I won't lie to you, I'm no expert at moving homes but we done our fair share of viewings when it came to finding the perfect home for us. If you're paying said amount for a family home, you want to tick all of the boxes so that there are no complications when you do move in. I know from our own experiences there were a lot of homes that were so pretty from the pictures, but didn't live up to our expectations which a lot of the time we were gutted about. We found that a lot of the houses either had a beautiful garden but so small inside, or huge inside but a really small garden!
One of the main things you need to be doing when viewing houses is to not just look in one house. Whenever people say to me they've only looked in one house, it really infuriates me because what are you going to be achieving by looking at one house? There are so many houses out there at different prices, different sizes, different shapes etc etc. Owen and I looked at around 15 houses. We wanted to view quite a lot because we wanted to be getting the best deal that we can. You don't want to be paying more money for a house with less bedrooms, when you can be paying less and there are more bedrooms, get what I mean?
One of the main things we were looking for when it came to buying our home was that we needed a suitable garden for Harry to play in and for us to socialise in. Living in a flat with a communal garden meant that we couldn't really have fun outside because there was simply no privacy for us. To me, having a garden is so important for kids because they need that freedom and there are so many outdoor activities Harry can be doing. We found so many beautiful houses in our viewings, but they either came with an unsuitable house or needed so much work done to it, we simply don't have the time to be renovating a garden for months on end. It's best to be able to have it there and then and to only need to do only minimal work to it.
One of our main finds when buying a house was we wanted the best area we could possibly find. We're very wary people and there can be more crime rates in certain areas of our town so we wanted to ideally make sure we were staying in the same area than before, if not somewhere else we knew was a good area for a family to live. The sort of area we were wanting is one where a school is near as obviously in time Harry is going to be starting school so that was most important to us. I love the countryside but for us personally that was never going to work so we had to be realistic with where we're going to live. Another thing in regards to the area was that there was no way we were going to be living on a main road. I may just be over cautious but I didn't want to live on a main road where we have a very active two year old, to me that doesn't mix one bit. Luckily where we're living now is quite hidden and that's something I'm so grateful for in so many ways. Also, try thinking more realistically about whether your house is a suitable place to be getting to and from work, is there too much traffic, will it be too busy for you and your family?
I do feel like the main thing to consider when looking for a house is your budget and mortgage. I for one had absolutely no clue about mortgages, but they're extremely important to be aware of. You ideally need to know how much you're planning to pay on a house, if you have enough money for the 10% deposit and all of the other boring bits that come with buying a house. There are also other things you need to consider like stamp duty, will I get accepted for a mortgage and also if you're going to be able to pay for all of the other extras such as a solicitor.
I'm no expert at buying houses, but we went through all of these thoughts along the way, I hope they come in handy for those who are looking to buy a house!
Kay x
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