Finding the Perfect Home

Finding the perfect mortgage with the help of the mortgage calculators is easy, finding the perfect home can be much harder.  It’s a shame to say that there is simply no such thing as a truly perfect home – that is unless you build a custom home.  But even then, you’ll likely discover that there are a few things that might have been better designed down the road.  If you begin house hunting with the expectation that you’ll find the perfect home, you may be disappointed.  There will most likely be trade offs for finding the attributes that you most desire.

There are many wonderful homes on the market, but chances are, you will have to make a compromise along the way.  By planning carefully for what you need and comparing homes on a logical as well as emotional front, you’ll soon find the house that best suits your needs and expectations – and that’s as close to perfect as you can get.

Take Stock

Look around your current home and find the aspects you adore and the ones you’ve vowed to change in your next home.  Make a complete list of what would make a perfect home and then prioritize it.  What’s more important – the family room upstairs or the country kitchen?  If you have children old enough, let them contribute to the list.  It will help them feel a part of the decision, which can make uprooting less painful when the time comes.

Examine Potential Homes Thoroughly

When it’s time to begin actively searching for a new home, look at all manners of homes within your price range.  Travel the area where you’ll be moving and consider various locations and neighborhoods.  As you view each house, try to minimize the emotional response, although that is important, and instead work through your checklist.  In addition to the features you’ve listed, you should also be comparing each home on the basis of cost, convenience, condition, and capacity.  When you compare homes on a logical basis, it will soon be evident which home is the best investment for you and your family.

Cost

The true cost of the home is well above the asking price.  Your mortgage payment is the bulk of the outlay for the home, but you must also consider real estate taxes, improvements and maintenance, homeowner association dues and the other incidental costs of home ownership.  Add all of these small costs into your projected mortgage to generate a true cost of ownership for each home.  Run the mortgage calculator to see the costs of the mortgage payment and estimates for taxes and insurance.  Remember that older homes will likely have more maintenance and upkeep, but newer homes may have higher dues or improvements as they often come with little or no landscaping or window treatments.

Convenience

Homes outside of the city are less expensive, but you will be farther removed from the hustle and bustle of city life.  Are you willing to make the longer commute to work?  Will the cost of commuting outweigh the savings on your home?  How convenient is living in the suburbs really?  Spend a night or two in a suburb hotel to get a feel for the traffic patterns, congestion, distance and time it will take you to return to your office or family back in the city.

Condition

The condition of a home is a major consideration.  Many individuals buy a “fixer-upper,” but never get around to the fixing.  Renovating or doing extensive repairs on a home can be extremely expensive.  If you haven’t accounted for a kitchen remodel or foundation work in your budget, your dreams of blissful home ownership may fade quickly.

Some projects such as adding a bathroom or remodeling a kitchen can pay off nicely in property values and convenience.  Others such as repairing leaking roofs, cracked foundations or mold are projects that are simply not worth the time or investment for 90% of buyers.  The time and expense are enormous to even begin to tackle this sort of project.  Be sure to get a certified inspection by a trained professional before strongly considering a home.  Even new homes should be inspected carefully thanks to the shoddy construction of many builders.

Capacity

Square footage is deceptive.  A home with a great deal of square footage may be open and roomy or feel awkward with large amounts of square footage wasted in long hallways, pass throughs and oddly shaped rooms.  Rather than considering the square footage of a home, instead consider the capacity of the home overall.  How many bedrooms does the home contain?  Are they adequately sized?  How large are the closets and the kitchen?  Is there room for a large washer and dryer or refrigerator?

Do the doors block walkways when open?  Is there room for all of your furniture? Mentally arrange your furniture in each room to see if it fits and be sure to include space for a home office or computer desk as well as a place for visitors – even if it’s just a corner of the den or family room.

Finding the perfect home takes work.  Never rush into the home purchase decision, do your research on the housing market in your area before you leap.  Of course, this also holds true for the home mortgage as well.  Don’t ignore the value of using all the financial resources available including the mortgage calculators to make sure you find the perfect home loan.  Do your research on mortgage rates and mortgage products and fire up the mortgage calculators to find the best home loan for your new home.

Tags: mortgage, mortgage calculator, mortgage rates, new home

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Mortgage Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.