The Complete Guide To Buying A Family Home Without All The Stress
In today’s post, we will be looking at all the things involved in buying a family home. It can be a bit of a broad topic, and a stressful one too! That S-word is the main focus of things today – I want to show you how you can buy a family home without all the stress usually involved. No more panicking, no more worrying about different things, just a nice and easy process that doesn’t create further problems later on.
This guide will give you all the tips I know, but it’ll start with a short paragraph on why every family should look to buy a home at some point:
Why buying a family home is the right move to make
Some people might argue that buying a family home wastes money. Save yourself all the drama and rent one instead. With the size of most mortgages, you’ll make monthly payments for years anyway, so rent isn’t that different, right?
You’re certainly not wrong if you use this logic, but buying a home is about so much more than avoiding rent. It gives your family something that you now own and is a part of your family. It’s a home that you will grow up in together and create so many fond memories in. Realistically, will you stay in the same rental property for decades? No, you won’t. When you own a home, this is normally the case for most families. You stay there throughout your children’s lives and continue living there when they move out. Then, at some point, you might decide to move to a smaller home because you no longer need a big family home. Here, you’ve got a big property to sell and get a lot of money back on a great investment. Or, you can pass it down to your kids and give them a valuable asset to hold on to.
You see, buying a family home helps everyone feel settled in the present while also providing You see, buying a family home helps everyone feel settled in the present while also providing benefits in the future! So, before you start searching for apartments for sale in Jumeirah Lake Towers, or townhouses for sale in Manhattan, the only thing that remains is figuring out how to buy one without all the stress…
Work out which mortgages you can afford
Mortgages. We love them, and yet we hate them at the same time. If it weren’t for these loans, hardly any of us would be on the property ladder. However, they’re one of the main stressors during home buying. People always worry about getting a mortgage and how much it will cost them. Or, more accurately, they get a mortgage, buy a house, and are left with repayments that cause too much strain on their finances.
So, my first tip is to make sure you work out the mortgage costs before you properly apply for any. To do this, you should use a home loan repayment calculator that will tell you how much you have to repay every month for different mortgages. This lets you play around with different amounts of money until you see the mortgages you can afford. As a result, you apply for ones that won’t cause too much of a strain on your finances and mean you can easily pay them off every month.
Decide if you want to live in a gated community
A gated community, like the Preserve at Marsh Creek, is a residential community that is restricted to specific individuals. These communities typically have a controlled access point, such as a guard house or gate, and offer a higher level of privacy than traditional neighborhoods.
In contrast to the high-density of urban living, gated communities are generally low-density developments with large lots and private streets. This type of community provides residents with an escape from the noise and traffic that comes from living in close proximity to others.
Plus, a gate entry system is a crucial part of any secure facility. No doubt, every home needs an efficient and reliable security system to keep out any unwanted intruders. Gate entry systems are used to protect properties from unauthorized access and can be customized according to the security requirements of the area. Not only do gate entry systems allow for restricted access, but they also provide a layer of protection by providing real-time monitoring and control over the property. They can come in various forms, such as metal gates, barbed wires, or motion detectors.
Don’t put a time limit on things
I think the leading cause of stress is when someone is buying a family home but also selling one or moving out of one simultaneously. When you do this, you’re putting a time limit on yourself. I knew a friend selling their house, and the whole deal went through before they even had a chance to buy their new one. Ultimately, they frantically looked for places to live and had to rent an apartment for a year before eventually moving into a new home.
The whole process of buying a home was made far more stressful than it needed to be because there was almost a time limit on things. It became a race to buy a home before they had to move out of their old one. So, my advice is to avoid doing this. Try and put off selling your home until you have a good sense that you can buy a new one. You’ve had a bid accepted, and things will move forward. Then, start trying to sell your home – or even wait until you’ve moved into the new one. You can get a mortgage to cover the cost of the new one, then when your old one sells, you may be able to pay it all off in one go.
Invest in a detailed property survey
There are plenty of costs that come into play when you buy a home or even if you are building a home. Sometimes you need to investigate how and see if it is cheaper to build a new home than to buy one already on the market. The easiest way to do this is to google the area where you want to live and compare the prices of the houses on the market versus a new build. For example, if you want to live in Utah, you would google “Houses for sale in Utah” and “building a house in Utah” to find out which would be more cost-effective.
But if you decide to buy a house already on the market, be prepared to pay a surveyor to look at the house you have your eye on. Normally, they do a pretty comprehensive job and look at almost all aspects of the home. However, there are certain things they might miss and skip over – like the drainage system. So, I would say you should invest a little bit of extra money to get a fully-detailed survey of your property and the drains. Even if this means calling in a different company alongside your surveyor, it’s worth it.
This helps you see the true state of the home you’re about to buy. It lets you notice if any issues might cause problems in the future and should be fixed immediately. Very quickly, you will find out the real cost of this house. It may have an attractive price tag, but all the additional repairs and fixes make it far more expensive than it seems. By investing in a detailed survey, you avoid the stress of buying a home and spending thousands trying to fix it when things start going wrong.
Don’t get caught up in bidding wars
Ah, the classic bidding war! We’ve all been involved in at least one during our lifetime, whether when buying a home or just trying to buy something for a bargain on eBay, and they always get heated. The idea of a bidding war is that you can get a good deal for the property by submitting a lowball bid. A lot of the time, the advertised house price is a bit of a reach from the owner. This is the price they’d be most happy with, but they know it’s probably worth a bit less. So, they do sometimes accept offers that are considerably less than the price tag.
This is where the bidding begins. You submit your offer, then another party comes in with a better one. You up yours, then they up theirs. It can get to the point where you end up paying the full price for the home because it’s the only way to stop the other party from bidding. Naturally, the whole process of bidding against someone is stressful, but it can also cost money. My advice is to avoid getting caught up in these wars. Come out with a low bid to start, but have a price in mind that you’re willing to pay. If other people place bids above your desired price, don’t fall for the bait!! Back out and let them overpay for the property instead of you.
Narrow down your options as much as possible
The last bit of advice I have for you is simple; narrow down your options as much as possible. What does this mean? It means you think carefully about what type of home you’re looking for and what properties are worth considering. There are loads of things you take into account here. For example, how many rooms does your home need? How many bathrooms do you want? Do you need a big garden? What’s your absolute maximum price? Where do you want to live/which areas should you be looking at? Do you want a modern home or one that’s much older? Are you looking for a detached house or something else? Every single one of these questions will help you narrow down your search as much as possible.
Why does this help? Because you stop looking at a market that includes hundreds of homes and narrow things down to a much smaller handful. As a result, it’s so much easier to find a shortlist of homes that tick all the right boxes. You don’t get drawn in by properties that tick a few boxes but lack certain things you’re after, and it can reduce the time you spend looking for your dream home.
Wow, that was a lot to take in, wasn’t it? I hope this guide has given you a bit of assistance when it comes to buying a family home. If you try and follow the tips, it should help you make the right purchase without being stressed out.
Hello Melissa, I really appreciate you helping me learn more about this guide on unstressfully buying a family home. When my brother a new house, this gives me the idea of selling our home and buy a new one as well. I found it interesting when you said that I can acquire a family home without putting on stress on me and that we shouldn’t put a time limit on things. So cool! Thanks a lot!