7 Vitally Important Ways to Know You’ve Found the Right House

Finding the perfect home can be the biggest adventure of your life. You’re not just choosing a new property to live in, you’re choosing the life you want to live. Knowing how to choose a house, and whether a property is right for you, comes down to a mix of practical and emotional elements.

Whether it’s your first condo or your forever family home, there are so many things to consider other than the physical properties of a house.

How to Choose a House

There are a few steps to take when you’re looking for a house to buy if you want to make sure you’re getting the best property for your needs.

Set Your Budget

Before you look for any property it’s essential to know what you can realistically afford.

Add up your savings, the proceeds from your current house if you’re selling to upgrade, and work out your monthly expenditure. Create a monthly budget for all of your income and expenses to see what’s left over. This is the maximum you could spend on a mortgage repayment every month.

Decide on Essential Must-Haves

Are you planning on having more children? Do you want to make money from renting out rooms on Air BnB? Do you need an office to work from home?

Make a list of your essential property requirements that it must have. This will restrict your search to only the most suitable properties for your new home, saving you time.

List Non-Essentials You’d Compromise

Would you like a hot tub but don’t have to have one? Perhaps you’re imagining a games room that would be a great hideaway space from the kids.

Work out what you’d like to see in a property, but could do without having if you needed. This will prevent you from restricting your search too much, to help your chances of finding the perfect home.

The non-essentials list will also help you to visualize potential investments such as building extensions on a property. For example, a house might not already have a fully equipped cinema room, but is there space to build one in the future?

Create a Search Area

Limit your search area to within a realistic commute of your work commitments. You spend more time at work than with your family and friends every week, so it’s important to maximize your time outside of work by having a short commute.

Also, consider what you need from your new area. Do you need to be near shops? Would you like to have nearby neighbours or plenty of space? Must there be a local school?

Contact Real Estate Agents in the Area

When you’ve decided on your budget, location, and property requirements, it’s time to call in an expert. A good real estate agent will learn all about what you need from a property, to make sure you’re only viewing strong potentials and not wasting time on irrelevant properties.

Seven Signs You Should Buy a House

When you’re on your house search, there are a few top signs that you’ve found The One.

The Location is Ideal

The local area has everything (or almost everything) that you need. You’re going to be living close to your work, and it’s easy to visit your friends and family.

Once all of those boxes are ticked, think about how the area makes you feel. Take time to walk around the neighbourhood. Do you feel safe? Is it friendly? Could you imagine this being your hometown?

It Has the Perfect Number of Bedrooms

Or the essential office space you need, or the master bath with dual vanities you’ve always dreamed of. If this property ticks all of the boxes on your must-have list, it’s likely it could be the home for you.

You may also find that a home doesn’t quite fit everything on your essentials list but you’re imagining how you could adapt the property to make it work for you. This is a really strong sign that you can see yourself living there and that you love the house!

The Exterior Space Suits Your Needs

Whether you need one parking space or five acres for your alpaca herd, the exterior space is just as important as the interior.

If your potential property has the secure parking you’re looking for, or a fenced meadow, or room to build a summerhouse, it’s going to become your next home.

It Needs No Renovation (Or Is the Project House You’ve Been Looking for)

If you’re looking for a house that you can move straight into without lots of work make sure your property doesn’t need any major renovations.

Structural requirements aren’t always easy to spot at first so a home inspection might be required. This is particularly important if you’re spending your maximum budget on the property, as you won’t have any spare cash to do up the house.

On the other hand, if you’ve always dreamed of taking a house back to the bare bones and building it back up again, make sure that your investment would pay off. Could you add value to the house with renovations? If that’s your dream and there’s work to do, you’ve found your ideal next home.

You Use It to Compare Other Homes Against

Have you looked at other properties and always used this one as a yardstick to measure against? If you’ve found yourself saying, “Sure, it’s got three bedrooms but it doesn’t have that feature fireplace of the other place”, then you know you’ve already got your heart set on the house.

You’re Already Planning the Furniture and Decor

Did you walk into the house and say, “The sofa would be perfect on this side, and we could put the dining table here”?

You’re already imagining yourself living there.

If you already know what colour you want to paint the bathroom, and exactly where your decorative dresser would fit perfectly, then it’s a no-brainer. This house should be yours!

You Want to Tell People About It

If you get the urge to call your parents, siblings, or best friend and tell them about this house, that’s a strong sign you should buy it.

Getting so excited about what a house has to offer that you feel compelled to tell others about it shows that you can sense that it’s the right property for you.

Start Your Property Search Today

Now you know how to choose a house, and the key signs that tell you a property is destined to be yours, it’s time to call an expert.

Find a real estate agent near you today to start your exciting search for a new