I am 22, my Fiance is 25. We are building a home, closing is on July 31st!!
Our priorities for this house were mainly, something that we could potentially have children in and live in comfortably for the next 30 years. Not that we are planning on doing so, but we didn’t want to be stuck in something that would not work with a family.
Our home is 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. 1500 square feet. The first level has the attached oversided two car garage, with the half bath and a large open kitchen/dining area and living room. The second level has the three bedrooms, including our master suite with walk in closet. The laundry closet and linen closet is also upstairs.
The community we live in is in a great area- 5 miles away from my work, and close to the highway (but protected geographically so there is no highway noise) if my Fiance does need to commute at some point. There is a five acre park being currently constructed, with an entrance two blocks down and one block over from our house. It’ll have a pond, picnic areas, dog park, etc. There are walking and biking trails everywhere, and plans to build an elementary school in the next five years.
The most important thing to us is that it will be totally move in ready. No work needed at all. If we were going to stretch our budget for a house, we wanted it to be good as is for at least five years! This meant some compromises (no granite counter tops, black instead of stainless appliances), but the cheaper materials are still durable and look lovely.
The only extras we will have to pay for will be back yard landscaping (front is included) and the fence.
I think “average” depends on where you are, though! We’re paying just over $202,000 for our home, which is high compared to some places, but incredibly low compared to what we’re used to. $200,000 gets you a trailer on a rented lot, where we used to live.