How to Choose Your First Family Home

Choosing your first family home is an exciting, but important decision. From location and budget, to amenities and schooling, finding your perfect home requires balancing practicality and long-term goals.

 This article will help you explore key factors, so that you can make the best choice when choosing your first family home.

Setting a realistic budget and financial planning

Before you begin your search, think about how much you can realistically spend. Coming up with an accurate and realistic budget can ensure that you make your mortgage repayments on time and avoid going into debt. It can also help you live a more comfortable life in the long run, giving you more disposable income to spend elsewhere, like holidays, cars, and children.

Various mortgage calculators can help you plan your monthly repayments, and see how viable certain housing options may be.

Choosing the right location for your family’s needs

The criteria which determine your perfect home depends entirely on what your family needs. For instance, if you have small children you’ll need to think about primary schools, but if it’s you, your partner, and a dog, you might want to consider easy access to walking routes.

To simplify your search, make a list of your necessities (parking spaces, garden, location) and search from there. This will help you consistently find properties best suited to your family’s needs.

If you’d like to be part of a local community, consider buying a new build home. These estates are designed to encourage social interaction between residents, often having built parks or play areas for children.

Checking school districts and nearby amenities

If you have children already or are planning to have them, then you’ll need to consider appropriate schools ahead of time. Schools each have their own catchment area, which can influence your decision to buy a property.

Using tools like Locrating.com, you can take an in-depth look into the local schools, including their inspection results, strengths and weaknesses, workforce, and more.  

We also recommend checking the local amenities in your intended area, as parks, supermarkets, leisure centres, and more can drastically improve your family’s quality of life.

Understanding the home buying process and legal aspects

Unfortunately, even when you’ve found the perfect property, the process of buying a home can be long-winded. At approximately 8 months, there are multiple levels of checks and paperwork which need to be completed, including:

* Securing a mortgage,
* Beginning the legal process,
* Organising property surveys,
* Arranging insurance,
* Exchange of contracts, and 

All this needs to take place before you can move in, so having a thorough understanding is vital to minimising the process’ length. If you want to hurry the process, it’s important to be proactive and get the necessary documents together as quickly as possible. If you want to streamline to process even more, you should consider new build properties. Having a clear timeline and no onward chain can reduce stress, making the process a lot faster.