FINDING THE RIGHT HOME FOR YOU
Your first step toward buying your new home will be to analyze your needs. As your real estate agent, I can assist in analyzing your needs so that you will be able to get a clear picture of exactly what you want your
new home to look like and how it should function for you and your family.
Define Needs For Your New Home
First, you should write down why you are looking for a new home. For example, are you currently renting and would like to have a home where you can begin building equity? Maybe your family is growing and you have outgrown your current residence. Or, perhaps you are just looking for something different that better meets your lifestyle. These factors will all have a bearing on how you approach your home search.
Second, establish a time frame that you would like to stay within for buying your home. Depending on your reasons for wanting a new home and the current state of the market in the area you are looking to buy, you should be able to come up with a rough guideline, which you can finalize at a later time.
Last, you most likely have a mental picture of what you would like your house to look like and what features it should have. It's very important to write these ideas down to avoid any ambiguity later in your home search. You should make at least two lists: one should be a list describing your dream home, your "wants" and the other should list the features of the home that are an absolute "must have" in order to buy it. In a perfect world, your new home would fulfill both lists 100 percent. It is more likely that you will end up blending the two lists into a schedule of prioritized items as you progress through the buying process. This is a natural and evolutionary process as you get clearer about what you want, what you need and what is available.
See part 14 in the next installment of Dana's Complete Guide to Home Buying
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