or unfortunately, our realtor was also new in town and had little experience with custom-built homes so was learning with us as we went along.

Once we decided we were going for a custom-built home, the search just got more interesting as we learned that College Station has a host of custom home builders and obviously, not all are equal either in price or in quality. Price and quality or flexibility often had an inverse correlation although it wasn’t easily obviously since all new homes look pretty. Also, the most popular and easily visible are also the ones that are not what a conscientious buyer would want. We had walked in to the office of Stylecraft Builders and in fact, even liked their plans and features and it fit right in our budget. And although they had more ‘house’ for the money, the extra trimmings and details that enhance a home’s resale value were not present (hence the low cost, duh!). It is strange but in this country, you have to always think of how easily and for how much more the home can be sold in the future as compared to India where it is a lifelong investment. How do we get around examining every home builder in town? First, we had no idea how many there are or who they are. And second, without referrals, we had no idea of their quality. Fortunately, for us, we had a perfect opportunity at the right time.

The Parade of Homes is an annual event in Bryan-College Station. It is a weekend event showcasing model homes by builders in town so basically, it is a mass-open-house by all builders in various neighborhoods. Potential homebuyers are offered an unique opportunity to walk into any homes listed on the pamphlet and talk with the agent or builder on site. At the same time, you can check out various neighborhoods by driving around and not looking terribly suspicious. Homes in this event ranged from the low end of the spectrum to high-end half-million mansions. Even if you aren’t going to buy those mansions, it is always a good idea to go check them out to see what apart from their location makes them expensive. This event was the single most important thing that helped us make a decision and we eventually went with a builder that we found on that day.

More on our actual home selection and the process after we selected a builder soon