Buying a new home is probably the largest financial commitment anyone makes in their life. It stands to reason, then, that people want the home to provide as much benefit as possible. When you purchase your home make sure that it benefits you both personally and financially in the long term.
It’s a very good idea to write down what you are looking for when buying a new home. It will help tremendously to have this list when you go house hunting. All too often when people go searching for their new home, excitement overtakes their sensibilities and the buyers end up with a home that is short on what is really important to their family needs. With a list, at least you can keep track of the pros and cons of each home that you visit.
Another good idea is to ask your friends and family ideas of what you should be looking for in a new home. Something as simple as the air filtration system can end up costing you a lot of money if not included in your list. For example, if the house has separation air units for each room, as opposed to central air, you could end up fixing a lot of small systems, rather than one central system that may have a better unit.
Bonus rooms are often overlooked because generally people tend to seek out bedrooms and bathrooms. A room is considered a “bedroom” if it has a closet. In many cases, some of the bonus rooms can be converted to a “bedroom” by a simple addition of a small closet. This will tremendously help the resale value of your home when you go to sell. When buying a new home, many buyers do not tend to look at bonus rooms as an extra bedroom sometime in the future.
What about the dining room? You should think about how often you will entertain and have family and friends over. In many cases, people tend to think of their immediate family needs only. Then when a special holiday comes and more people show up then you can ever imagine things get a little stressful and crazy.
It’s not a bad idea to create a spreadsheet template for your house hunting needs. For example, you can list on the left side all of the features you want your new home to have. At the top, list out each property that you’ll be visiting. And, check off each item as you go along. It will be so much simpler than to try to remember all of these features at the end of the day.
Another question to ask yourself is do you want a fixer upper or one that has already been renovated. This is an important question that should be asked BEFORE house hunting. Of course fixer uppers will generally be a lot less expensive than homes that have already been renovated. But, by how much is the question? And, can you afford the higher price for a house that’s already been renovated?
There are hundreds of more tips in my book that I share in my book House Buyers Boot Camp. These secrets include information that some people don’t want you to know.