One of the most important things to remember when hopping from model home to model home, even if you are the most astute of shoppers, is that there is more than one home that is right for you. New home subdivision areas can sometimes offer 5 different builders with 25 different floor plans between them. And there is no doubt that they are all beautifully decorated, with each builder touting its success, its quality, and its terms that are oh so inviting. The key here is not to let your emotions decide which home is for you.

If you haven't heard it before, you're hearing it now. Emotion is what sells things like homes, especially new ones. That's what everything is geared to, from the fancy advertising and smiling kids and puppies in the weekend builder ads to the elegant model home sales office with its plush surroundings. From the disembodied voice that may somehow start announcing as you enter the model home (some automatically play a musician-less piano or switch on a gas fireplace!), to the pictures cut out of magazines in all those little picture frames scattered all around. Some builders even bake cookies in the model home ovens to lure you into feeling "homey" and comfortable. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing really wrong with it. It's no different than car commercials showing incredibly good-looking, successful people in shiny new cars, blowing everyone else on the freeway into the dust. It's called marketing.

Many homebuyers get so fixated on one particular property because of the emotion it stirs in them that they literally become blind to all others, with logic and objectivity taking a back seat, however. When you go out looking, it's important to retain a level head. You can get caught up extremely easily in the hype and forget that your original objective was to buy a home in a certain price range with certain requirements, using a certain type of financing that you had already determined was right for you.

New home consultants are highly trained salespeople who are sacrificing weekends and many holidays to sell you a new home. Not just any new home, mind you -- their builders' new home, or one of the assortment, anyway. They are educated on why their location is better, why their floor plans make sense, how the builder takes special care to give you more "included features" and how wonderful your life could be if you bought a home there. Again, there's nothing wrong with that. That's their job. They'll say things like, "Can't you picture yourself waking up here in the morning?", or "Don't you just love this home? I do." And many of them mean it. They must form a love affair with each and every home they sell; it's part of what makes them such good salespeople.

It is your responsibility, however, to see the forest and the trees at the same time, as this is a huge investment. Perhaps you're thinking that being represented by a real estate agent could make the difference. Perhaps it can, if yours is the type who can give you a swift kick in the pants when you're considering the purchase of something totally apart from what you had originally planned to buy. The truth is, however, that everyone but you involved in the purchase of your new home has some kind of vested interest in it. If they see you sit down on the overstuffed model home couch in the living room, heave a big sigh, and study the builder brochure, it's a sign to them. They just may not want to talk you out of something when it's clear to them the wheels are already turning in your brain and your heart is atwitter.

These are buying signs, and who knows? Maybe you have found the right house after all, especially if you've done the Ben Franklin in your head and gone home to perform it again on paper. Just remember that there may be more than one home out there that has you mentally arranging the furniture each time you enter. That's why it's a good idea to look at them all. Learn about them all. Drive around all of the neighborhoods; check out all the schools and shopping and commutes until you are convinced that the right house is behind door #1 after all.

That way, when you're sitting in your family room five years from now watching your big screen TV, you'll be glad that you didn't pick the house with the dinky living areas but terrific master bedroom suite. You'll be glad that you passed over the house with the tiny kitchen just because it had Jack & Jill bathrooms for the kids. And you'll be able to say that you used your head, and not just your heart.

Published: April 21, 2000

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.