Can`t decide between a two-story or a ranch design? Wonder if you should select bleached oak or pecan interior finishes? Think, perhaps, you`ll get that overdue salary increase soon to afford more of a house?
If you are uncertain regarding any of the above, some builders advise-don`t buy the house-just purchase the land right now.
”When a custom home buyer makes a purchase decision, he or she is as concerned about the homesite as about the house itself,” said Everett Sisson, developer of Ambriance, a luxury single-family community of 62 sites in west suburban Burr Ridge ranging in price from $220,000 to $400,000.
”Several advantages are afforded the buyer who buys a site first,” he said.
”First, the buyer gets exactly the location he wants. Second, it allows the buyer more time to find his dream house to put on his special location. This can`t be done in a custom community where house and land are a package. One or the other must be compromised. Third, it probably saves the buyer money because he`s locked in the price of the site and can build more equity as well as really think through the design of his home.”
At the Woods of Oak Hills, a community of 56 single-family sites and 17 townhouses, Bartlett Properties appeals to golf-enthusiasts.
”All of our homesites border holes four through eight of the Bartlett Hills Golf Club,” said Dan Regan, a Bartlett Properties partner.
Designed for the move-up market, the biggest buying market of 1988, The Woods of Oak Hills homesites range in price from $54,900 to $89,990.
