Why We’re Building Our Next Home

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Why We're Building Our Next Home - Columbia SC Moms BlogDo you wanna build a ho-ome?

Please sing the title of this post to the tune of “Do you wanna build a snowman?” . . . If I weren’t so tired myself, I’d figure out lyrics, too, and do a total spoof. Frozen and its soundtrack might be played a little often at our house. Just a little.

Speaking of our house, it’s not really “our house.” My husband and our three children have spent the last four years renting my parents’ basement. It has three rooms we utilize as bedrooms, its own kitchen, bath, and even laundry. It has been a lifesaver for us as we work to rebuild our lives and credit after the recession left us reeling. It hit us hard, just as we welcomed our first son into our first home, and sent us packing to live with family while pregnant with our second child.

We were lucky. We had family to fall back on and my husband was able to begin a new career and rebuild his old one at the same time. We’ve been able to recover, to save, and to look forward to a time when we will be on our feet again.

As the youngest one is potty training – it still feels like a work in progress – the one bathroom thing has been the most challenging thing to deal with. One toilet and five butts. It’s not ideal. I know so many families don’t seem to mind, but we do. We make it work, because we must, but trust me, I think two toilets will definitely be better than one, so we began to house hunt early in 2015. We want our next house to be our forever home – or at least “until the kids are out of the house” home.

With that in mind, we want as many of the “must-haves” on our house wishlist as possible, especially the things that can’t be changed – like location, floor plan, and space. We looked at already built homes in existing neighborhoods. Nothing felt right to us. Plus, we have time on our side; no real rush to move, so building a home seemed to be the right fit for us, the best way to get what we want, where we want, for the best possible price and terms.

Why build when you can buy?

Move-in readiness.

Building a home from the ground up means when we move in, there will be no projects to complete. With both my husband and I working full time, and then some, and three small children underfoot, we don’t have time to manage major, or even minor, renovations. While there may be some projects can tackle ourselves, such as crown molding, there is nothing we will need to do in order to make it livable.

Ability to customize your preferences.

Since we are building, we get to choose everything. Colors, flooring, cabinets, floor plans, you name it, we pick it. It’s an almost overwhelming number of decisions, but since we plan on being there a long time, we want to be the ones to choose what we will be living with for years to come.

Access to the latest technology and cost-saving equipment.

Energy efficiency and eco-friendliness rate high on most modern builder’s action plans. They know these factors are top priorities for new home buyers. We are willing to pay a little more upfront for a new home and save on monthly energy bills. We shouldn’t need to worry about replacing air conditioning units, windows, doors, insulation, or roofs for a long time.

Option to find a builder just for you.

The Columbia area is just bursting with new home builders who are able to suit every taste, budget, and location preference. It didn’t take long for us to find our perfect match. Stay tuned for follow up posts from yours truly where I’ll sort through what to look for in a builder and new home community.

Have you built a new home in the Columbia area? Tell us about your experiences and advice for families on the hunt for a new home.

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Katrina Siron
Katrina is a mom of three great kids and has been married to her first love for nearly 10 years. She’s grateful to have a job that allows her the flexibility to both work from home some days and in the office others. On the surface, Katrina is pretty crunchy – she loves breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping, natural birth, and homeschooling — but still loves her stroller, having her kids in their own beds at some point, her epidural was fantastic, and she’ll be sending the kids through public school. Most of all she loves the fact that we have all these choices, which makes life interesting! One of her favorite experiences was moving to Japan in 2002 to live as an adult dependent with their USMC family. It was an amazing experience, and if it weren’t for that, she probably wouldn’t ever have met my husband.

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