Many people enter young adulthood dreaming of the day they’ll be able to own their own home. It’s typical to picture spending a few weeks or months browsing online listings and meeting with real estate agents before signing the paperwork and officially taking possession of a house. But what if we don’t have to go through that process? Deciding to build your own home isn’t the right choice for everyone, but, in certain circumstances, it can make a tremendous amount of sense.
You Don’t Mind Waiting
The millennial generation is typically defined as people who were born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s. Millennials get a lot of press, not all of it good, but one thing about millennials is that they don’t mind waiting to do things like get married, have kids, and buy a home. In many cases, millennials don’t even feel like they have a choice. This isn’t your grandparents’ economy, and millennials are more worried about things like paying off student loans than they are about buying a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch house that’s not even close to mass transit. Online dating apps like Tinder have changed the way people date and hook up, and it’s increasingly common for a 30-year-old woman to decide she’d rather share an apartment with platonic roommates than move into a house with a boyfriend who might not be around in another year or two.
The refusal to settle can also mean that, when financial stability does finally arrive, young people aren’t going to make an offer on the first house they see that looks like it meets their needs. Two newlyweds expecting their first child may feel a sense of urgency to close on the first acceptable house, but young people without kids aren’t very interested in houses that are too far away from the densely populated city centers where they live, work, and hang out with their friends. The suburbs might be cheaper, but that doesn’t matter as much if your commute to work more than doubles. In the most extreme cases, you’ll find millennials who are living on boats or in tiny houses rather than moving outside the urban core. It’s more common for people to renew the lease on their studio apartment and bide their time until they’re able to hire home builders in Sydney or Seattle or Oakland.
You Have Specific Needs
Building your own home also makes sense if you’re searching for very specific things in a home. It’s relatively easy to find a home with a backyard pool, but it’s a lot harder to find a home that’s designed for a person who uses a wheelchair or has other mobility issues. Mobility issues are more common for senior citizens, but they can affect anyone at any age. People who use wheelchairs or similar devices to get around often need more room than older houses can provide. You may be able to get a good deal on a Victorian house built in 1910, but that doesn’t matter if there’s not enough clearance in the front yard to replace the steep outside stairs with a ramp.
Those without disabilities take for granted that they’ll be able to park their car and stroll into their dentist’s office, but others know that getting businesses to comply with accessibility laws is often easier said than done. Hiring a contractor to build you a house from scratch gives you a much-deserved sense of control that’s a lot harder to find if you’re simply touring open houses every weekend. You can look at walk in tubs reviews while figuring out what kind of bathroom layout will best meet the needs of you and your family. If you don’t want a two-story house, then you can make sure everything is built on a single level that’s easily navigable. Ensure that your home is a safe, comfortable place to relax by watching as a team of experts builds it from the ground-up.