Deciding to buy a house is exciting! The thrill of the chase can start but ou need to get planning if you want to be efficient about it and find the right house for you.
You need to assess your lifestyle and your intended lifestyle when you move, where you want to move to and what budget you have.
What do I mean by lifestyle? It’s how you live your life now. If you spend all your time in the kitchen round the table then is this something you think is essential, or does it reflect that the nicest room in your current house is the kitchen? Do you rent at the moment and house share? Going from a shared house to a rented place probably means having somewhere smaller. Do you love to cook? Do you love to entertain? Do you like open plan spaces or do you like rooms with doors you can separate out each bit of your life? Do you need a couple of bedrooms or just one? Do you have a family who come to stay and will need space? How much stuff is in your garage? What hobbies do you have? Do you need off road parking? Do you want to move to the countryside? Do you want to move to a town? Do you want to move area? Are you moving for work? Do you know the area you want to go to?
There are so many questions to ask your self that it might seem daunting. Jot down a few ideas now to start the ball rolling. You might want a minimum of two bedrooms with parking and a garden. You might want open plan living and a large garden. It’s your chance now to say what it is you want. If you start a house buying diary then you can keep notes on how you’re doing and whether you discover what you want actually changes when you start looking at houses.
If it’s the first house you’ll be buying then you’re best having some help and advice. I’m here if you want someone to help you research or find answers to questions, plus I’m impartial and might be able to offer you some help that your friends might not want to say!
It’s good if you have someone who’s helpful to view houses with. Someone who’ll look past the décor and notice if the rewiring has been done or if the gutters are leaking or the roof needs work. Having someone with a good eye look over the property doesn’t mean you don’t need a survey but it might stop you wasting time and energy on a lemon of a property!
There are so many tools on the internet that can help you when you’re looking for a house to buy that you can do lots of research without even viewing a house! Being prepared for your first viewing is essential and I’ll be writing about that separately to ensure you know exactly what to expect!