Buy a home for today, or by the home for 10 years from now?

LIKE A NEW PAIR OF SHOES…

You have to break them in to know if they belong on your feet. Similar to buying a home, you think you found the perfect one but a while later you realize you’ve outgrown your space. Whether it is your first home or your 5th home, the question “will this home work for us” should cross the mind. Even if it is a part-time home, vacation home, or the “just get me a home I can afford” etc… the home needs to make sense for it to be worth the purchase.

So now you have your budget & finances lined up, and you're ready to begin the search. You have narrowed down the location and notice there is a pretty wide variety of homes that actually fit your budget. Some homes are newer but are compromising in size. Some homes have more space inside and out, however need a substantial amount of TLC. Which type of home do you choose?

Before I jump to the Q & A … I wanted to first share how we chose our first home…or not.

My husband and I were lucky enough to not have much choice in the matter. We really found the first home we could afford and went all in. A 2 bedroom 1 bathroom 900 sq.ft. 1948 Rambler with a single car garage and original everything. It was a complete DIY renovation from day 1. Six years & two boys later, we had doubled it’s size and completed a 100% renovation. Still a single car garage though. I guess you could say we had a five year plan… but nothing set in stone. Had we not been able to renovate and add square feet, i’m not sure we would have lasted six years.

But as life evolves, so do your needs . We sold our DIY and moved into a 4 year old, 2,400 sq ft turn key (for the most part) foreclosure with a 3 car garage. My boys each had a room, plus a guest room. My husband & I had the master bedroom down the hall with a on suite bath and walk in closet. We could not be more giddy with all the new room we had. Fast forward a few years and now we have full grown teenagers. They are louder, taller, smellier and just bigger. This home suddenly shrank. Selling and going just a little bit bigger has crossed my mind a time or two. Then I realized we are much closer to these boys moving on, off to college etc and can’t imagine a bigger home so empty. So now what… did we miss a window, or did we find the perfect home? Not sure there is a straight answer to that question. I would have to say it really comes down to perspective and where we see ourselves in the next few years.

After all, buying/selling a home is nothing like buying a new pair of shoes. For most, it’s the biggest & hardest purchase one will make.

And with that being said.. all planning aside, you can’t prepare for the unpredictable. Economy factors alone are major proponents in the decision making process. So take control of the options you do have & set some long term & short term goals. And keep these important things in mind during the process.

1 - Location (obviously)

2 - Utility (Bedrooms, bathrooms, garage space, yard space etc)

3 - Turn Key or Fixer Upper

4 - 5 year, 10 year or 20 year plan

5 - Dream Home or stepping stone