I suspect that my husband and I will buy a new home in the years ahead. We were fortunate many years ago to find the home we've lived for 27 years. Before buying this home, I read a book about buying a home, and the book led me in a good direction. Some of the main points that were good about our initial search included the following:
- Make time to ride around the area you would like to buy in to get a feel for the neighborhood and homes.
- Look for the worst house in the best neighborhood.
- Don't be afraid to offer less than the asking price.
- Take into consideration the money you'll need to spend on updates and/or repairs.
- If you're going to have children, don't buy on a street with two yellow lines.
Of course it's good to save as much as you can before buying your home so you don't have to pay mortgage insurance, but at the time we bought this house, we didn't make much money and had only $5,000 saved. We bought the house, paid that insurance for a few years, and all in all it's been a good investment.
As I think about buying a new home, I'll definitely want to find a home that has some of the great features our house has including great light, privacy, backing up to conservation land, and fairly good flow. Unlike our house now I hope that our next house has good inside-outiside flow and walkability to many shops and services so we don't have to use the car a lot--I'm not a big fan of cars. It would be great if it were near public transportation of some type and a nice landscape too.
There's no rush to find this house. We'll take our time and play with the notion in the next few years.
Buying a home is a big investment--one that can't be taken lightly, but one that helps you and your family get a good start in life. Most of all I want a home, like the one we have now, that is welcoming to family members and friends, and a quiet place where we can enjoy the pastimes that we choose.