Final Four for Home Buyers

When it comes to basketball, we only have 64 teams to narrow down into our Final Four to fill our brackets. When it comes to buying our first home, we have endless options and dozens of choices to consider, but when it all comes down to it, there are just a handful of things that are really important to new homeowners:

• Affordability
• Livability
• Accessibility
• Sociability

Affordability

Once you’ve bought your new home it’s too late to really consider if you can afford it. With a house, the bottom line of the sales contract is not the bottom line of expenses. In addition to Principle, interest, taxes and mortgage insurance, you’ll need homeowner’s insurance (not the same as mortgage insurance, which only insures the bank, not you), landscaping (or, if you’re doing it yourself you’ll need all that equipment), down payments on utilities, travel expense if you’re further away from your workplace and money to set aside for maintenance. If you’re planning on making any improvements, you’ll need to set aside money for that too. So, when you’re planning on purchasing a home, don’t forget to add in all the other costs to live in it once you get it.

Livability

Buying a home, whether a resale or custom built property, there are a lot of options to consider. For example, numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms, garage space and even the layout of the kitchen. If you don’t know how you or your family lives in a space, you may end up with a beautiful home that doesn’t exactly fit your living style.

In fact, you’ll find lots of stories about people that bought new homes only to find out that their current furniture didn’t fit. Talk about a new expense! But when you can see your furniture in the room, and start making decisions about where to place items before you’ve even made an offer, you’re probably on the right track.

Some people move to popular neighborhoods because it seems like a good investment, only to discover that none of their friends live nearby and rules of the association make some new homeowners feel constricted. Others move to the countryside, with panoramic skyline views only to discover that they’d rather be in a more central walk-able location. Real estate is an investment but also a lifestyle choice that will play a big role in your future!

Accessibility

If you don’t travel to and from your potential new home during rush hours, weekends and other potential traffic times, you won’t know how accessible it will be for you and your family. A lovely home that your family enjoys while you commute 60+ minutes each way to work may not be the perfect choice for you. Additionally, if you’re planning to live in the home for many years to come, try to envision how you will see yourself living 5,10, or 15 years down the road in the home. Ask questions about expanding or working within the space of a potential home to accommodate kids, animals, house guests, etc.

Sociability

Living out of beyond the main drag can seem like a dream (and for many people it is a perfect location), but if you like to go out in the evenings or walk over to meet friends at a nearby pub, you’ll find it hard going living a distance from your local haunts.

As a real estate professional, the journey I get to take with a 1st time home buyer is an exciting one! I play the role of a coach who is there to answer questions and guide the buyers (players) in they’re decision. Once we’ve narrowed down that search to a final four, the buyer then gets to choose the winning home for them!