Home of your dreams

By Alexis A. Acacio, contributor
Inquirer News Service

IN LOOKING for the home of your dreams, there is a simple acronym that I have devised, to remind the smart real estate shopper on the qualities that they should look for in a real estate investment.

In helping you decide on your home purchase, you may follow the criteria of the acronym DREAM, which means:
(D)urable
(R)easonably priced
(E)nergy efficient
(A)ppealing
(M)arketable

Durable

By all means, your home should be durable. It does not exactly mean that because you have a limited budget, then the builder has a reason to make it weak and not durable.

Select materials that you feel would stand the weather and the environment in the area where you plan to build. If you want to build in the mountains and the weather is always damp and moist, then materials that are durable when continuously exposed to moisture and rain should be used.

If you are on flat ground and near the beach shoreline, then try to minimize the use of steel in your homes for these can corrode easily thereby shortening their design life. Perhaps you can select materials that are durable even when continuously exposed to seashore weather. Natural wooden materials are perfect for small beach homes.

Reasonably priced

It is always an issue of how much you are willing to pay for a specific home feature that you would want. If a modular kitchen system is very important to you, then your budget should be able to support this priority.

Affordability depends really on how much money you have and how much you are willing to spend. You are not really spending when you buy a home -- you are simply converting your cash into a real estate asset. Should you need to convert it into cash, you can even expect a gain due to the appreciation of real estate. But of course, the conversion would take some time.

Energy-efficient

If there is one thing that we have in the Philippines that is very scarce in temperate countries, it has to be lots of sunlight that we can enjoy. In planning your homes, more sunlight that comes in through the windows would mean the lesser need to use artificial lighting. Avoid cramped and dark corridors within your home.

Too much sunlight can also be harmful. Due to its intensity that hits the roofs of our homes, more cooling power is expected out of our air conditioners. So in design, there should be the right size of windows for natural light that can likewise make your air conditioner perform effectively and efficiently. Ask your home designer to study all of these for you.

Energy efficiency is a big concern for all of us. Our aim is to reduce electrical and energy consumption by careful design and planning. As an example, a double-glazed glass window might initially cost more but over the years, using it will save you a lot on air-conditioning bills since it reduces the heat that comes into your house through the windows. The proper choice of electrical appliances that we install into our homes also affects the way we use up energy. Be very careful in selecting what is best for your home. It is always a question of cost versus the benefit that it can provide.

Using insulation for the roofing system would keep you cool when it is warm outside. Insulation material does this by preventing most of the heat that is directed to your roof. By this you would need less cooling effort from your air conditioners. An insulated attic floor, coupled with wide windows that provide a lot of ventilation will reduce your cooling costs and you may not even need an air-conditioner at all.

Appealing

A well-designed home need not be expensive. We all have different tastes and a beautiful home for one may not be so for another. Always follow your heart's desire in choosing the architecture that you want. If you want a pink roof, then go ahead and make it so. To have the design and style that you want, it takes a lot of meetings and consultations with your home designer. Sometimes, schematic plans will have to be redone all over again. The secret here is to be patient and frank in telling your designer what you really need in the home of your dreams.

Marketable

The home that you will build today may no longer be your home after 10 years. Our needs change and so we have to renovate and upgrade our homes.

What I mean by having a marketable home is that you should design by selling in mind. In the future, when the time comes for you to sell your home, you should not have a problem convincing potential buyers because the layout is functional, practical and your house is well built.

Marketability can also be internal -- the home should appeal to the end users themselves. If in a few years you will have young adults in the house, the renovation of other spaces into other functional spaces for teenagers (like a billiard room) should be seen well in advance. By this you will save yourself away from the costs of demolition.

Follow the DREAM to build your dream!