3 Things to do Before you Purchase Your Home

It’s a huge challenge to find the right home especially for us city dwellers because we have so many things to consider. Obviously, there’s not much land left,  so even if you had the money,  building your dream home from scratch,  is already out of the picture . However, there’s a wide range of choices available for us when it comes to finished properties. These are the things you need to do before you purchase a property.

Get all your ducks in a row.

Finances. This is top priority for obvious reasons. You have to do the math, is has to be aligned with what you can afford. Check your credit standing and see if there’s anything you can do to improve it. Talk to an independent financial professional or a representative from your bank to help you with the decision making. You can check here for a detailed explanation on this.

You can play around with affordability calculators like the ones here. While you are doing your math.

Hire a Surveyor

Unless you know how to inspect every nook and cranny of a house, you’ll need to do this because you would want to know the condition that your prospective house is in. You need to know the good, the bad and the ugly because this helps a lot in the decision making, as well as pricing negotiations.

Know What you want

Now this is the fun part. Get a pen and paper and make a list of the things you want, what kind of house,  the style,  the number of rooms, parking space, gardens, a kitchen islands or that spacious floor area because you want to fit in that Chesterfield sofa you bought from The Original Sofa Co. You need to be realistic on this though, know what your essentials are and what you are willing to compromise. Making this list will help your broker/agent to sift through all those listing.

It’s good to remember that these factors vary from person to person depending on where you are in your life. You just need to make sure that your bases are covered before you jump into what can be your biggest financial obligation.