How to choose the right cottage village

Recommendation points

• Characteristics and criteria that need to be determined already at the first stage
• Types of cottage settlements
• Communications
• Lake, river and forest
• Infrastructure
• Terms of sale and ownership

Few things can compare in importance and scale with buying a country house. This event, of course, will have a strong impact on the future of the whole family, and the comfort of living, and the reliability of investment, and the profitability of real estate investments depend on how successful the choice will be..

It would seem that the choice of cottage villages existing today in the Moscow region allows even the most picky buyer to buy a suitable house. However, it is precisely such a wide choice that can actually complicate the process, since the future homeowner may simply get confused and not immediately come to the optimal solution..

What exactly should you pay attention to when choosing a cottage village, in which the “dream house” will be located? What selection criteria can be called the most significant and essential? And how to insure against mistakes and possible disappointment?

Characteristics and criteria that need to be determined already at the first stage

Before going outside the city limits for a new cottage, you need to determine the most important selection criteria and characteristics of the future home. That is, you need to establish a clear framework that will help you not pay attention to offers that are absolutely not right for you..

In general, realtors note that when choosing a cottage village, most buyers pay attention to the following criteria:

• cost;
• location;
• ecology;
• infrastructure;
• transport accessibility.

It is with these most important characteristics of the proposal that you should decide before starting the search..

The most significant factor will, of course, be the cost of the cottage. A very small category of buyers can say with confidence: “What’s the difference how much the house will cost, the main thing is that it completely suits me.” The rest of the buyers immediately clearly understand for themselves that there is an upper, limiting price limit and, if the cost of a cottage exceeds it, this offer will not be considered, despite all the advantages of the house.

This criterion immediately significantly reduces the range of searches – limited financial opportunities force us to look for a suitable house in economy-class cottage villages, business and premium-class options are excluded as too expensive.

Another important criterion is the area of ​​the house and the number of rooms. For example, a prospective homeowner can clearly imagine that each family member needs their own room, as well as establish a framework for the minimum number of living rooms needed. However, the desired area of ​​the house may vary depending on the cost, if the price is more affordable than expected, then, keeping within the previously established budget, the buyer will be able to afford a house with a larger area, and vice versa.

The next most important factor is the location of the cottage community. In this regard, the buyer must immediately decide for what purpose the house will be used. If as a summer residence, then you can choose villages more distant from the city, without developed infrastructure, and if for permanent residence, then you cannot do without a nearby school, kindergarten and hospital. It is safe to say that when choosing a summer residence, a clean lake, forest, distance from the highway and industrial facilities will become the dominant choice parameter. But when choosing a permanent place of residence, the well-being of the village is of great importance – the townspeople are usually not ready to change their lifestyle radically and sacrifice the usual benefits of civilization in favor of the rural lifestyle..

Many potential buyers prefer directions that are familiar and closest to work or their current place of residence, preferring to consider only cottage settlements, for example, along Novorizhskoe or Minskoe shosse. This limitation also significantly narrows the range of searches, helping to make the best choice..

The rest of the characteristics of the house, such as the style of decoration, building material and architecture are not so important at the first stage; during the inspection, the buyer’s opinion may change – a nice house made of timber or a warm cottage built using Canadian technology may end up being more attractive than a house made of brick and for the price and for the exterior.

Types of cottage settlements

The most important criterion when choosing one of the cottage settlements in the Moscow region is its appearance. Today there are three main types of settlements:

• fully built up with residential buildings and infrastructure. Such settlements offer only ready-made houses, often even with kitchen furniture and built-in household appliances. The “turnkey house” option has both advantages – you can move as soon as possible, immediately after signing the contract and making an initial payment, and disadvantages – it is no longer possible to influence the final design option and choose an architectural style. In addition, in the case of buying a house in such a village, questions related to the quality of construction and the materials used should arise, it is almost impossible to determine at first glance how warm and reliable the cottage turned out to be for a layman, and all the builders’ shortcomings can become an unpleasant surprise already in the first heating season ;
• settlements offering, along with ready-made houses, land plots with a contract. Such cottage settlements already have a development plan, but houses may differ in architectural style, area, and design. This option provides an opportunity to control the process of building a house and at the same time shift the hassle associated with the implementation of construction work onto the shoulders of an experienced contractor;
• settlements with free development, offering land plots without a contract. The most economical option is when the buyer receives only a plot of land in a settlement, where all houses will differ in external parameters. The future homeowner will have to independently engage in construction, a master plan for the development of the village usually does not exist.

We can say that cottage settlements of the first type, offering turnkey houses, are a more prestigious offer, in such settlements everything was erected clearly according to the master plan of the developer, there is a place for a playground, recreation areas, and so on, and all buildings are designed in a single architectural style, which, of course, looks very attractive. The second option can be called intermediate, it allows you to save money and at the same time become the owner of a house in a village with a well-thought-out layout.

Villages offering land plots without a contract are usually chosen by buyers who cannot immediately pay the full amount of the cost of the house and prefer to gradually build a cottage on their own, distributing the costs over time. The disadvantages of such proposals include the fact that next to your luxurious mansion a building of unknown structure may appear, spoiling the view from the window or a wasteland overgrown with weeds, the owners of which will not start building a house..

Another point – when choosing a ready-made house, you should immediately clarify what type of suburban real estate the village offers: detached houses, townhouses, duplexes, twin houses or villas, since today it is rather difficult to understand all types of suburban residential buildings, and unfamiliar names borrowed from English can just be confusing.

Communications

When choosing a cottage community, it is imperative to find out the question of whether centralized communications have been carried out to it. Of course, when buying a turnkey house, you can be sure that it will definitely have light, water and heating, autonomous or centralized. However, in this case, it is necessary to clarify exactly how the sewerage system is arranged, because even modern autonomous sewerage is not able to replace centralized networks..

Another important issue is water supply. If the problem of hot water can be solved by installing boilers, then the quality of water, especially if the cottage community is supplied from its own well, may be low. It is better to immediately ask for the conclusion of the sanitary-epidemiological station regarding the quality of water, so that later you do not face the urgent need to install reliable expensive filters.

In case of improper operation, the village’s own treatment facilities can become a source of infection, and their breakdown can be a real tragedy for the inhabitants of the cottages. Autonomous sewerage needs regular maintenance, and the well can become silted up and require expensive repairs. It is better to clarify right away – who exactly will pay for all these costs, whether they are included in monthly utility bills and who will need to contact in case of a breakdown or problems with life support systems. Another document worth checking is contracts with sales companies, water utility, gas service and other suppliers.

If communications in the village have not yet been carried out, most often this is the case in the case of buying a land plot without a contract, you should inquire about the availability of project documentation, in particular, technical conditions for connecting to electricity and gas. These documents are issued for only two years, and their registration with the regulatory authorities is quite expensive, because the availability of technical conditions gives guarantees that within the next two years the developer will nevertheless carry out engineering networks and light and gas will appear in new houses.

In the case of buying a land plot with a contract, it is also necessary to study the project of the future house, finding out all the questions of interest with the presence of centralized or autonomous engineering networks..

Lake, river and forest

Even if the house is purchased for permanent residence and the infrastructure is more important than nature, it is much more pleasant to admire the green massif or the mirror-like surface of the lake from the window than gray new buildings or factory chimneys. However, when choosing a cottage village according to such a criterion as “the closer to the reservoir, the better”, it is worth remembering that many developers raise the price per square meter or a hundred square meters only for the safe ecology of the area, because the house by the lake will most likely have overpay.

In addition, a pond very close to the house is not always so good. Firstly, the soil near natural reservoirs is often floating and not reliable, and the reclaimed soil near an artificial lake may turn out to be infertile and the planted trees simply will not take root. Secondly, local mosquitoes will be happy to “bite” their new neighbors. You should also pay attention to the cleanliness of the lake or river itself, is it possible to swim here, is there a refined beach, and so on..

In light of such difficulties, the pond next to the house may not be a bonus at all, but an additional problem.

The presence of green spaces is definitely an advantage of the cottage village, and the landscape design on the territory is able to raise the offer price quite significantly.

Infrastructure

A cottage village outside the city limits should offer its residents a fairly high level of comfort. Of course, there are elite-level offers, which have a marina, a golf course and a helipad, however, such cottage settlements are very expensive real estate not for everyone, so most buyers are forced to choose from simpler options.

When choosing a cottage village, you should pay attention to the following important nuances:

• the presence of protection. Is there a checkpoint at the entrance to the village, is the territory fenced, and so on. This is a safety issue that cannot be neglected;
• is there a convenient asphalt road, are the motor roads inside the village cleaned up? Getting home through the autumn slush is not a pleasant activity, so special attention should be paid to the transport infrastructure inside the village;
• availability of shops. If a cottage village is located far from a city or village, at least one grocery store must work in it so that residents do not have to go for everything they need every time;
• the proximity of the most important social facilities: schools, preschool institutions, clinics, hospitals and so on.

In a large cottage village with a developed infrastructure there are all of the above objects, it turns into a real, completely autonomous city, allowing residents to enjoy all the advantages of the city, while living surrounded by nature.

Terms of sale and ownership

The cost of a land plot or a finished house in a cottage community may be quite acceptable, however, if this offer is not suitable for a mortgage, potential buyers will simply have to refuse it.

In fact, when planning to buy a house and having already examined several options, you need to clarify the terms of the purchase:

• is it possible to obtain a mortgage loan;
• which banks the developer works with;
• what is the amount of the down payment;
• Does the developer provide an installment plan and, if so, on what terms;
• are discounts possible and so on.

The stage of paperwork can be called final and decisive when buying suburban real estate. First, it is necessary to find out if the seller has all the necessary documents, the mandatory list of which includes the cadastral plan of the land plot, which must also indicate the intended purpose of the allotment, the technical plan for housing construction, certified by the BTI and, most importantly, the documents of title to the land plot and the building itself.

You can make sure that the house or plot really belongs to this developer by examining the extracts from the Unified State Register of Rights (Unified State Register of Rights), as well as the sale and purchase agreement issued to the same legal entity.

Another important question is how the land surveying was carried out in a cottage community offering land plots without a contract. You need to make sure that you are buying this particular plot, there is often a risk of acquiring just a share in the joint ownership of the village, without determining the location of the allotment. And in the event of a collision with an unscrupulous developer, there is a possibility that your site, which was previously located on a flat meadow, unexpectedly “slid” into a ravine along with boundary pegs.

Haste in such an important and responsible process as the choice of a cottage village is the main enemy of the buyer. Only after considering several options, checking the reliability of the developer, making sure that all the necessary documents are available and having come to the site more than once, we can say with confidence – “I chose the best option out of all possible.” At least in its price range …