When you’re shopping for a home, it’s easy to get distracted by the shiny fixtures and fancy appliances. But there’s something far more important and not always easy to pinpoint that you should be looking out for: signs of good home design. For this week’s Wisdom Wednesday blog we’re sharing some helpful information on this topic from realtor.com .

So how can you tell if a house is well-designed?

A well-designed home makes you feel good when you walk in. It’s well-lit, with lots of natural light and glimpses of nature viewed through ample windows and doors. Where a poorly designed home might feel cramped and cluttered—despite the best efforts of the homeowner—a well-designed home has a place for everything.

Rooms flow naturally into one another, in a way that makes sense for the way the homeowners live.

Experts call this good “flow,” and they know it when they see it. But to the average home buyer, it can be a tough thing to spot at first glance. And poor flow is an expensive—sometimes near-impossible—thing to fix.

Here are some signs or red flags that the home you’re viewing may not be well designed:

1. The front door opens onto a wall – When you open the front door and you’re immediately confronted by a wall, it can make your very first moments in a home feel cramped and claustrophobic.

2. The front door faces the stairs – When you open the front door and are immediately confronted with a flight of stairs, it’s disorienting.

3. There are unnecessarily long hallways – Long hallways contribute to the square footage that you, the home buyer, are purchasing, but they don’t offer you utility for your money. Consider whether your long hallway is helping the flow, or hindering it.

4. The guest bathroom is right at the entrance – Another entryway no-no is to have a powder room right near the front door. Why? Because you don’t want the first impression on your guests to be a toilet.

5. The first view of the bathroom is the toilet – You don’t want the fixture to be the first thing you see from down the hall as you approach the bathroom.

6. The living room is a dead end – When the living room is one of the first rooms you see off the entryway, it’s best if that room features other doorways—either into another room or out to the backyard.

7. There are adjoining bedrooms (aka shotgun bedrooms) – Some call it “railroad” and others call it “shotgun,” depending on where you’re from. Whatever you call it, it’s an awkward layout for the way people live today.

As real estate experts, we are here to help our clients navigate the home buying process and assess properties for issues like these! We can help spot these ‘flow issues’ and work with our buyers to ensure they’re choosing the right home for their needs.

Interested in buying? Please reach out! We’d love to help you find your next property.