Picking The Best House For Your Family
Posted by admin | Real Estate | Posted on December 20th, 2011
When you are trying to pick the best house for your family, before you start browsing the houses for sale adds it pays to pause and give some thought to your circumstances and needs. Here we will look at the three essential features of choosing a home: affordability, availability, and suitability.
Affordability is generally the most difficult one to consider. In the days when house price inflation was rampant you could be certain that your house would increase in value so the tendency was to spend the maximum amount one could afford to buy it. Building societies and banks also encouraged people to borrow high multiples of their income and were often willing to lend more money than the house was worth. 125% of value mortgages were quite common.
Today with a stagnant house prices and the threat of houses losing value, we need to be more cautious. Banks are also unwilling to take risk and the maximum they will lend is around 2.5 times the family income. They also require large deposits of up to 20% of the value.
Once you have worked out what you can afford, the next stage is to find homes within your price bracket. The best way of doing this is by contacting local estate agents and by searching on the web. Most estate agents have their own web sites and also use websites that allow you to find a property anywhere in the country just by entering a postcode.
Once you have found some properties that you like and can afford, you should ensure that they are suitable for your families needs. Suitability includes having enough space particularly if you are planning to increase the size of your family. Also if you have children you should consider if it is in the catchment area of suitable schools. Neighbours are very important and if you get the chance you should try to meet them before you commit yourself to buy. If you are unsure about the area, then there are several websites you can use to find out more about it.
Don’t forget to negotiate the price. Often sellers are willing to accept a considerable discount on the asking price and 7% to 10% reductions are not uncommon.