If you have a choice, which types of houses offer the best value?
There are many different designs and types of houses to select. Many times, it’s a personal preference on what type of home that you’d like to buy. There are so many choices. Single family homes are home that offer one family per home. This would include manufactured homes, two story homes, one story homes, 4-level homes, 3-level homes, split entry home. A single family home is any home that offers the ability of one family living in the home. If you make sure that you purchase your home at the correct price, it will not matter much as long as you’ve picked the best home for you. Read through the different types of housing so that you have a good understanding what appeals to many buyers. This may give you a good indication of the resale potential if you ever decide to sell your home.
One story home
This type of home is sometimes referred to a bungalow if it is an older home or a ranch style home, but the name of the home makes no differences as long as it is one story. This means that the main level of the home is located above or at ground level. Most of these homes have two or three steps to the main door. When you open the door, you enter the home next to the living room. The bedrooms and at least one bathroom is located on the main level. Many of these one story homes offer basements. The most appealing home for many buyers is a home with at least three bedrooms on one level. This is because many families or soon to be families will want all of their children located on one level when they are young.
Two story home
This type of homes offers two levels that are located at or above grade. A one story home with a basement is not considered a two story home even if both levels of finished. The number of stories is defined by what part of the home is located above grade. Split bedroom counts such as one bedroom on the main floor and two bedrooms up stairs are less desirable than all of the bedrooms located all on the same floor.
Split entry home
These floor plans usually offer six to ten stairs leading to the front door. Once you open the front door, you are given a choice to either walk down to the basement or up to the main level of the home. The main level usually offers the dining room, kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms. From the entry, you can choose to go downstairs. Usually you find a family room, maybe a few bedrooms or a bathroom. These types of floor plans are more difficult to support the value, as split entry homes are less desirable, as many people do not like all of the stairs. From an appraiser’s point of view, this is also true. Banks will require the same type of homes. Many times, this limits the choices in some areas. The design of the home and the limited comparable sales will often drive the price downward as compared to other homes in the area. But as long as you do not pay too much for these types of homes, I would not be afraid to purchase one.
Manufactured homes
These types of homes are built in a factory and are located in two to four sections. These sections are built on steel frames that are used to transport the home from one location to the next. These homes are one level, but I’ve appraised and seen two level manufactured home, manufactured home with basements and even log manufactured homes. Most of the time, they offer a crawlspace, but sometimes these homes are placed on a basement and interior stair case is built to the second level. Manufactured homes will decrease in value at a faster rate than a stick built home in most cases. In some cases, I’ve seen manufactured home hold their value. This all depends on the market and what is available. My experience is that buyers will select a stick built home before a manufactured home, if they have a choice.
3 and 4-level home offers four levels
This home is common in some areas, but it is not common in other areas. One level includes the dining room, living room and kitchen. From this level you can go up stairs to the bedrooms and bathroom. Starting from the main level again, you can good down stairs at ½ grade (this means that this level will be ½ way below the ground and will be included as the basement area. From this ½ grade area, there is another lower level that is a full basement that is located completely below grade. The ½ grade level and the full grade level offers a full basement.
3-levels are the look the same as a 4-level home; however from the interior they lack the lower basement area of the 4 –level home. These two types of homes offer similar appeal to a split entry home with lots of stairs. Sometimes the floor plans are better, as they offer three bedrooms all on one level.
Most popular type of home
The most popular type of home is a 1 story, stick built home with three or more bedrooms and two bathrooms located on the main level. A basement is a plus. Do you know why this is the most popular home? Because this home offers all of the amenities and the laundry room all on the main level. This means that the owners’ of the home will not have to walk up and down stairs to do the laundry or to move from one room to the next. This type of home appeals to older buyers as well as younger buyers with young children. Older buyers simply don’t want any stairs. The older they get the less they enjoy walking up stairs. This is difficult for older people and they have a greater chance of slipping or getting hurt. For younger people with children, they don’t want to carry toys, children or clothing to separate level of the home. When the children are young, many parents would like to keep children close by in case the parents need to reach their children for caring or in case of danger.