When buying a home you want to make sure you find a house that best fits your family and lifestyle.
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
In the beginning you may start your home search thinking that size doesn’t matter. As long as it seems big enough to live in, you don’t care how large it actually ends up being. The truth is, bigger isn’t always better. Large homes require a lot more money—and time—to maintain. Unless you utilize that space you could just end up wasting your money on maintaining a large house for no reason.
Create a Maintenance Budget
An important aspect of your purchase decision is to determine what your budget is going to look like. Think in terms of maintenance. A bigger home requires more time and money to take care of. Particularly if you’re looking at homes with substantial front and backyards. As for the interior, keep in mind the cost of cleaning, repair, and energy ( heating & cooling). Discuss your budget with your partner and your real estate agent to decide the square footage you can realistically handle.
Determine How Many Rooms You’ll Need
If you aren’t sure how much space is ideal for your family, then start simple. This means counting the number of rooms that you’ll need. Consider your main rooms like your kitchen and living room, and then move on to counting the number of bedrooms and bathrooms that you’ll need. This will give you a good starting point to identifying how much space your family will require. Keep in mind if you plan on expanding your family, if you frequently have guests visit and if you may need to have a family member, like an aging parent, live with you in the future. All of these factors are important to keep in mind when determining the number of rooms you’ll need in your next home.
Look at Homes That Vary in Size
Once you get an idea of the size range that will fit your needs, it’s time to take some tours. Search for homes that are in the appropriate size range that you determined. This isn’t so much about evaluating potential purchases as it is about determining if that size range will fit what you have in mind. Home tours will give you a better idea of what you want the square footage of your home to be and how you want those square feet distributed throughout the bedrooms, common areas and exterior.
Determining the right size home for your family may be challenging at first. Start by breaking down your budget versus what you think you’ll need and begin looking! After all that work, you’ll be able to choose the perfect home size for you and your family!
