Crucial Factors to Consider Before You Buy a Home

In Family, Tips & Advice by JennaLeave a Comment

Purchasing a property is a significant milestone in your life. Taking your first steps towards homeownership can be equally thrilling and terrifying, and you may feel anxious that you are making the right choice. Before you commit to buying a property, it is essential to make sure that you enter into the process with your eyes open. Buying a home is most likely to be the biggest commitment that you ever make, as well as being your most expensive purchase. Therefore, it makes sense to do everything that you can to make an informed decision. Here are some of the factors to consider to help you make the best decisions when purchasing a property:

Property Prices and Affordability

Understanding how much you can comfortably spend on your property is your first step to finding your new home. While having an unlimited budget would be amazing, unfortunately, not many people are lucky enough to buy a house outright without worrying about the cost. 

It is advisable to find out how much you can borrow before you even begin looking at potential properties. Finding a home that you love and then later finding out that you cannot afford it can be hugely disappointing, and you may struggle to find something that you like as much within your budget. Knowing how much money you have to play with from the start will help you to focus your search on finding your perfect home within your budget.

Affordability is the primary consideration when shopping for a mortgage for your new home. Using a mortgage calculation tool will help you assess the amount you could expect to repay each month. Once you know the amount, you can work out whether you feel this is affordable for you alongside your other financial commitments.

Long Term or Short Term Home?

Do you have plans for the next few years? If you have planned out your life for the foreseeable future in terms of your career and achievements, then you will need to see how your plans to buy a home fit in with this. If you plan to have kids in the near future, or you want to travel the world for a year at some point, you will need to keep this in mind when choosing a property. If you plan on starting a family, you probably want to look for a home that has multiple bedrooms. If you are happy to buy a home now and then re-sell it in a couple of years, you may want to proceed with purchasing a smaller property. However, it is always worth considering how buying a home will fit in with your plans over the next few years.

Location

Location is such a crucial consideration for your house purchase as it is one element of your home that you cannot change. Your perfect location could be influenced by several factors, such as how far you are prepared to travel to work, whether you want to be close to restaurants, bars, and shops, as well as property prices in the area.

Weighing up which of these factors matters most to you is an excellent way to settle on a perfect location.

Property Size

Property size is likely to be one of your most important criteria for your home search. Choosing a property with the space that you need will ensure that you can live comfortably in your new home. Purchasing a property that is too small for your needs can impact on your enjoyment of your home, and you may find that you outgrow it quickly and will soon be searching for a larger property.

Perfect Home or Fixer-Upper?

Buying a property that needs refurbishment is an excellent way to purchase a home that you may not otherwise afford. Many people find that buying a fixer-upper allows them to move to neighborhoods that would otherwise be out of their price bracket. Before you take on a fixer-upper, you need to decide whether you want to take on a project and whether you are happy to spend your spare time (and money) fixing up your new home. If the idea of spending weekends working on DIY projects fills you with dread, then a fixer-upper may not be the best option for you. But, if you are someone that loves a challenge and enjoys DIY, purchasing a run-down property and remodeling it could be the perfect way for you to buy a home you would typically not be able to afford.

 

Meet the Author | Jenna


Jenna Greenspoon is a mom & stepmom to 4 kids between the ages of 8 and 13. She loves staying up to date on all things kids and makes sure she is on point with the latest childhood trends! She is the owner of Savvy Sassy Moms and manages a team of creative contributors that work hard to keep moms up to date on the latest trends. Jenna loves social media and works on a variety of social media campaigns with brands big and small. Connect with Savvy Sassy Moms on Instagram

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