Before you lace your boots and set out on your next house hunting expedition, here are some vital survival tools that need to go in your backpack. Not one for well-crafted metaphors? 🙁 Well, all we saying is if you’re in the market for a new home, our list of “Top 10 Things to Consider When Buying a New Home” can help get your search off to a right start 🙂
While the square footage, the number of bedrooms and the size of the living room are all important, there are other things you should consider before cashing in that final offer. Let’s start with the basics which you probably already have on your checklist:
Location
“Location, Location, Location!” A phrase that everyone in the real estate business or anyone who isn’t new to buying a home, is more than familiar with; and for good reason too. You can work around almost any imperfection within a house, but the one thing you cannot change once the home is bought – is it’s location. A safe and friendly neighbourhood with warm friendly neighbours, will make it a lot easier to follow the Bible’s preaching “Love thy neighbour as thyself” 🙂
When you are choosing your home, in addition to the charm of the neighbourhood, also consider these following essentials – proximity of neighbouring homes, noise from neighbours, traffic levels at rush hour, distance from the nearest main road, ease of parking, convenient to home a pet if your a pet person, and finally access to good restaurants, shopping outlets, schools, offices, parks, and public transportation.
Credibility of Ownership
The last thing you or any one wants, just after moving into your new home, is finding out that the previous owner who sold you the house was not the rightful owner of in the case of a newly constructed home, the land on which the home is built on, belongs to someone else. It can be quite a traumatizing experience, having random stranger(s) knocking at your door, claiming their land or ancestral property. And this has become quite a common practice in India, to an extent that goons have starting using it as a method to falsely extract money from home owners, by making false claims of land ownership and creating havoc if they don’t get compensated.
We suggest having all the necessary paperwork, reviewed and thoroughly inspected by not one, but two lawyers to be doubly sure. It may cost you a little more to do this, but in the larger scheme of things, it’s a small price to pay for a peaceful mind 🙂 Also, talk to some of the older residents of that neighbourhood to find out if they might have any stories to share 🙂
Budget
Certainly number one on every house hunter’s check list. This list would be but incomplete without a mention of budget. While we all want to own that inexpensive dream home, budget yourself properly to a home that suits your lifestyle, as you don’t want to be caught paying through your nose on the mortgage, over the years to follow.
Also, staying up-to-date with the real estate market can help you get the best value within your budget. For example, Villaments are a fairly new concept in the real estate world which offers home buyers the luxury of a villa at the affordable cost of an apartment.
Loan Approval
Speak to a reputed home-loan agent and ensure you pre-qualify for a home loan first. This will put you in a better position to negotiate on the final offer, as this will tell the seller that you are financially ready to make a purchase.
According to a recent news article, home loans of affordable homes may drop by 8-10%! So now might very well be a good time to consider investing in a new home, even if your aren’t in the market.
Access to Essentials
In addition to basic amenities such as 24/7 running water and electricity (which to be honest, not much can be done about the irregularly regular power cuts in India, other than finding out if the local service personnel are responsive and quick to fix any issues other than scheduled power cuts) , ensure that your other essential service providers (like internet, LPG connection, cable television and practically any other service that’s important to you) are able to provide their respective service at the new address. Every so often, we’ve heard our own colleagues cursing ACT or Airtel, for not being able to provide a new internet connection at their new address, stating they do not have access points in that neighbourhood; and how they are being forced to settle with other internet service providers. Only way to make sure this doesn’t happen to you, is to make a few calls and find out directly.
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.Do you have a checklist of your own, that you’d like to share with us and our readers? If so, please do so in the comments below 🙂