In a recent study, homeowners listed moving house as one of the most stressful life experiences – ranking it above divorce, starting a new job and even having a baby. There are various reasons for this, whether you’re navigating the complexities of buying your first home and trying to wrap your head around contracts or working to ensure you make a profit when putting your house on sale.
Photo by Aubrey Odom-Mabey on Unsplash
However, the whole process is worthwhile if you can move into your dream home! With that in mind, here are some top tips that you can use to find your dream home sooner rather than later.
- Consider the merits of buying vs renting. There are many different avenues to consider when moving home, such as whether to purchase a property or rent one. While there are merits to both, it’s essential to consider what stage of your life you are in when moving. For example, if you’re moving to a busy city for work, is this the area where you’ll eventually want to settle down? If not, it may be worthwhile to look into luxury Apartments in the area that are available to rent instead.
- Understand your budget. Another critical factor to consider when moving home is your budget. After all, it’s important to remember that once you’ve paid mortgage fees/rent, you also have to cover bills such as amenities and groceries. The moving process itself can also get expensive, especially if you need to hire moving vans or enlist the help of a realtor. As such, having an understanding of exactly how much money you have to play around with is important. This will stop you from overspending or landing in a difficult situation further down the line. Furthemore, it is entirely possible to live lavishly on a budget; you simply have to be more mindful of where your money is actually going.
- Have a vision in mind of what you’d like. Having a realistic vision for your dream home is vital unless you want to view thousands upon thousands of properties. Whether you’re searching yourself or working with a realtor, understanding what you are looking for (apartment vs family home etc.) will save you a great deal of time, effort and money. When consolidating your vision, think about the non-negotiables (i.e., the features you need in your home). For example, if you’re raising a growing family, a non-negotiable could be the number of bedrooms you require.
- Be prepared to make some allowances. Unless you’re building a property from the ground up, it’s unlikely that you’ll stumble upon your ‘dream home’ organically. That is, you must be willing to make some allowances in your quest for perfection. For example, if a property is in the right location but looks a little worse for wear, you could always carry out some renovations to bring the space up to scratch. You’d be surprised how much choosing the right wallpaper, changing the colour scheme or simply finding some fashionable home decor can transform the space.
