Your New Home Looks Like?
Building a checklist of your dream home.
Dreaming about buying a home and imagining your perfect home. If you could have everything you wanted in your new home then you would have to have given your dream home some staples.
You may not have it down to all the fine detail (although I have experienced buyers with very thorough wish lists) but you would have considered your ‘must have’, ‘want’ ‘would be nice’ and ‘don’t want’.
Buying a home involves some compromise. If there are 10 points on your checklist and a home has 8 then that is a high score. If it only has 3 then does the good outweigh the not so good or the bad?
Checklists
Make a checklist.
Divide the list into:
Must have (you won’t buy the house if it doesn’t have …..)
Want (you really want your new home to have this, it’s part of why you want to move….)
Would like (if your new home has this feature then you would be really happy but if it doesn’t you can accept that)
Will not buy if it has …..
In a perfect house and a perfect budget (you want this but acknowledge it is probably going to be out of your price range)
Explore the homes on the market, even looking on internet portals helps. Are there any homes that have sold that would have met your Must Have Checklist?
Remember to check out the floorplans. Is there scope to improve or change? Or will you need to extend? If you will need to extend then this is a whole new subject. Basically, the money and time (council, plans, landscaping etc etc etc) may bump you into a higher price bracket.
Take your checklist with you. Agents may roll their eyes (I may also have done this in the past) but it is YOUR money.
You may miss out on a few houses as you work through your lists however this is good. This is research and market familiarisation. You will get to know what is out there, what you like, what you don’t and importantly, you will get a better understanding of agents and how they work.
Your checklist will change. Be prepared for this.
We wanted a view – little realising that a view usually meant a steep block. We both grew up in the Hills and a steep block was on our DO NOT WANT list. Compromise. Flattish (we live on a mountain after all), filtered views and a dump of a house. Ecstatic when we got to put the SOLD sticker on.
