Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
New Home Upgrades
It's me again.
I know I will probably catch a lot of slack for building a KB home but as first time homebuyers, it's our only option in our area HCOL to have a USDA loan & low PMI.
Can anyone give any advice on what things are important to upgrade to & what things are easy to replace/upgrade yourself once in the home? Should haves/Shouldn't haves?
Thanks!
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Re: New Home Upgrades
Upgrade the things you can't change later or are more expensive to do.
Things we were willing to upgrade when considering a new build:
Optional bumpouts that would have given us more square footage/space (morning room, 3rd stall in garage)
Kitchen cabinets
Master bath (separate shower and tub)
Lot
Electrical- system, adding extra outlights and can lights, junction boxes in bedrooms
Ceiling height... deeper basement, 9 ft ceilings throughout
Larger windows
Fireplace
Things we weren't willing to pay for from the builder were all cosmetic. Light fixtures, countertops, carpet, hardwood, appliances, backsplash, ect ect. We could easily DIY that stuff and pay cash. Why pay interest on it by rolling it into the mortgage if we didn't have to?
Any structural upgrades should be done from the start. Chances are it will be cheaper and less of a hassle through a builder and those are things that are major projects later.
Electrical, but only if you're not handy or able to do it on your own. My GF's husband added all their junction boxes and high hats after their home was built by tapping into existing lines. I did mine from the start only because I know we'd never get around to it.
Tile is a PITA to replace later, BUT most builder cost a fortune to upgrade tile.
Countertops, ditto.
This is my second build.
With my first home I upgraded countertops, cabinets and tile in all the rooms. I'm so glad I did, because everything I said I would get to, I never got to. The time and the money was just never there after my kids were born.
This build we spent a bulk of our upgrades on the structural (extra rooms) and the kitchen. We went standard on all the fixtures and tile. Omitted the backsplash because I know that's an easy DIY project when we get in.
"The House We Built."
A journey of building the dream.
Eh, there's a lot of snobbery about using production builders. Not so much on here but I've heard it, too. We built with Ryland.
I agree with PP about upgrading the things you can't change later or are too expensive.
My biggest regret is not upgrading our eelvation. It would have given us a larger picture window, an extra window and a larger front porch.
Second biggest regret is not upgrading the cabinets and trim package, because while we can upgrade it ourselves, it will be very expensive.
That said, we were on a tight budget and had to pick and choose the upgrades. I'd make the same choices if I had to do it over.
This is what we did:
Added overhead lights in all rooms; recessed lighting in all public areas.
Fireplace
Valuted master suite
Finished the basement - this was the biggest deal. Builder charged $18K; to finish it out to the same level would cost us upwards of $50K.
5-piece master bathroom
Pendant lights over the kitchen island
Upgrade to Stainless steel appliances
Upgrade to solid flooring from carpet in dining room
Upgraded the kitchen flooring
Things we did not do/planned to do later:
Add HW floors
Upgrade faucets
Upgrade lighting
Upgrade countertops [from laminate to stone]
Our builder wanted $12K for flooring upgrades and $10K for countertop upgardes. We haven't replaced these yet but will be able to do it for half that cost or betteron our own.