In this episode were going to go over three common popular features that are attractive to homebuyers and what your really paying for them!

One of by far the most popular features that I have homebuyers frequently ask me to find for them in a home is a pool. So, pools can add a lot of money to list price on homes, but you might actually find a home with a pool that's priced the same as one without and that's a similar floor plan. Well, here are a few things that it may be costing you that you may not notice right off the bat. You may not notice that one floor plan is three bedrooms versus the other is four bedrooms, so your losing a bedroom. You might not notice that there’s a lot of common area in one versus the other. So there are a lot of intricacies that go into pricing homes and a lot of values that appraisers put on homes based on the features that they have. A pool is one that adds a big price tag, so if you feel like a pool is a must have for your family you need to be prepared to pay a little bit more for the home, or to sacrifice something like a bedroom, a bathroom, or an additional common area. 

Another popular feature I see that people ask for in homes is a three car garage. Three car garages are very difficult to find to the budget conscious buyer without giving up something else or without going into fixer-uppers. Now you may be thinking “hey, for me to get everything I want it's worth it to get a fixer upper, I'm pretty handy, it's no big deal”. Well, simple repairs can start adding up really quickly, so the fact that you got into a home with no money down and very little out of pocket, if you worked with the right person, starts to not mean as much once you start ringing up cost after cost after cost on repairs. So keep that in mind. Another trade off for the third car garage is trailer parking. Sometimes you can find homes that have extra wide gates, we call these trailer access or RV gates. Now this may give you that extra space your needing to either work on cars or to have that extra parking that you may need for a three car garage, without having to pay the elevated price. 

Another feature that I commonly see homebuyers go after, especially in my area, and with the military market, is bonus space for kids. Now it is fairly easy to find homes at a good budget that will fit within BAH with formal living areas and informal living areas. Lofts are becoming more and more popular in two story homes. A lot of times its a feature you find to be worth it because you can get into it at a good budget, however, you need to look at the size of the loft. Is that huge loft really worth the space it takes up? For example, you might get a great big loft like you thought you always wanted and your just imaging all the things you can do to it, but you haven't really taken the time to evaluate how big the other bedrooms are because of all the space that loft takes up, you got starstruck and thats the absolute last thing you want to do.

A lot of realtors will walk into a home and really point out these features and really want you to get starstruck by them so that you get more excited about the home. It's really important that you resist this urge and really make it clear to your realtor what your willing to give and take on.

For example, if four bedrooms are an absolute necessity, then make sure you let them know that even if it has that third car garage, you don't want to see homes with only three bedrooms because that's not going to work for your family. The most important thing to remember is to think about your family's day to day needs when you’re looking at homes. 

Thanks for tuning in, if you have any questions or ideas for future episodes please send them to me on facebook or you can use the hashtag askjuliec on facebook and I can answer them for you that way. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time.