Lot Selection Part #1

Very early in the process it is important to locate and select a lot. A lot is a very important part of the building process. You really cannot effectively start the home design process until a lot has been selected. The lot dictates the orientation of the home, window placement, floor plan and limits the style of home based on whether the lot is flat or sloped to the front or back.

Before we evaluate the “green” considerations for a lot, let’s think about the non-green attributes that are very important. Often, buyers fall in love with a particular lot but fail to consider all of the important attributes. Things such as:

• Is the lot in a quality neighborhood?
• Is the neighborhood filled with growing families, mature families or seniors? What are you looking for?
• Does the neighborhood have access to parks, trail systems and other amenities nearby?
• Is the noise from nearby trains, runways, road traffic, rifle ranges, commercial and retail operations acceptable?
• Do nearby commercial or retail operations emit noxious smells?
• What is the proximity to high power lines?
• What is the concentration of multi-family units nearby?
• Is the neighborhood stable? Check with police.
• Availability of quality schools, shopping, churches, recreation, services (e.g. banks, dry cleaning, etc) and freeways
• Distance and time it takes to get to work?
• Is family nearby?


More tomorrow.