Your Home Buying Strategy

By Dianne Conway

Before shopping for a home, every buyer needs a solid strategy – a game plan that reflects his or her own needs.

The first step in building a strategy is to make a shopping list. This means to write down what you want in a new home.

• How many bedrooms and bathrooms?
  
• Do you want a separate family room? What size of kitchen do you want?
  
• Do you need a home office?
  
• Is an attached garage important?
  
• How big of yard do you want to care for?
  
• Does it need to be fenced?
  
• Do you want to live in a well-developed area with large trees?
  
• Do you want to be close to shopping, a library, recreational facilities, a bus stop, etc.?
• What school will your children attend?
  
• Do you require only one level or do you prefer multi levels?
  
• Do you want a pool?
  

The list can go on, limited only by your imagination and desires – and how important you rate each item. By prioritizing your list, you can determine if the house that contains five “wants” from your list out of eight will be disappointing in the future. You may not want to settle for less on certain features.

Next, you must examine your lifestyle and budget. Find out all the hidden costs involved in moving and purchasing a new home versus a “used” home or a condo. The closing costs for each vary and come with expenses that you need to know about up front.

If you already own a home you may wonder which you should do first – buy or sell. If you choose to buy first, make sure the offer to purchase is on condition that you sell your current house. Selling first can give you peace of mind in knowing exactly how much money you have for negotiating. Market conditions can make a difference as well. In a seller’s market, you’ll probably do better selling after you’ve purchased but in a buyer’s market, it makes more sense to sell first.

When you’ve decided what features you want in a home, sit down with your realtor and give him or her as much information as you can. It’s a waste of everyone’s time to view homes that don’t have the amenities you require. A good agent will weed through the masses of homes on the market and find a good fit for your needs.

Dianne Conway is Sales Representative with Sutton Group – Preferred Realty Inc., 181 Commissioners Road, West, London, Ontario. Phone: (519) 438-2222 Email: homes@dianneconway.com www.dianneconway.com

Published in Networking Today, November 2002.