The house's orientation on the lot is important, it can mean you take advantage of many of its positives, or it can mean you ignore them and end up with an awkwardly situated house, or worse. An example is this, if you build a house on a lot and don't take advantage of a good view, or build to close to a neighbor that is an eye sore, your selling price could drop by 25% for no other reasons than the siting of the house. Occasionally builders don't take this important decision into account, it is not always on purpose, but sometimes they are in a rush to get permits, so the just slap the plans down on the plot map, and turn it over to other contractors before they fix it, and too much work is done to change their mind by the time they realize their mistake. Instead of using "common sense" on where to place a house, a builder might put the house in a place where it, instead of a great view, has a horrible one. This could lead to extra costs such as a lot more money to put in the extra landscaping needed to block the view of the neighbor, etc.

So, what can you do to avoid losing money because of a badly sited house? Well, here is what you should do-work with the site to end up with the best looking and most cost efficient house, with all the best your location has to offer. How do you do that?

You have to take the following factors into account: the views, relationship to existing houses and structures, sun exposure, the lay of the land, and of course, and the water flow!

All of these factors play a part in determining if your house is going to be sited well.

The view might be one of the best features of the lot, so use that to your advantage and have the main rooms of the house and the master bedroom facing the view.

The relationship of your home to the homes around you is important as well. You need to consider your neighbors because you can't force them to do anything, so if you have a neighbor that is an eyesore, place your house so you can't see it. Also, if all of the neighboring houses are set a certain distance back from the road, and you set yours much closer or further back, you are really going to stand out, and not in a good way.

The climate and sun make for interesting siting decisions. If you want to watch the sunrise from your bedroom, then don't face your master bedroom in the opposite direction. Another thing is that, if you live in a place with cold winters, you will probably want the side of your home with the most windows to be facing south. So consider the sun.

Lay of the land is important, while a flat lot is best, it is not always what you get, so make sure if your lot isn't flat that you take advantage of the way the land is. For example, if it slopes back off the lot you could put in a nice daylight basement.

As you can see, considering the different things your lot has to offer will make a difference, both good and bad, in your resale value etc. So site your house to take advantage of as many of the lot's aspects as possible.