Family House Hunting: 5 Essential Things to Consider

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When you and your partner are still a couple with no kids, the place you live in may seem enough for the two of you. However, once you decide to expand your family, everything changes. Apartment living doesn’t seem that exciting anymore, and you start to feel the need for more space. You may start thinking about buying a family home that will accommodate everyone. However, finding one can be a bit tricky. It’s one of the biggest purchases many of us will make, so it pays to take things slow. Aside from a number of factors you need to keep in mind, you also need to think in advance because this might be the house you’ll want to grow old in. To help you out, we’ve gathered a list of five essential things you need to consider when you’re hunting for that perfect family house – let’s take a look.

The features you’re looking for

Before you start searching for your dream home, you want to put together a list of features you and your spouse are looking for in a house. After you’re done, compare your wish lists and try to determine which features are must-haves and which ones are nice-to-haves. For example, you may have had a dream of owning a large house with a spacious backyard, but your partner may prefer something smaller with just enough space where they can fit in a garden or an outdoor kitchen. Nevertheless, you want to find something that pleases both sides, so agree on the features you’re looking for prior to showing up at open houses.

The house’s style

While the aesthetics of the house are important, the way a house looks shouldn’t be your top priority. Even if there are some smaller cosmetic issues, they’re usually easy and inexpensive to fix. What you can’t change as easily, however, is the style of the house. Be it a single-family home, a condo, or a townhouse, decide on the style first. Select something that fits your lifestyle as well as your personality. Finding a good house plan is priceless in these situations. Besides, that bold red wall in the living room can easily be painted over in a matter of hours.

Your new home’s location

The location of the house also plays a major role in the decision-making process. For example, if you’re planning to move to Australia or already live there and simply want to get away from the noise of city life, you should check out real estate house and land packages in Austral. Located just a couple of minutes from the city center, Austral is a suburb of Sydney that is on the rise thanks to its proximity to schools, hospitals, aged care homes, and shopping centers, which makes it especially attractive to families with both school-age children and older members of the family. Before making the decision, think about the needs of your family and consider contacting an agent who can help you narrow down your choices.

Your future plans

What many home buyers do is they make this big financial decision based solely on where they are in life at the moment. The thing is, buying a house is a huge commitment, one that requires thinking long-term and considering changes we might go through in the future. Maybe you and your spouse feel content with just one child right now, but what if you decide to have another child? Or, what if you need to change jobs? You need to find a home that will suit your needs and your lifestyle now and also be in line with your plans for the future, so keep that in mind as well.

Your budget

After seeing a couple of houses, you and your spouse may be blown away by the features, size, or location of shown houses that you might start to feel like you should spend more. However, budgets are there for a reason, and the sole purpose of one is to come up with a solution that will please everybody while buying a home you can afford. This is especially important if you are a first-time home buyer who has other debts waiting to be paid off, such as student loan debts.

Given how buying real estate is a long-term investment, it’s no wonder that making a purchase as big as this may seem daunting to many of us.

Whether you’re on the lookout for a house in the suburbs or a big modern loft in the urban area, we’re all hoping to find a house that looks and feels like it was made specifically for us and our family. Therefore, don’t be afraid of being labeled as picky or ‘hard to please’. After all, this is where you’ll be spending a big chunk of your life with your family, and probably even welcome your golden years, so you might as well hold out until you find a house that really feels like a home to you.

About the Author

Chloe is a journalist from Adelaide and a regular contributor to Smooth Decorator. She loves everything related to decor, aesthetic and lifestyle topics. She is also passionate about photography. Her biggest dream is to travel the whole world and take some stunning photographs of beautiful places. Beside all this, she enjoys drinking coffee and reading a beautiful book from time to time.

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