Last year I invested in my very first home after renting apartments for over 10 years. I rented for so long because of the nature of my job and the fact that I simply didn’t have enough money to put down on the kind of home that I wanted. Finally however, I was able to buy a property in Miami which suited my needs. The property I bought was constructed by the Terra Group, a company who’s name regularly cropped up when I was searching for well built housing and part of the reason of this was because of the way that this firm builds communities and neighborhoods, rather than just buildings. The house buying process took me some time and I want to share with you some considerations which you need to make if you plan on buying a new home.
Budget
The biggest question of all is how much money you have to put into your new home, and if you need to borrow money, how much will you require. This is really important as it is not just the cash to buy the property that you will need, but also the money to pay for fees and services, solicitors and of course, furnishing and decorating the house once you are in. After the financial crash in 2008, many more lenders have stricter regulations and require higher deposits before lending mortgages and you need to ensure that you are in a strong financial position.
Future
When thinking about your needs for a new home, you need to try and think about not only what you require in a home right now, but also what kind of home you will need in the coming years. For example, my wide and I already know that we plan to have kids in the near-future and we were looking to invest in something that would become a family home, this meant more space, and more rooms. Thinking about the future is not always easy but it is worth doing before you select a home.
Community
I am often surprised at how few of my friends did their research into the surrounding area of their chosen home and for me this is a really important consideration. Make sure that you check out things like schools, transport, crime stats and community involvement in your chosen area before you put a bid in. Part of owning a home is being part of the community and you should incorporate this into your thinking when choosing a home.
Re-Sale
I am always thinking financially and so one of the most important things that I had to think about when buying my home was how much it may appreciate over the years. the things that will generally dictate this are the game of your home and the area which you are living in, in terms of whether it is growing. You may not want to think about selling your home before you have bought it, but I think that it is an important consideration to make.