WHAT MAKES A HOUSE THE RIGHT HOME FOR YOU?
5 KEY THINGS ABOUT BUYING YOUR RIGHT HOME
What is the right home for you?
The right home for you is unlikely to be the same as the right home for others. We are all different, we all have different criteria, motivations, and budgets. When you are bidding at auction or buying through multiple offers under competition with a private sale, we can be provoked into thinking that the home you are trying to buy meets the same criteria to the other bidders. Rather, it may be the right home that meets their motivation over their criteria.
We bought recently and our right home didn’t meet all of our criteria but it met enough, and importantly, it met our motivation. We had sold with a very short settlement, and wanted to buy straight away, and move in within two weeks. One of our motivating factors was that the home should be vacant with tenants recently gone.
This may seem weird particularly in light of my work as a real estate guide, however it made sense. Being an ex rental means that compliance would be done, maintenance generally attended to, and it would be cleanish. Buying a home of an owner occupier guarantees none of those things. We didn’t consider any currently tenanted homes due to the difficulty in getting them out so that we could move in.
The Right Home Should Meet Your Criteria
This may seem obvious however it’s not. Before you buy, you should have written out your criteria. What is important to you with your new home? Number of bedrooms, bathrooms, living spaces, land size etc. I have a checklist that my clients complete as it helps keep them on track. If you have 10 values in your criteria, and manage to meet 7 of them then you are doing okay. The full 10 is a big ask unless you have time and money to spare.
It is up to you which 7 are most important. Which 3 you can do without. It may be that you match 8 and miss 2, or match 5 and miss 5. The right home changes as you shop however there are usually some items that remain fixed – if the home doesn’t have these things then you won’t buy it. The home that we bought covered a number of our ‘must have’ list but missed on some things that we wanted but could sacrifice. Our initial list didn’t have anything about buying a vacant house, our motivation changed with time, and urgency.
The Right Home and Price. How Much is Too Much?
Your right home price will also change. It will change when you realise that your non-negotiables only come in a more expensive package. It will change as your motivation changes. If you have all the time in the world then you can wait. Wait for the market to change, wait for the perfect home at the perfect price, get help to contact agents about off market possibilities, and maybe time to research down to the right house, in the right street, that faces the right way, and costs the right price.
Only you can say how much is TOO much. It’s your life that overpaying will impact. It may be that the right house will be worth ‘overpaying’. If you intend to be in this next home for 5-10 years, then ‘too much’ will dwindle over time. If you are downsizing and expect this next home to be the one until you move into a retirement village, a lifestyle complex, aged care, or out in a box, then ‘too much’ needs closer examination.
Price is subjective. It might be too much for you as a first home buyer, as a downsizer, as an investor, it might not be too much for someone else. They will have their own motivation, their own criteria, their own budget. The concept of market value is the willing and not anxious buyer and the willing and not anxious seller. Anxiety changes the equation.
Basically, what is too much for you, is not the same as ‘too much’ for someone else. You can make no assumptions about ‘too much’ in real estate.
The Right Home can become the Wrong Home – Defects
Doing all the research, searching, negotiating, bidding, all the steps complete. The Right home can become the wrong home depending on the inspection results.
If you are bidding at Auction then the inspections will need to be completed prior to the Auction. The inspections may deter you from bidding, they may change your intended maximum price, your walk away price. Depending on the results of the inspections, if significant works are required, then you may have dodged a bullet, avoided buying a lemon, less significant works will depend on your capacity to repair or your capacity to pay someone to repair. Some works will be minor and won’t impact your walk away price for the right home at all. At least you will know and there is comfort in that.
Similarly, if you have negotiated using private sale and you have completed your inspections prior to making your offer, your offer is made with awareness, and can be factored into your offer. These negotiations will depend on the popularity of your desired home. Not everyone has the same motivation with the home. Some may intend to knock it down and won’t care about the condition of the home, some may desire the home solely due to its location, as always, not everyone goes into home buying with the same motivation as you.
If your negotiation is subject to inspections, then you will have decisions to make depending on the inspections. To get out of most contracts will depend on the wording within the contract. Understand the wording and what is required before you can get out the contract. An accumulation of minor flaws may be expensive but won’t get you out of the contract. Anything denoted as ‘major’ will usually enable you to get out of the contract, IF the wording on the inspection clause allows for this.
You don’t get to decide on what constitutes ‘MAJOR’ once the contract has been signed by all parties. It’s why getting it right before you sign is essential.
Is the Right Home Really Right? How is the Vibe?
Your criteria is met, the price is right, the inspections are okay, but you are hesitating. Sometimes all the boxes are ticked except the emotional box, the house is not vibing with you. Awkward if your partner is totally in love with the home. This is an important decision. Examining why the home doesn’t feel right shouldn’t be overridden by your partner, the agent, or even common sense! That emotional connection will take time to fully sink in when you move into a new home, it’s a new space, a new location, and possibly, new debt. But what if it’s more than all that? Instinctive dislike happens. It happens with people, animals, and houses. Sorting out your feelings is crucial.
When this happens, we need to look more deeply. Once the root cause has been identified, you can decide whether you can fix it, or if not, decide if it’s wisest to walk away and keep looking. Until you identify the root cause, then the vibe of this house that you reject may be something you encounter in future houses.
Maybe the Sellers smoke, maybe they breed cats, maybe the carpet reminds you of something bad in your life, maybe the light in the home isn’t strong, there are not enough windows. These things don’t need to be glaringly obvious, they can put you off without you understanding why. Sometimes we can’t justify our dislike, it just is.
A row of houses can have the same or very similar floorplans, the same backyards, similar kitchen layouts etc, to all apparent purposes the homes are so similar as to make the differences almost undetectable. You walk into one and hate it. You walk into next door, and it’s okay. There is just something that you don’t like.
My first thought when this happens with clients, is to look at the light in the house, look at the vegetation around the house, do the five senses test (or six). What looks different, what smells different, what sounds different, what (tastes) difference is there that you can almost taste (some houses should be tested for meth – seriously), what happens when you touch the surfaces – are they sticky, dirty etc, and then of course, what is the sense you get from the house.
Right Home and Motivation
Has your motivation changed? Has something happened that has made you uncomfortable with proceeding with any house? An argument with a partner, another piece of paper requested from a lender or conveyancer, or even the real estate agent.
Interest rates, the political environment, a war overseas, petrol crisis, all of these plus other external factors may change our motivation, change our minds. Questioning if now is really the right time to move into debt, or buy a home at all.
This is okay. You are allowed to feel this way. The fear that comes over us before we sign a Contract for the largest (usually) purchase we have ever made is very normal. When we bid, and we hesitate. When we question if what we are doing is right for us. We question everything. This is good. It’s nerves, it’s excitement. Just know that you are not the first and you certainly won’t be the last to feel this way.
Speak with your real estate guide or advocate, or someone independent who will talk you through where you are at and what you are feeling. Is it nerves? Is it your head preventing you from making a poor decision? Is it your heart, is it your gut? We need to listen to ourselves, be confident before we purchase. The right home still can carry these feelings. It’s a process.
Go back through your checklist. Look at your spreadsheet of homes that you have liked, viewed, and maybe tried to buy. Look at your budget. Be comfortable with your decision. Check in with your motivation. What has changed? Anything? If nothing has changed, and you have gone through the list above and are still unsure. Take a pause. Take a breath. Get a drink of water, and sit in a quiet space for 5 or so minutes.
The Right House will come along. Sometimes it’s all about the timing. The planets have to be aligned correctly, your motivation and spirit needs to be in the right space, sometimes, you just need to walk away and maybe go back to the next open.
Independent advice is tricky, and often difficult to find. Everyone around you wants to help, offer you solutions, giving you advice from their own experience regardless of how long ago that experience was gained. You don’t want to make a mistake, nobody who genuinely cares for you wants you to make a mistake, the real estate agent doesn’t care, they just want to sell the house. As a real estate guide I can help you avoid poor money, time, and emotional decisions. Easing your stress, and removing road blocks. The right house might be just around the corner. Put my knowledge and experience to work. Let’s chat.
