By MICHAEL COLMAN, ABEY ALFASI, AND ROBERT MACKILLIGAN (“THE DREAM TEAM”)
The Importance of ‘Synergy’, ‘Theme’, and ‘Team’
Buying a home is one of the biggest and most complex decisions you will ever make, and it is likewise a very personal one. It’s important not only to find a real estate professional who understands your lifestyle, but one will translate that into results, giving you property options that reflect both your lifestyle and your needs (not to mention your budget and plans for the future).
Once you’ve secured your dream home or property (or commercial location), who do you trust to take your dreams and make them an idea ready to be born? A design architect who knows what he or she is working with, from vision and conceptualization to showing you the tangible results. And preferably an architect with the experience of thousands of unique jobs of every size, budget, and concept, each based on consultation with your real estate professional to ensure both are working from the same vision, the same theme.
When planning a large and important event like a wedding, people often see the value of securing the expertise of a planner who knows how to take a larger theme and see that it is executed by the right team, with precision and a vision ever in mind. That’s the value of synergy.
This is why—when making a decision as important as buying your dream home—it’s critical to enlist the services of a team with extensive experience in making dreams a reality here in South Florida’s complex and rewarding residential and commercial markets: A “Dream Team” trio possessing the expertise and vision to complete the process with you, from start to finish.
Finding a ‘Life Partner’ in Real Estate
Your home is your castle, so who do you trust with the task of finding one that’s fit for you, its “royal family.” Your professional Realtor must have a proven track record—backed up by client referrals—of finding the right home for the right individual lifestyle. Just because we live in South Florida doesn’t mean that we all enjoy the same tastes in accommodations or amenities.
Teaming with a real estate professional is like teaming with life partner who gets to know everything about your needs, your expectations, your reservations and concerns, your budget, your plans for the future, and your lifestyle—in other words, what you plan to do and how you see yourself living in your dream home.
Designing the Dream
As if dreaming the perfect dream wasn’t enough hard work, finding a way to turn that dream into a reality is ideally suited to an artist who can translate the vision you have—based upon your lifestyle, your history, and the intangible qualities that make you and the members of your household unique. It requires engineering your dreams, and that means listening to you from the start and keeping you informed about options and the many different ways to assemble a palette and communicate your vision into a tangible result.
This requires a level of professional experience that comes from having taken on the job of turning thousands of homes into places that reflect the dreams and expectations of the owners, and whether they plan to utilize their home to spending quiet evenings alone or with a few friends, or if conceive of building the ultimate party house.
At this stage, most clients only see lines and angles in the complexities of architectural drawings and design schematics. Your design architect should make you feel comfortable and an irreplaceable part of the conceptual process, not an irritant to patronize, ignore, or keep informed on the periphery.
Bringing it All Together
After securing the perfect location, and creating a design vision that is ready to be born, an experienced general contractor will bring your project—and dream—to life. There are plenty of reasons and criteria to use for selecting your general contractor, but it should never be based solely on price.
Fundamentally, your choice should be based on this professional’s ability to work with you, because construction projects can take up to several months. It’s critical to have an understanding with your general contractor from the start, and why having him involved from the get-go (along with your Realtor and designer). That level of communication has to go both ways, so that your general contractor is available to answer your questions and make last-minute changes when you require it.
Michael Colman is a graduate of the M.E. Rinker School of Building Construction at University of Florida, and the founder of Bastion Construction, overseeing the building of residential and commercial projects across South Florida. He can be reached at (954) 650-2384.
Abey Alfasi is an award-winning designer and the owner of Odyssey Kitchen Design and Design Odyssey, offering a dedicated level of commitment, since 1980, to providing exceptional design, outstanding personal service, value engineering, and client satisfaction. He provides personalized architectural services to meet the specific needs of clients in an efficient and cost effective manner, providing creative and functional designs, experienced project management, open communication, and consultation, and can be reached at (954) 547-4441.
Robert Geary MacKilligan—“Your Life Partner in Real Estate”—is a bank-certified real estate specialist with Galleria International Realty, as well as being the owner of Florida Home Stagers, which helps clients prepare their homes for sale, improving their property’s appeal and transforming it into a welcoming, attractive place. He can be reached at (954) 234-8759.
