Unsure of How To Begin Your Home Hunt?
The first step is to know what you need to be looking for when starting out. Trying to navigate the housing market can feel like a maze, there are endless questions to ask yourself and at times it can feel overwhelming. The main focus when buying a house is ultimately down to price, but there are many other factors that are just as important to take into consideration.
We could give you a list of 50 different things to factor in, but realistically are you going to remember all of them? Probably not. That’s why we’ve filtered it down the top three areas to consider to keep it fresh in your mind.
- Location, location, location. Yes, we’ve said it three times because it is so important! This covers a wide range of topics such as: is it close to transport links? What’s the area like for flooding? To help narrow it down, just think about your lifestyle and how restricted you would be. You need to remember that as soon as you buy your house, the location cannot change so you need to make sure a lot of time has gone into identifying a neighbourhood you’d be content with living in.
- Your ‘must-haves’. When looking for a house, you can fall down a rabbit hole of the endless things you want in a property – but you need to try and limit it down to what you need, versus what you want. Parking, number of bedrooms, and bathrooms fall into a ‘need’ because they will make the house feel more livable. As a bonus, they’re very appealing to potential buyers to capitalise on if you do think about selling in the future!
- Price. It goes without saying that there’s nothing worse than setting your heart on a house that you start designing in your head, to realise you can’t afford it. We advise on using a mortgage affordability calculator to find out how much you can afford, that way you can then filter down the properties in regards to price so you don’t waste any time!
Don’t wait too late. If you want to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday, you need to plan carefully to avoid missing the deadline, particularly if you are selling a property first. Anyone completing a purchase on their main home before the March deadline does not have to pay tax on property values up to £500,000 – a saving of as much as £15,000.
How much is your property worth now? With houses continually rising, the average price of a home in the UK five years ago would have been £202, 389, it would now be worth £244, 513. There’s really no better time than the present to put your property on the market. Click below and book your free valuation with Peepal Estate Agents.
