Important Decisions to Make When Buying a New Home

Many of your decisions will depend upon how much money you have allocated towards a new house, what area you want to live in, whether you are a first time buyer or are downsizing, have children, need to be near an elementary school, the freeway, your job, transportation, or want a yard or no yard.

House buying is not a decision to be made lightly. It is one of the most expensive outlays you will ever make. And where you live can have a huge impact on other aspects of your life as well. If you spend more than you can comfortably afford, you will constantly be broke and won't be able to afford other things you may want to do. If you have children, you will want to be near schools otherwise getting them to and from school will become an onerous task. Having to drive an hour or more to and from work will lose its appeal even if you love the acre you're on - you won't have time to keep it up. So, as we've always heard, location is a very important component to consider when buying a new home.

Other important things to consider are whether the inside layout of the house is functional for your family. Where are the extra bedrooms in relationship to the master bedroom? This may be important if there are small children. Is there a bathroom on each floor? The accessibility of bathrooms is important with young children especially. Where is the laundry? The kitchen will be important to most women and especially if entertaining is an important aspect of your lifestyle.

Many of the newer homes have the combination kitchen/living room called a great room. But this may not work, depending on the size it is, if the family is large or if there are large groups entertained. A formal dining room may also be something that is considered important.

When looking at houses it is very easy to be swayed by a nicely 'dressed' home. One couple I know bought a house because they fell in love with the beautiful garden. It wasn't until the following year when they realized that the lovely flowers had been annuals and would have to be planted again in order to get their beautiful garden back. Unfortunately, they were not dedicated gardeners. Another couple bought a home they were impressed with and didn't realize that what they had admired was the lovely art work on the walls but the kitchen, which had originally been their number one priority, was sadly lacking. And still another couple became entranced with the idea of a ravine in their back yard with nature as their neighbor until they had raccoons in their attic, raccoons under their solarium and the same little beasts destroying their pond.

The safest thing to do when heading out on a house hunting expeditions is to take a list of things that are 'the' most important such as affordability of home, number of bedrooms, location, etc., and a good realtor.