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If you’re considering being a homeowner, there are several factors like budget and location that’d affect your choices. It would help if you did careful research and assessment of your dream house to avoid spending over your budget or, worse, buying a troubled home. By the end of this article, you’ll have the essential tools that’ll guide you in making the right choice while buying your dream home.
Before anything else, it’s crucial to know the value of the house you have your eye on. One fundamental way to determine the house’s value is by knowing its size – essentially how many square feet it occupies.
It’s not often that home sellers disclose this information. However, there are practical means to accurately measure the square footage, like checking county records of the property.
With the myriad of information bombarding potential homeowners, you might likely make the wrong choices that cost you money in the long haul. Ergo, before embarking on homeownership, it’s vital that you unlearn common homeownership myths, re-learn and learn helpful information that’ll allow you to make informed decisions.
Block out anything tips or advice you’ve heard and consider the below insights for your ideal home;
Lower Your Expectations
Frankly, most houses aren’t ideal, and you’re almost sure you won’t find one that ticks off all your boxes. Having expectations will limit your judgment, making you miss out on a valuable house to boot. Hence, it’s important to go at it with an open mind to avoid disappointments.
There are standard expectations like a spacious bathroom with working faucets and high expectations like a remodeled contemporary house that costs bizarrely less. The former is easily obtainable, while the latter would take a miracle, making it an unattainable expectation.
Of course, you’ll want to put a personal touch in your new house for a homely feel. However, you’ll be inclined to make erroneous purchasing decisions if you have stark expectations. That’s why it’d befit you to have flexible projections that’ll allow you to see potential houses for their value instead of what they could’ve been.
Funny enough, there’s always that 1% of homeowners who find precisely what they want at their desired budget. But, it’d be risky to rely on a fluke than to look for homes that fit some of your home wishes.
When you buy a less-than-expected house, the worst-case scenario is you’ll do a few remodeling and renovations –which is what you’d have done on any other home. When you think about it, you’ll gain more by having realistic expectations because eventually, you’ll want something different from what is.
Stay Within Budget
It’s easy to go over your set budget, especially when you find a home that doesn’t pull any stops in giving off a luxuriant and modern feel. If you’re not careful, you’ll take the plunge and buy an expensive house that might siphon all your savings.
Staying within budget is essential because expenses will not stop coming after the purchase. You’ll need to consider remodeling, repair, and maintenance expenses, among other imminent costs. Besides, overshooting your budget means you won’t have enough money to facilitate your move, like hiring a moving company.
On the other hand, having a pre-approved mortgage allows you to stay within budget because you’ll be shopping for houses within your price range. Moreover, a seller cannot sell you their home if your pre-approved mortgage letter is incompatible with the house’s price.
It’d be best to make your financial decisions based on the house’s value, so you don’t get carried away with mere factors like the paint choice or ceiling design. Furthermore, you’ll avoid debts and maintain a good credit score for your mortgage.
A Home Inspector Is Your Friend
Like an estate sale, you need a home inspector who’ll accurately value your potential home to avoid overspending. Suppose you bought a house at a far higher value than it’s worth and only came to know about it years later.
It’d be infuriating to realize a couple of dollars into a home inspector could’ve saved you from this wrong financial decision.
For this reason, it’d be best to do an early inspection so you can make timely educated decisions about the right house.
Another reason to hire a home inspector is they’re skilled to identify problems you’d likely overlook. One thing that significantly increases the costs of a new house is issues like electrical and roofing that you inadvertently buy with the house.
So, if you decide to buy a home without prior inspection, bear in mind that you might dig deeper in your pockets to fix some problems.
Please avoid buying a problematic house by hiring a non-biased home inspector that’ll highlight covert issues and prevent you from making costly decisions.
Too Spacious or Just Enough
Buying a home or taking a mortgage is a daunting and exciting adventure that requires determination and wit. Remember, not everything that glitters is gold, so the mere fact that a house offers somewhat unattainable aspects like bigger spaces doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you.
Before going house hunting, you should know what you need– this will eliminate temptations and allow you only to consider houses suitable for you. Sure, space is essential, but too much space is not always a good thing for several reasons.
Firstly, a big house with a small family will feel forlorn and eventually you’ll want to sell it for a smaller home. Secondly, it’s costly to maintain a big house, primarily if your family only uses a small section of it.
What you need to do is hunt for houses with the right number of rooms that’ll fit your family. Also, consider an extra room or two for essential uses like a study room, pantry or guest room. Besides, this is an effective way to avoid future remodeling to install additional rooms.
Consider a House With Less Future Remodeling
An ideal house means something different for every potential homeowner. Therefore, expect minor or significant remodeling depending on the house’s current state and appeal.
However, this doesn’t mean you cannot find a place that closely resembles your ideal home; in fact, you might find one that requires a few fix-ups like lighting.
New homeowners love to remodel their houses to fit their style and add a bit of comfort. While it’s a wise decision, it could be unnecessarily expensive when you buy a home that’ll need a lot of remodeling.
It’d be helpful to consider a house that falls within your profile to allow you to do minimal remodeling. You’ll not only spend less money but use existing structures to manipulate rooms for a quick transition. Interestingly, you’ll save a portion of sleeper money by doing minor remodeling.
By contrast, you can buy a house for its value rather than its current condition then do thorough remodeling to turn it into your perfect home. This may cost you more money, but on the bright side, the house’s value will go up, and you can resell it for much more in the future.
Lastly, the last thing you want is to tear down everything – it’d actually be better to build a house from scratch. You can elude this decision by looking at homes with potential livability and functional rooms that require less to no remodeling. This way, you buy time to remodel when you have adequate money.
A Good Neighborhood Is an Ideal Home
The ideal neighbourhood means different things for various people. Nevertheless, every homeowner would love to have aspects in their potential communities—for instance, security and safety.
You want a safe place you can call home, a place where your family can visit without safety concerns like theft and burglary.
Additionally, if you have a family, you’ll want them to be able to go outside, socialize with neighbours, and indulge in leisure like cookouts without security concerns.
Your kids will need to play out and occasionally go for sleepovers at your neighbours’, which would be achievable in a safe and secure neighbourhood.
Another factor that makes up an ideal neighbourhood is its location, particularly if you have kids. It’d be best to consider an area with an easy commute to schools, recreational facilities, and libraries.
Remember, you may need to take regular trips to convenience stores, pharmacies, and other essential places, and the commute will notably affect the duration of your travels.
Ergo, look for a neighbourhood with accessible terrain that’ll make drives easy. Also, consider those with proximity to town so you can quickly drive to and from essential places.
Whatever you desire in a neighbourhood, you need neighbours who fit your profile for good relations and a happy environment. You can assess the neighbourhood’s compatibility by chatting to neighbours and visiting public areas like restaurants to gauge the community’s ambiance.
If you want to make the right choice, go with your instincts. Usually, the neighbourhood’s impression will tell you all you need to know about the neighbours.
The right way to get into homeownership is to make a list of everything you need in a new house. From the number of rooms, you need external factors like the neighbourhood. Moreover, the above pointers help determine what you can afford, so you focus more on potential houses that fit your goals.
