The decision to purchase a new home is a tough one to take. It comes after a series of saving, deliberation, and contemplation. To choose the type of home to buy poses an even more daunting task. It comes with a lot of planning and considerations.
In buying a home, we all have our priorities. It is a known fact that the purchase process can be very complicated and stressful, and it’s easy to forget set priorities along the way. We recommend that as a prospective home buyer, consider having a written list of priorities to guide you through the process and not forget some of the details that are essential to you and your family.
Besides the issue of forgetting set priorities in the course of scouting for a new home, a significant challenge prospective home-buyers face is knowing what their preferences are in the first place. Many find a hard time putting down a list of what they want and what they don’t. People like these usually end up with ‘anyhow’ houses. They tend not to find fulfillment in their purchase.
You’ve attained a particular stage in your life, and you feel you need to have your own home. As is expected, you have booked a realtor for that purpose, and now you need some guidelines to follow to have a hitch-free ride? Then you’re in the right place. This article will arm you with the requisite knowledge you need to navigate the housing market successfully. Below are some useful tips you should follow when undertaking a home buying quest.
1. Create a Plan
Creating a plan is the first step towards ensuring your home scouting journey doesn’t end in disappointment. The program will guide you in making vital preliminary decisions as it will show that you know what you want, where you want it, and how much you’re willing to ‘blow’ on it.
Elements that contained in the plan include the type of house you want to get (bungalow, duplex, or a condo), and the area or neighborhood you want it to be, and the amount you’re budgeting for it. Doing this will ensure that whatever you’re going for stays according to plan.
2. Prepare a “Must Have” List
Preparing a “must-have” list will help to ensure that you don’t settle for less. You’ll make a note of important features your dream house must-have. For every house you check out, you must note the elements it has that appear on your list. Items on the list may be a home office, a big yard, a 2-car garage, a children’s playground, etc.
3. Appraise Social Factors
Considering social factors is one of the essential tips that would be useful to you when finally embarking on that home buying mission. Family size, family gathering, guest visit frequency are social factors that are capable of influencing your decision on building size. If you’ve got a large family or planning on having one, if you’re a house party kind of person, or you have the tendency of hosting weekend family gatherings, you’re likely to go for a building with a large area.
These days, people conveniently organize house parties at the front of their building or in their garden. A large building area would offer ample space for patio umbrellas and other outdoor furniture and appliances, with which you can easily have a family event such as eating/dining out sightseeing, etc.
4. Chef or Baker? You Need a Very Big Kitchen
Are you the cooking or baking type? If married, does your spouse bakes or cooks? Will you require the services of a chef or baker or both in your new home? If the answer to any of the questions above is yes, you probably need to consider factoring in a massive kitchen in your home buying plan.
Loving to cook or bake, or having a baker at home is a bittersweet situation. Everybody loves the aroma of good food around the house and who doesn’t like the smell of sugar, creams, and chocolates around the house. However, they all come at a price—the need for space.
Chefs and bakers are known to require lots of cookware and bakeware in the discharge of their duties. Setting up kitchen wares like an oven, open shelves, rolling cart roasting pans, frying pan, and a host of others usually require some special kitchen modification and designing. In addition to this, they take up extra space. If the kitchen isn’t big enough, it will look rowdy, with no space for other kitchen appliances and activities.
5. Make a Ranking of Each Home You Check Out
After you must have checked a couple of houses out, rank each of them according to how well they meet your set standard. Compare the features contained in each of the houses against your “must-have” list. At the end of this, you should be able to see one that meets almost, if not all, of your requirements. With these tips and pre-set priorities, you’d realize that acquiring a new home isn’t as complicated and stressful as told. As an investment buying a home is, endeavor to stick to your plan, “must-have” list, and budget, and you will end up on the right side of owning a home.
