Money Matters

What To Look For In A New Home

In 2015, 5,250,000 existing homes were sold in the US. A further 510,000 newly constructed homes were sold in the same year. That is nearly six million properties. If you are currently looking to buy, you have a lot of choices, and one of the most difficult things is narrowing it down to the exact one or two that are perfect for you. Of those nearly six million, many may be out of your price range, so the number is reduced already. You may also need a particular type of property. If you are raising a family, a small, one bedroom apartment in the chicest, busiest part of town is probably not what you’re looking for. You may also have a particular part of the country that you are interested in. That reduces the number a great deal. However, in a major city, there are still going to be thousands of potential properties that fit the basic criteria of your search. What you need to do next is add more conditions to your search to the refine the results to a greater degree. If you have children, you will obviously want to think about the quality of local schools and more generally, looking into crime rates is not a bad idea. However, there are so many more metrics you can use to find the exact place that is right for you. Here are a few that you may want to consider in your search:

Reading local news reports about the area in which you would like to live is a good start, but to get a better sense of exactly what is going on there, you may want to look into whether there are any ongoing or future municipal engineering projects planned (such as any of the following listed at: Cochraneng.com/our-services/civil-municipal-engineering/municipal-engineering/). If the local or national government is investing money in the area, house prices may have already started to rise, but if you invest before the projects are complete, you could find that in a few years, the value of your property is much more than you paid for it at first. Redevelopment works, and it can completely change the character of an area.

 

Every prospective homeowner should invest money in conducting their own private survey of the property. This will tell you whether the seller is trying to conceal any potentially nasty surprises and whether you will have to pay for repairs once the house is yours. However, besides assessing the structural soundness of the house itself, you need to consider the more subtle things too. How is the water pressure, for instance? If the shower is not strong enough, it can be truly annoying. Does the heating/air conditioning system work? You may view a house on a hot, sunny day, but knowing what it will be like on the cold, miserable ones is just as important. The details are crucial, because after all, you will be living there. It needs to be perfect.
Lastly, do not rush into any decision. If you love the house, but the price is not right, do not buy it. There are so many houses out there that you will find another one that you love. Buying a home is often an emotional decision but it should be taken rationally.

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