The phrase “dream home” is thrown around often, but what does it mean exactly? The truth is a dream home is different from one person to the next when discussing what they’d like in a home. Some people want four bedrooms, three baths, and a three-car garage, while others envision a home with a little less space but a more unique sense of style. When actually looking for a house, what you want in a dream home is often at the top of your list. What does your dream home look like? Whether you’ve pictured it in your head over and over again since you were little or haven’t quite narrowed it down, here are some things to keep in mind when looking for your dream home.
A Dream Home is One You Can Afford
Everyone fantasizes about lavish vacations, matching Porsche’s, and other things we can’t possibly or reasonably afford. While fantasies are great, when it comes time to begin your home search, you need to be realistic, which means having a budget that you stick to. An easy way to determine a budget for your dream home search is to subtract your average monthly expenses (minus housing expenses) from your household’s monthly take-home pay. This will tell you how much your mortgage payment can comfortably be each month.
Location, Location, Location
After coming up with a general price range for your new dream home, next you can move on to some “wish list” items to consider, one of which should be the location. You can change a home’s paint colors, and floors, or even take it down to the studs for a complete remodel if you want, but you can’t change the place where it stands. Do you want to live in the city, the suburbs, or out in the country? What kind of view do you want to see through your windows every day? How close do you want to be to any shopping centers or the hospital? By answering these questions, your lifestyle realtor, someone like Lifestyle Properties at Keller Williams Realty, will be able to narrow down your dream home search to the locations you think are ideal places to live.
What’s Your Style?
Once you have the location and other basics like the ideal number of beds and baths figured out, you can move on to thinking about the features and styles of your dream home. Do you hate going up and down the stairs and would instead prefer a single-story ranch? Do you like historic homes? What are your favorite types of architectural styles? How important is outdoor space to you? These are just some of the many questions you should try to answer to hone in on the home of your dreams.
If you’ve been taking notes of everything you want your dream home to be, it’s now time to get out there and find it. From surfing real estate sites to looking at listings with your realtor, knowing your wants will help you achieve your dream home purchase.
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