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The benefits of buying new construction

January 22, 2021

Whether you are preparing to buy your first home or your next home, one of the first and most important decisions you will make is resale or new construction. When both are available in your target area and price point, why should you opt for building or buying a new home?

Norfolk Homes put together the following guide to explain the benefits of buying new when you move to the Greater Ann Arbor area. 

Custom Personalization

Building a new home gives you control from the start of construction over the top-to-bottom look and feel of your space. This includes everything from the color of the shingles to the finish of the floors and everything in between.

Start by considering the type of floor plan that will best fit your needs. Norfolk Homes offers a variety of styles in different communities around the Greater Ann Arbor area including townhomes, paired condominiums and traditional single-family homes. 

Townhomes are a convenient low-maintenance option and they are traditionally found in more urban settings like the Blue Heron and Bristol Ridge communities. Bristol Ridge is scheduled  to open in Spring of 2021 off Pontiac trail in Ann Arbor.  The paired ranch condominiums in Stoneridge Creek are a popular option for right-sizers who want a thoroughly designed space with a little added flexibility. Only 4 condominium homes are left in this sought after community. 

As for single-family home communities, Norfolk Homes offers more than 25 plan designs including ranch, first floor master and two story homes.  Westchester Farms in Chelsea, The  Preserve at Magnolia Park in Jackson and Sandhill Estates in Grass Lake, are traditionally designed single family communities. Larger homesites in a land preservation community of only 16 sites can be found at  Arlington Woods In Dexter.  Mystic Ridge located in Hamburg Township, where children attend the  Dexter School District, offers a more rural setting in Livingston County. Executive style luxury homes are found at Cornwell Farms in Ann Arbor  and Preserve of Dexter

Once you have narrowed down a style of home, individual floor plans will each have something unique to offer. For example, The Chesterfield was designed with three full baths including a master, jack-and-jill and an ensuite in response to requests from buyers for more bathrooms to smooth over the morning routine. Norfolk Homes also builds many ranches with covered patios that buyers elect to screen for added gathering space throughout the seasons. Evaluating your current home and its deficits may help guide your floor plan decision.

With a lot and a floor plan, the Design Center team will help you create a perfect palette for interior and exterior finishes that reflect your personal style. This helps save the debates around loving a home minus the chartreuse laundry room.

Better Construction

Since we started building homes in 1993, a lot has changed technologically in the industry as well. 

Primarily, homes are built tighter and more efficiently than ever before which will save you energy and money from the day you move. Homes are also built healthier with advancements in air filtration, circulation and water purification working in the background.

Michigan in particular holds builders like Norfolk Homes to a high standard for energy efficiency with regulations requiring additional testing when construction is complete. One of these tests is a blower door test which evaluates air leakage.

Contemporary Technology

Statista predicts the smart home market revenue will reach 141 billion U.S. dollars by 2023 so builders are meeting the demand by integrating smart home technology in construction to prevent costly or time-consuming retrofitting. 

Norfolk Homes includes features like the structured wire panel, Wireless Access Point (WAP), Wi-Fi enabled light switches, Wi-Fi programmable thermostat, Wi-Fi garage door opener and Skybell video doorbell. 

Ready When You Are

Another big benefit of building a new home is that you have more control over the timeline of both your sale and purchase without worrying about competing with best-and-final offers on an existing home. Redfin found that 49.7 percent of their agents faced bidding wars in December.

Norfolk Homes will communicate with you throughout the build process so you know exactly when your home will be move-in ready.

A new construction home also saves buyers the additional three percent or more that resale buyers spend on average for repairs after closing. A one-year Builders Limited Warranty serves as backup, protecting your investment.

Taking the Leap

When you are ready to start planning to build your next home, visit our contact us page. Norfolk Homes will help you find the right location, floor plan and design selections for you in the Greater Ann Arbor area. 

Today was the first day I walked through my finished home and I was so pleased with how the design selections turned out. It was stunning (and also surreal) to see how it all came together. Thank you so much for your time, help, and patience during the selection process. It truly made a difference.

Michael