Is your home future-proof? Your home is more than a structure. It’s the place where you can relax, enjoy privacy, share experiences with family and friends, and just “be”. To do all that, your house must perform, just like your vehicle does. While it doesn’t physically move, your home should safely and comfortably support your way of life—now and for all the years you live there.
Has your life changed?
Think about the changes in your life in the past few years, whether or not you bought a home or moved. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Has your household grown, even by the addition of a pet?
- Has it gotten smaller?
- Would you rather have your bedroom on the first floor?
- Are you using more electronic devices, and more often?
- Have you added smart appliances and other similar technology to your home?
- Did you start working from home—either full- or part-time—in recent years?
- Have you taken up a hobby that requires dedicated space?
- Have you increased the number of home deliveries?
- Did you buy an electric vehicle?
- Do you have enough storage space?
Does your home fit the way you live or are you fitting the way you live to accommodate your home’s limitations? And what about the years ahead? Take a good look at it. Is your home future-proof?
Your home is stuck in the past.
Are you living in a high-performance home? One where the kitchen isn’t a bottleneck and the living space allows everyone to live harmoniously? Can you all use your electronics without suffering the frustration of a slow connection or dead zone? Do you dread carrying laundry and other things up and down the stairs? Have you been yearning for a soaking tub or a more luxurious shower?
These are signs that your home does not have lasting value in relation to your needs. Your house is telling you something. Maybe it’s time to listen.
Home design that thinks ahead.
New Home Inc. is a local home builder serving the Raleigh, NC, region. We developed the business to better suit the needs of homebuyers. Before we designed any floor plans, we researched how people are living in their homes, the features they need and the ones they don’t. We then looked at where our lifestyles are going.
For example, technology is providing greater demand for connectivity, as well as adding more devices we absolutely must have. We also learned that the households are changing significantly, as aging parents move in with their adult children—a trend that requires more than an extra bedroom. Parents are welcoming back their grown children after college or so that the “kids” can save money to buy a home of their own. And it’s no surprise that these adults aren’t satisfied with their childhood bedroom.
The pandemic changed lives a few years ago, causing more people to feel dissatisfied with their current homes. Being home for longer periods put the focus on flaws, like the lack of a suitable home office, a crowded kitchen, and a home network that had to simultaneously support working from home, schooling at home, and more users on more devices than ever.
After looking closely at the current habits of American households, we adopted our “Future-Proof” approach to home design. And here’s what we came up with.
An open floor plan isn’t exactly ideal.
The open floor plan combines the kitchen, living room, and dining area into one big space, without walls. The design encourages togetherness. A person preparing food in the kitchen can stay in the conversation with the people in the living room. The superfans can eat at the dining room table and watch the big game on the television. And for entertaining, the open concept is an ideal way to promote mingling.
The open floor is ideal for all these reasons, but some spaces benefit from the separation of a wall. Our research showed that homeowners want a better balance of private spaces and the open floor plan. Togetherness isn’t always preferable. Maybe someone wants to have quiet time without retreating to a bedroom, or the kids want to play video games without parents watching over them.
Our solution was to integrate flex spaces into our floor plans. This design isn’t a matter of just telling a buyer that they can use the formal dining room for something else, like an office. What if you don’t want your workspace right next to the front door? We’ve designed our floor plans with thoughtful placement of flex spaces. There’s an area next to the kitchen where you can choose to create an office. Add a wall and a pocket door, and you have a quiet office that’s also close to the kitchen when you need to grab a snack or multi-task as the cook.
In addition, a flex room is included with every New Home Inc. floor plan. You decide how to use it—fitness center, yoga studio, library, media room, den, craft room, man cave, guest bedroom, game room, or an extra home office. You can personalize the flex room when you’re building your new home with us. Add a closet, half-bath, or built-ins. Just tell us how to bend the flex space to your liking!
Do you want to pamper your pet? New Home Inc. has an option to build a pet retreat under the stairs of our multi-story homes. We’ve made it easy to click the choice on the interactive floor plan and say, “yes, please!” when deciding on your home’s features.
Island life needs a revision.
There was a time when the kitchen island had a breakfast bar, a raised area above the countertop that was intended for casual eating. Does “casual” mean a narrow ledge with your knees banging against the base below?
New Home Inc.’s architects eliminated the breakfast bar and expanded the island’s countertop in one smooth, unbroken plane. This change allows for more workspace and a bigger area for serving and dining.
Extending the island’s countertop provides comfortable seating on 3 sides—not just 1 or 2—without bruising your knees. A simple change here contributes to the “future-proof” value of the kitchen.
One pantry isn’t enough.
There never seems to be enough storage in the kitchen. A pantry is an essential feature for keeping non-perishables in one place, without taking up valuable cabinet space.
But what about other items, like small appliances, serving ware, and things you hardly use but can’t get rid of? And even though our oversized kitchen islands are a definite plus, you don’t want to allow clutter here.
The New Home Inc. solution to managing a messy kitchen was inspired by a feature found in much older homes: the butler’s pantry. This nook is situated next to the kitchen, but set off by a door. It differs from a traditional pantry because there is counter space where the butler could stage various courses to be served to the family. They would also stack dirty dishes here, out of view until the unsightly mess could be cleaned and put away.
It’s an old concept that has been reborn in our homes. We call our butler’s pantry a “messy kitchen”. The small room includes cabinets and countertops. You can add a sink, dishwasher, mini-fridge, wine chiller, and other functional features. Our messy kitchen is the place to gather the extras before and after serving, but it can also be a great place to remove a kitchen bottleneck. Turn your messy kitchen into a snack and beverage station so that family members aren’t standing and staring into the main fridge while you’re trying to cook. And coffee drinkers aren’t hovering in your space.
New Home Inc.’s homebuyers love the messy kitchen because it actually accomplishes the opposite of its name!
Home deliveries need a safer place.
The volume of online shopping skyrocketed in 2020, as retailers and restaurants hustled to provide home delivery to the people sheltered in place. When we returned from social distancing, the habit of ordering online for home delivery continued to grow. Consumers became accustomed to the convenience and place orders for just about anything that used to require a trip to the store.
Are your deliveries left in a safe place? Do you worry about the weather damaging your package? Worse yet, porch piracy is a valid concern.
New Home Inc. designed an innovative solution to safe, secure home deliveries. The smart door delivery center is an enclosed space between your exterior and interior front doors. The exterior door has a smart lock that can be accessed with a code provided by the homeowner. Once the door is opened, the package is left in the smart door delivery center. The door closes and automatically locks. You can then change the code. The zone is climate-controlled so your groceries can be safely left in there.
How smart is your home?
Smart technology for the home keeps growing in number and features. Can your home keep up with the appliances, security systems, interior and exterior lighting, thermostat, garage door opener, health monitors, curtains, televisions, audio systems, mirrors, and more.
Have you added smart home devices to take advantage of the convenience and security it offers? When you purchase a home from New Home Inc., a smart home automation package is included: a whole home network panel, video doorbell, smart lighting hub, smart thermostat, and smart door lock. We make it easy to live smarter.
Any cabling less than CAT6 isn’t future-proof.
Does your internet connection slow down or drop altogether when you move from one area of your home to another? Is it sluggish when several people are online at the same time? Outdated cable is the culprit. There’s just so much bandwidth to spread around.
Homes built more recently are likely wired with CAT5 Ethernet cable. It wasn’t designed for the demand in the homes of today and tomorrow.
CAT5 supports up to 100 Mbps at a distance up to 330 feet. Meanwhile, CAT6 delivers the fastest transfer rate of 1,000 Mbps (= 1 Gigabit) at the same distance, and as strong as 10,000 Mbps, up to 180 feet. It’s just the better way to wire a future-proof home and not have to deal with “dead zones” and crawling WiFi.
New homes should welcome EVs.
Speaking of wiring and plug-ins, have you purchased an electric vehicle or have plans to buy one in the future? A future-proof home welcomes the latest technology by including a charging station in the garage. You don’t have to get one installed by an electrician later. New Home Inc. includes an electric vehicle charging station rough-in with every garage, single-family homes, and townhomes. A rough-in means all the electrical work has been done behind the wall, so everything you need is ready for your charger. Just plug it in and power it up!
Home health starts with a healthy home.
Sheltering at home kept you safe from germs, bacteria, and viruses floating in the air outside your living space. But how clean is the air you breathe indoors? Did you know that it has about 5 times the amount of pollutants? With the better insulation and sealing, newer homes are more resistant to drafts and leaks. While that conserves energy, the protection also limits air circulation inside.
We’re committed to improving indoor air quality. Every home includes a whole home air filtration system. We use highly-rated MERV filters to remove particles from the air inside your home. Breathe easily knowing that we’ve got you covered.
Energy efficiency isn’t static.
Like everything else that impacts home building, energy efficiency measures continue to improve. The materials and methods we have today deliver greater results than those used in the past. So, a future-proof home is built to this higher standard for energy efficiency. From the foundation to the roof, every system and element in your home needs to provide strength and energy efficiency. It’s up to the builder to make the right choices.
At New Home Inc., we adhere to the requirements for ecoSelect certification. This program of Southern Energy Management requires third-party inspection of every item on a long checklist, from lighting to air sealing to water usage. The ecoSelect certification shows our commitment to ensuring our customers have an eco-friendly home.
Find your future-proof home near Raleigh, NC
After learning all this, is your home future-proof?
If you’re looking ahead to buying one of the new homes for sale near Raleigh, NC, New Home Inc. invites you to focus on us. We’re building communities of new homes in some of the most desirable suburbs, such as Angier, Clayton, Fuquay-Varina, Lillington, Smithfield, and Willow Spring. These cities and towns offer an easy commute to Raleigh and an affordable lifestyle. You can purchase more of a home here than in the city.
In addition to building better homes with more affordable pricing, New Home Inc. is currently offering our homebuyers a rate buyd own program. Qualified buyers who choose one of our quick-move-in homes can get an interest rate to as low as 4.75%. Some rate buydown programs cover just the first few years, but New Home Inc. is covering the rate difference for the entire period of the 30-year fixed-rate loan.
The quick move-in homes—both single-family homes and townhomes—that are eligible for the rate buydown are either newly completed or almost finished. Either way, you can close quickly and move into your future-proof home.
Contact the experts at New Home Inc. to get a closer look at the difference in our cutting-edge homes, our services, and our approach to building homes that fit the way you want to live.
