Buying a new house can be a daunting experience and one needs to make the right decisions to maximize the outcome of the same. Here are a few steps you can follow to make your home-buying process efficient and effective.
- What kind of living space suits your needs?
You can invest in a traditional family villa or an apartment. While both options come with its pros and cons, this choice is mostly determined by the purchase price of the property and the buyer’s affordability.
Individual homes give buyers a higher level of comfort, ability to renovate & expand whenever required and a sense of individuality. An apartment on the other hand comes with the advantage of the security, access to innumerable amenities, better neighbourhood and involvement in clubs or social circles.
- How to find a home or someone to guide you through the purchase?
Make sure to take advantage of all the available options for finding homes on the market. Including using your real estate agent, searching for listings online and driving around the neighbourhoods that interest you. This will give you a sense of the housing trends in specific areas.
Although, not usually recommended a good real estate agent’s expertise can protect you from any pitfalls you might encounter during the process.
- What specific features should your home have?
Home buying is usually the biggest purchase one makes amongst their list of purchases, since it relates to the place of ones ultimate residence and living space.
Therefore looking out for the availability of basic amenities must be a priority. Everyone deserves to have a purchase that fits both their needs and wants as closely as possible. Make sure your list includes basic desires, like neighbourhood and size all the way down to smaller details like bathroom layout and a kitchen that comes with trust-worthy appliances.
An apartment with many floors would require an elevator for easy commuting, car park space to avoid congestion etc. Amenities like a garden area, swimming pool are extra additives and not completely necessary to facilitate your basic living.
- Do you need to decide funding in advance?
Yes, the best way to start home buying is to get pre qualified for a mortgage/loan. Therefore, before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you can actually spend.
In order to acquire an idea about your mortgage amount, you will have to collate all the necessary documents, proofs and get an understanding of how much savings can actually go in as payments.
This way you will get an understanding of the price range of the homes you should be looking at and the duration of the mortgage you can apply for.