People who are looking for a home are looking for love. This makes them vulnerable to Charm, which may or may not be a valid reason to buy.
I remember my second house. The model home I fell in love with had a big picture window in the master bath over the garden tub, and outside the picture window was a delightful fenced couryard containing a garden statue of young girl surrounded by beautiful flowers. Charming! Later I laughed at myself, because I never had time to tend an area that nobody ever saw but my husband and myself for a few minutes a day! That couryard was nothing but an ugly weed patch the whole time I lived there.
When I work with buyers, I talk to them about Charm, and I especially caution them about the dangerous seduction of new. Newness is so attractive! Being able to pick your own colors .. the sparking clean of never-used kitchen and baths .. the smell of paint .. and of course the "free" incentives! A buyer gets carried away. In fact, the builders count on it.
However, newness is the one Charm that doesn't convey at resale. When the time comes, that house will have to compete with a thousand other resale homes. When my clients are considering new construction, I warn them that newness is a poweful Charm, but dangerous. To get new, an infatuated buyer will accept defects that will one day make resale a nightmare. "Oh it doesn't bother me," says the buyer, referring to a busy highway over the back fence, or a driveway like a ski slope. Maybe not, but for most buyers that issue will be a deal-breaker.
Newness is seductive but let the buyer beware! Find a good buyer's agent to advise you, someone who is immune to the emotional appeal of new and can talk you down, if necessary. A presale or newly built home may be the best choice -- but not for the wrong reasons.
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