Family life requires a certain kind of home. Whether you already have a family to accommodate, or you’re looking at starting one in the coming year, it’s worth considering your options when it comes to choosing a new home.
Ideally, your choice should be tailored to your own particular priorities. However, there are certain considerations that all families should bear in mind. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
Location, Location, Location
The shape of the building itself can be tweaked according to your preferences. But there’s one thing that you won’t be able to change, and that’s the location. You’ll want to know everything there is to know about the part of the country you’re going to be living in. What are the local crime rates like? What kinds of schools are nearby? Are there any major infrastructure projects upcoming that might raise, or lower, the value of your investment?
These considerations won’t just affect your quality of life when you’re living in a particular area: they might also influence the value of the property in the long term.
Assessing Space and Layout for Growing Families
As your family grows, it will take up more and more space. If you have three children, then you can expect the demands on the bathroom at particular times of day to be considerable once everyone is getting up and going to school at the same time.
Look at the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces, and assess whether there’s scope for future expansion. New-build homes might be arranged with the demands of a modern family in mind; older ones might need a little more adapting.
Balancing Your Dream Home with Financial Reality
Your financial resources are likely to be limited. It’s important, therefore, that you budget responsibly, and that you aren’t distracted by properties that fall outside your budget.
When you’re assessing the costs, you should be sure to factor in things like stamp duty and conveyancing, as well as future changes to interest rates. By opting to fix your rate at a certain level, you might make your outgoings more predictable over the first few years of the mortgage.
If you’re buying your very first home, then you might be exempt from stamp duty entirely. There’s also the First Homes Scheme to consider. This allows you to buy a home for up to half its market value – provided that it has been advertised by developers or estate agents as part of the scheme.
Choosing a Home That Will Last
Like any major investment, it’s worth considering how well your home will stand up over time. Think about the costs of running the home, and how easily modified it might be. The future of building regulation looks set to steer the market toward ever more stringent standards for energy efficiency. Thus, it makes sense to pick a home that can retain heat well – or to budget for insulation.