Are you itching to move to a new house? While leaving your last place might be a straightforward task, choosing your new home might be more stressful. Indeed, everyone can point to a house from the street and say they like it. However, there are more things to consider than just how it looks from the outside.
Before you jump right in, you have to evaluate your finances. If you’re planning to move your life to the Tempe area, you can apply for home loan solutions. Once you have enough money, it’s time to choose a house.
Measuring the lawn
Before you even step into your new potential space, take a long hard look at the yard. How vast is it, or is there even one? How far is it from the sidewalk? How clean is it, and how difficult will it be to maintain?
These are the typical questions when looking at the lawn space. Envision that area as a place of play and leisure during the weekends. If you can’t, then that’s a strike.
Knowing the neighbors
You should look at your neighbors. Does your yard cross theirs? Are they close enough to see through your windows during the day? How safe is the neighborhood? Do they keep their surroundings clean and tidy? How’s the view?
Of course, you can’t tell everything about your neighbors from the get-go. However, you can surmise small bits from how their residence looks vis-à-vis yours, like privacy and orderliness.
Counting the rooms
This is a standard clause when checking out a new space: the number and the size of the rooms. As a new resident, you’d generally look as far ahead into the future as you can. For this, you might want to ask the agent for a floor plan.
Questions can be phrased like these: how many rooms at best would you need? How many toilets and baths? Do these spaces allow extra storage or possible work stations? How well does natural light spread throughout the rooms?
Standing in the bathroom
As your daily sanctuary, the bathrooms need your utmost attention when house-hunting. Bathrooms can even make or break a deal sometimes.
Aside from how well it’s made, it boils down to your personal preference. You should be able to imagine yourself doing your morning rituals there without feeling funny or out of place.
Assessing renovations
Try not to dwell too much on what you see when you first enter. Try instead to envision the place once you’ve remodeled it to your liking. How old is the house? How permanent are the furnishings? Is the improvement scalable, or will it take too much of your resources? How difficult will it be to maintain after all the upgrades? Consider these things within the context of the greater neighborhood.
A second take
Once you’ve gone through the lawn, the living room, the bath, the bedrooms, don’t linger for too long. The plans you have for the house might be a first-time appeal. If you find yourself thinking about it repeatedly, then it’s a good sign. If you would rather think about the next house on the list, then it means you don’t mind turning the last house down.
Moving, after all, depends so much on gut feeling. You can renovate any space from top to bottom to your liking. But if you don’t feel at home the minute you step in, then it isn’t a home in the first place.
