Home Buying Is a Changing

That home buying is changing is not news in terms of mortgages and foreclosures, a major consideration for home buyers and new home owners. What is news is the length of time people will be staying in a home and what they’ll want to have there. A national magazine article reports that:

“By 2015, there will be more people working electronically at home full time than taking mass transit.”  (Newsweek October 19, 2009, p42.)

This impact of modern day technology is not surprising when you think about it for a minute. With the Internet making our lives so totally interconnected, it is indeed almost a given fact that we can use a computer in our home more efficiently than in a downtown office.

This has two major impacts on home buying:
♦ Home location in terms of how it impacts on a commute is becoming less important and
♦ What the home has in it is becoming more important.

There is a two-century old maxim in building design and construction that “form follows function”, i.e., that what it looks like (form) should come after how it works (function). As modern day electronic technology becomes increasingly more widespread the function side of a structure becomes even more important than its form. People buying a home to live in will or should be looking at how well it will function for them in today’s environment.

One of the ramifications of this is that you could then buy a home without being tied to a particular location. Thus, for example, a home with a great view becomes a feasible place to live. You no longer have to worry about driving the car up a long curved road to reach it day in and day out. If it snows, so what? You work from your computer in your home office and don’t have to wait for the snow plow, shoveling, etc.

This greater freedom in home location has other benefits. You can get away from the problems of urban sprawl and of being tied to a neighborhood you’d rather not be in, whether because of it’s surroundings, the kind of people who live there or its cost. In other words, you can choose what you believe is the “right” one for you without worrying about having to commute five days a week. And the cost of this home can be significantly less than one within commute distance of an office.

But the floor plan itself is something else. You’ll need a separate office, perhaps two. And each bedroom will need a place where you can have addtional separate computers...for you and/or your family.

The wiring in the house for connecting these computers to high-speed Internet providers is also critical. Even if you could get along with low-speed equipment today, the ready availability of better machines as time goes on should be a major consideration even initially in your choice of floor plans. So right from the start, figure on having branching electronics (wireless or cable) to distribute the signals to every room in the home.

Another aspect of new homes that is being highly touted is “going green.” Like user friendliness, green houses are the wave of the future. They use less energy and release fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. And they become nicer places to live in the process.

You can stress the functionality of your 21st-century home, you can make it “user friendly”. You can get a house that concentrates on having a design and layout that makes life more comfortable to live in rather than just to look at.

Here are just a few of the user-friendly things you’ll want in your new home:
♦ Arrangements which do not include annoying doors that open across other doors.
♦ Light switches that are located where you naturally expect them to be.
♦ Office spaceboth for a computer desk and for file cabinets, all of which are handy and readily accessible.
♦ A security system that protects you, your home and the offices you have in it.
♦ Floor plans that make less work for the home owner in day to day living. The kitchen is one place that stands out. You’ll want neither a refrigerator nor a dishwashwasher in a corner.
♦ Up to date materials like granite countertop(s) in the kitchen with undermount sink(s).
♦ A heating, ventilaton and air conditioner (HVAC) system that is both efficient and comfortable.

These are but a few of the things found in a user-friendly home. Many more aspects can be found in the book Better Houses, Better Living by Myron E. Ferguson which is available at http://www.BetterHousesBetterLiving.com, from the publisher (Home User Press, 1-800-530-5105), or from Amazon.com. The Existing House Checklist and the Building & Remodeling Checklist, either of which comes free when the book is ordered from the publisher, are described on the website. Ferguson can be reached at betterhouses@comcast.net.