House hunting for that perfect home can be both really exciting and pretty unpleasant. After all, house hunting can be a complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating process. This doesn’t mean there aren’t things that you can do to find a home that you and your family will one-day call home. Consider the following questions before you officially start your “house hunt” and you’ll end up totally ready to find your perfect home.
How To Find Your
Perfect Home
What Do You Need & Want In Your Home?
What someone needs in a home and what someone wants in a home are usually two very different lists.
When you start to look at homes for sale, it can be all too easy to fall into the habit of only thinking about the things that you want.
If you or a loved one has a disability or any physical ailments, you need to account for that when stacking up your lists against the real ‘spec sheet’ of a potential house.
Now that you’re being realistic with your needs, it’s time to get real about what you want in a home.
For instance, your ‘wish list’ may include a pool, master suite with a hot tub and a walk-in pantry in the kitchen.
Two things to think about; first, you need to consider your budget and whether you can realistically afford what’s on your wish list.
The second consideration and this one is really important, imagine everything on your wish list coming to fruition in a much cheaper house (after a renovation).
We’ve all seen Property Brothers, right? If not, you need to check it out. You’ll soon be able to see the incredible potential in a house that looks like it’s falling apart!
Don’t Forget That Home Office!
This is something that I see a lot… When people begin ‘the hunt’, they don’t have their home office on their wish list. They think that they’ll figure it out once they move in or end up in whatever spare room is leftover.
Not only is this a recipe for not getting something that you want AND need but you’re treating your home-based business like it’s not important enough to be considered for its own space. As mentioned in the post linked above, you want to find a space that’s both relaxing and inspiring.
With not one but two considerations to make with your home office in mind, it makes sense that you look for a specific room for this very important space. Perhaps you want to start your day facing east so you can watch the sunrise early, then bathe in natural sunlight the rest of the morning. You’ll likely be spending a lot of time in your home office so you should absolutely make sure that it’s a space you enjoy being in.
What’s Your Budget?
A home is probably the most expensive item you will purchase in your lifetime. So it’s essential that you know exactly what your budget is from Day 1.
Creating a budget will actually depend on a couple of things, starting with how much you have saved for a deposit.
When you apply for a loan on the rest of the money, the bank will base its interest fee on your credit score and what you’ve offered up for a down payment.
The initial deposit or down payment is often the biggest hurdle for a lot of people. It’s a good idea to start saving early so that you definitely have the money you need when the time comes.
The truth is that moving is never going a simple or easy process. In fact, ‘moving’ is on the same list as ‘death’ and ‘divorce’, under “traumatic experiences that you’ll inevitably deal with in your lifetime”… so definitely go easy on yourself and start way earlier than you think you need to.
If you try to rush through it without any thought to the outcome, it’s just going to result in your needing to go move again at some point.
You’ll have to go through the entire process over again in the years ahead. It’s always better to put in the time and effort to find a home that you’ll truly love while taking the time to properly ‘mourn’ the last one.
Jessica Rose Adams
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