iNest Newsletter

Why Buy A Newly Built Home: The Emotional Aspects

Dena Kouremetis
A veteran of the homebuilding industry, Dena Kouremetis is the foremost real estate columnist specializing in new home issues, trends, products and designs. Her columns appear in the New York Post as well as other newspapers throughout the U.S.

There’s something about a new home. Some say it’s the smell of new lumber, carpet and paint, others say it’s that no one has used it before; kind of like a new car coming directly from the factory.

One thing is certain; of all the reasons to buy new homes, emotion has to be one of the biggest factors influencing a buying decision. But when you think about it, emotion is the key to many purchases, both big and small. When we watch the beautiful people drive elegant cars down ribbons of coastal highways, we picture ourselves behind the wheel, and our hearts flutter. When we see anonymous sunbathers in TV commercials, throwing their pagers and cell phones into crystal clear ocean waters, we wish we were on the next lounge chair.

So it is when we walk through a builder’s model homes. The dose of fantasy is created by what the builder has put into its model home complex, inside and out. The reality part hits when we analyze the builder’s floor plan designs, carefully study the price list, and have the on-site salesperson calculate the monthly payment.

Celebrating the moments . . .

What we are buying, however, is much more personal. “Consumers are really buying both the daily and special event aspects of what will become their memories of home,” says Nicki Joy, one of the country’s best-known new home sales training personalities. “It’s the pictures that are conjured up in their minds when they think of Thanksgiving dinner being served in the dining room, quiet evenings nestled cozily by the roaring fireplace, or noisy pool parties in the back yard.”

Rowing with the same oars . . .

Joy goes on to say that people also recognize the all-in-the-same-boat feeling people have with new home neighborhoods. “Everybody is the new family on the block,” she says, “Just as all their trees are growing at the same time, all their kids are, too, leaving a trail of beginnings, growth and change all over the community. This is an especially strong draw when people relocate to a new home community from out of the area.”

Unlike established neighborhoods, where cliques and long-standing friendships may already exist, new homeowners share something unique. “This can be a strong bond between neighbors, making them somewhat reliant on one another in lots of good ways,” says Joy.

Mirroring who we are . . .

The personalization aspect of a new home purchase is also a strong one, affecting emotions at every turn and making the house a unique reflection of its original purchaser. That magical trip to the builder’s design center, where new homebuyers select their carpets, countertops, floor plan options, and fixtures from a dizzying array of shiny new products and surfaces, is one they don’t soon forget, even when, years down the road, they may wish we had chosen the fancier bathroom faucets or the master fireplace.

“New homes are indeed what lots of dreams are made of,” says Joy. “Homebuilders who recognize this, but also find ways to make these dream reality for their buyers are the ones who come out on top and enjoy the strongest loyalties from their buyers, “ she says.

Getting practical . . .

“But they have to be good at selling the steak, and not just the sizzle these days,” she admits. “Homebuyers have become more sophisticated than ever before. They will shop and compare builders, ask dozens of questions, and sometimes even door-knock in new home neighborhoods to ask homeowners how they like their new homes.”

Indeed, location, quality and reputation play major roles in the popularity of a given new home community. “People pay attention to the builder’s profile and history in many areas, and they will ask the builder if there are any other neighborhoods they can drive by and check out, just to see how they have ‘seasoned,’ “ she adds. “They want to make sure that they are making good investment.”

Counseling Homebuyers . . .

Lakewood Homes, a leading Chicago area homebuilder, encourages its sales consultants to help homebuyers make decisions based on what is truly a good ‘fit’ for them, and not be too dazzled by emotion, even though it may be what gets them talking about a potential purchase. “We want our sales staff to personally walk people through both the model homes and our production homes to explain exactly what they will have included in their purchase and point out the quality we put into our homes,” says Christopher Shaxted, Executive Vice President of Lakewood Homes.

“It doesn’t matter how great a model home looks if they can’t picture themselves actually living in it, knowing the home’s potential for them personally and understanding some of the behind-the-walls features,” he says.

Translating bricks & mortar into reality . . .

The idea that emotion affects our decision to buy a new home is justifiably colored by its practical aspects, as described in the two earlier offerings of iNest’s “Why Buy New” series.

Recognizing our need to sometimes permit emotion to play a role in such a big-ticket purchase, however, can help us understand how a structure can go from merely being a “house” on a home site and become that with which we can all identify – a place called home.