EPISODE 15: Home Buying Process – How To Choose The Right Floorplan

Episode 15: Transcript

Home Buying Process #3 – How To Choose The Right Floorplan

Mousetrap: Alright, alright. Welcome back to another episode of the Doublewide Dudes, this is going to be number 3 on the home buying process. We’re going to get into talking about choosing a floorplan and a home that is right for your family. Once you got a location and know where you want to set the home and what area you want to live in, getting the right home is the next step. Speaking on that, Leroy’s got his party this weekend. Basically, the final straw and the whole shebang to show his whole family and we are going to have his daughter graduation party out there.

AP: Yea it is a big deal and they got almost fifty plus people showing up. Definitely appreciate everybody who has been following this process on Facebook, Instragram and YouTube, but this is going to be the grand finally and I couldn’t be happier. He is such an awesome guy, it is an honour getting to know him and becoming his friend throughout this process and just really grateful they gave us the opportunity.

Mousetrap: Yeah and on that note, when people decide to do the same thing Leroy’s family did and get into a manufactured home, the first step knows where to put it, and next one is going to be choosing the right floor plan.

AP: Right

Mousetrap: You are going to need to see how many bedrooms you need, the sizes really, how many people are going to live in the home, the dimensions and what’s really going to be suitable for them. So AP, what would be the first aspect when homeowners are choosing a floor plan?

AP: Well I think the size of the home that like you say that best suits your family is a big one. How many bedrooms do you really need, how many bathrooms do you need, how many living areas and a lot of that comes down to how much space does everyone in your family need. You know we’ve got four kids and each one is different, but a lot of it has to do with age. What I have noticed our ten years old likes to be by himself in his own space, but we got three girls six and under and no matter where my wife and I go they are directly on top of us. So we definitely thought with a family of four, we needed more space than we really did. But I imagine if you have older kids, everybody is going to want a little more space than the younger ones.

Mousetrap: Yeah so when your deciding on how many bedrooms you need, you can take that into consideration on a number of kids you have and how old they are.

AP: Right

Mousetrap: If you have one or two kids and you have another one on the way and you think a four bedroom would be good it just really comes down to how you are going to use the space. So I guess the first determination they can make is how many bedrooms they are going to need, how many bathrooms or even like a hobby. If you are going to use one of the four bedrooms for craft work or any type of woodwork or anything like that, if you think you can use that extra bedroom for some type of activity take that into consideration.

AP: I think a lot of it has to do with what do I envision my life, my family’s life looking like when we get into this home. And that will tell you how many rooms do you need, how many bathrooms and all that stuff. That is a big decision.

Mousetrap: And even take where you currently live into account. When you are at home and think of yourself like I wish I had this or I wish I had space for that. You know what I mean.

AP: Yeah, and also what you like about it. What is about your current situation that you do like that you would like to see in your new floor plan

Mousetrap: Yea, right, right. So the amount of bedrooms, baths and living areas are going to be the first thing you are going to need to decide on when choosing a floor plan, but AP I know in the last episode we talked about just restrictions on the land. Right. When they choose a floor plan is there going to be any setbacks or anything that they’ll need to take care of when deciding on the right floor plan for the property they have?

AP: Yeah that’s a big part of the process to remember to look into when you get to the point of picking a house. Some of the HOAs we work with, those neighbourhoods only allow double wide, others only allow you to have hardboard siding on your houses and setbacks what that is a part of the land that is designated for utilities. You know for power lines, for water lines and things like that; so just because you are looking at a piece of property that is 100 x 50, doesn’t mean that you have that full 100 x 50 to put that house on.

Mousetrap: For the home

AP: Right and again like what we have talked about on that last episode Mousetrap, talking to your county development office will get you all those answers.

Mousetrap: Okay, it sounds like it can be a little confusing, say I am a customer that just inherited some land and or just purchased a piece of property, is there an easier way to go about that?

AP: Yeah, there are companies out there that provide these services as part of the home buying process, and its certainly something that we offer. But not everyone that listens to this podcast is going to go through a company like Braustin Homes, so we definitely want to make sure that people know what to look out for. And really calling the county development office, this may sound like a lot or sound very confusing, but a couple phone calls and it is really a lot easier than you may think.

Mousetrap: Yeah, you’re definitely going to want the professionals to guide you in the right direction. Ok, so we have the amount of bedrooms picked out, the amount of baths, the square footage that you think you may need. Now that you know the floor plan that you fell in love with can go on your land after doing that small research what’s next, what do you need a plan for?

AP: Well part of it is accounting for not just who is going to move in but also what you are planning on moving into your house. Sometimes we come across customers that inherited a dining table or desk from a great grandparent and they don’t want to part with that. It is important to make sure that any furniture that you are bringing in or planning on buying is accounted for in the floor plan you picked out as well.

Mousetrap: Okay, so just the furniture that’s going to go into the house?

AP: Right

Mousetrap: Ok, so now that you know what is going to go into the home, you chose a floor plan, you know it can fit on your land, you know whats going in it, what is another thing they they’re going to have to take into consideration?

AP: Well, I think a big part of picking that perfect floor plan is making sure that floor plan fits your budget as well. You know we spend a lot of time talking about not biting off more than you can chew and if you’ve got a certain monthly payment in your mind that you are comfortable with and your gut is telling you not to go above that, well let’s make sure that floor plan fits inside that budget.

Mousetrap: Yeah, that is a big one.

AP: Yeah it is. And on the same token, you got to keep in mind that you are going to be here for a while, so if you really wanting that second living room and you’re maybe looking at an extra $4,000 or $5,000 thousand, well in the grand scheme of things we are talking about $40 to $50 dollars extra a month. So it’s just finding that happy medium between your family’s wants, your needs and the reality of financing.

Mousetrap: Yeah, you can fall in love with a floor plan that kind of fits the first three things that we covered, but if it’s $200, $300 or $400 dollars over your budget then you are going to need to reconsider all those options.

AP: Right

Mousetrap: So above all that I would say this is going to be the most important part of it.

AP: Yeah. Financing, the budget, you and I have spent a ton of time talking about it and will continue to talk about it Mousetrap. Like you said, it’s the most important part of the buying process.

Mousetrap: Just take into consideration what you are comfortable paying. If you are renting and paying a thousand bucks and you w ant to keep it around that, just set that as your budget. Is there anything else that homeowners need to look into when choosing a floor plan?

AP: Well, I think a big thing to watch out for in the middle of the buying process is making sure you are making the decision on your perfect floor plan, really based on the layout of the home and not the finishes. And what I mean by that, if you are going to dealerships and dealerships over here, you’re going to see a lot of fancy high-end finishings and a lot of these homes are decked out with gorgeous looking furniture and they’re designed on purpose to look amazing. We do the same thing too, right? In our office we’ve got some nice furniture to make it look good.

Mousetrap: Right

AP: But what you don’t want to do as a customer is, pick a home just because you like that fancy tile backsplash in the kitchen or just because you saw some fancy counter tops because all of that can be added to your perfect floor plan. Once you get a floor plan it is pretty hard and very expensive to move walls and do all this kind of crazy stuff but little finishing touches like backsplashes, counter tops, cabinets even paint

Mousetrap: Or appliances.

AP: Or appliances. All that’s fairly easy to add on down the road as your budget allows and Jason, my brother actually just wrote an awesome blog we published a couple of days ago on Facebook and on our website too. 6 Do It Yourself Improvements to Modernize Your Mobile Homes.

Mousetrap: Yeah. When I’m talking to customers and they are doing their shopping and they get the price points at other dealerships, I kind of let them know it is really all the same house, structurally, it is just the finishes like you were saying. The granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and whatever the nice aesthetics finish the home may have can all be added after. And a lot of that ties into the budget. So you made the decision on how many bedrooms you need, how much space and if your land can allow it, stick with that and focus on the other things later. So I think that wraps it up for the floor plan.

AP: Yeah, yeah it is a lot to take in Mousetrap.

Mousetrap: Well, that does it for that episode guys. On the next one, we are going to talk about the actual construction of the homes and the floor plans and how they come from each factory. I know there is lot of confusion and talk out there on how one factory is better than the next, but tune into the next episode where we are going to cover just that and give you guys every piece of information you will need to know what home and floor plan you guys can choose. Thanks again and we will talk to you on the next one.