If you’re lucky enough to have the funds and credit available to buy a house, you have lots of options open to you. You could choose a flat or a house, a new build or an older property, you could pick something in pristine condition or a fixer upper that you can really put a stamp on. You’ll need to think about how to renovate a house if that’s what you decide to take on, or you could find yourself living in a wreck!
Today we’re presenting a short guide to help you make some of the key decisions and start you on your way to owning your own home.
Where to Buy
While most sales to couples, individuals and families are done through estate agents, you may be able to snap up a bargain at an auction. Beware if you plan to do this – popular property development shows make it look relatively simple to buy a house and get it up to modern standards, either to live in for yourself or to ‘flip’ and sell on for much more money! In reality, it’s fraught with pitfalls.
If you’re willing to get additional surveys done, and work with what you’re given, this could be the route to go down and you could find yourself in possession of a unique, characterful property, with a considerable saving!
When to Buy
Picking the time to move is tricky, and of course, in part out of your hands. Once you’ve decided to buy, you’re relying on getting funding organised, finding an appropriate property and then everyone in the chain ahead of you also getting those things sorted. A promising sale can be derailed by factors totally beyond your control if someone two or three households down the chain from you suddenly has a change in circumstances. For this reason, buying brand new homes in Mechanicsburg PA or wherever it is you’re moving to can be particularly beneficial as you will be able to move in straight away and not have to worry about any chains.
To the extent that you can though, it’s worth trying to influence when you move. Winter is a bad time for it: as Christmas approaches you can expect people to be thinking of family and celebrations (even estate agents), and potentially on holiday. After Christmas, during the worst of the weather, rain, snow and ice can hold up movers and if you’re moving a whole house full of possessions a long way you could find yourself in real trouble.
Summer is another less than ideal time to move, again with holidays on people’s minds, and childcare providing another problem to overcome if you, or anyone in your chain of movers has children. Shifting heavy boxes is also less than fun in the heat of August.
The broad times to aim for, therefore, are Spring and Autumn, with no major holidays to interfere and moderate weather to make moving manageable.