I was 22 when we bought our first home. My husband and I looked for months trying to find the perfect house for our growing family. We spent many weekends scouring every neighborhood within a thirty-mile radius, looking with our agent. I'm not sure we knew exactly what we were looking for; we just knew what we weren't looking for. We were a real estate agent’s dream! I'm surprised she still talks to us.
We actually lucked out with that first house. We ended up falling into a home that not only met our needs as we grew into a family of five {and then literally bursted at the seams!}, but learned that some of the homes features are ones that we wanted to replicate when we sought out our second home nearly a decade later. These aren't things a typical first-time homebuyer would have in mind, so stay tuned and let me know what you think. If you’re an experienced homebuyer, I'd love to know what you would add to this list.
6 Things You Didn't Know You Should Look for in a Home
1. Cul-de-sac
As they say in real estate, location, location, location. I had no idea how nice it would be to live on a double-ended cul-de-sac, especially when we had small children. There was very little street traffic, except from the neighbors. This allowed us to close down the street on several occasions for neighborhood block parties. The kids could also easily use the front yard to play in {with supervision} so we got more use out of the whole yard, not just our backyard.
2. Fully-fenced
Speaking of backyards, having a fully fenced yard is a lifesaver! It can be costly to have to fence the yard on your own, so if it's already done, that's a bonus!
3. Ill placed garage door
Bear with me on this one. My kids were quite small when we lived in our first home. We were thankful to have a two-car garage to park our cars in. Only problem, the nursery was just above the garage, so when my husband would leave early for work, he would tip toe to get ready, but there is no amount of tip-toeing that can make your garage door go up and down quieter! The baby would wake up every.single.time. It’s just something to keep in mind if you have a room above the garage.
4. Bathtub
Who doesn't love a bath? Well, maybe some of you, but the ease and convenience of having a bathtub when you have kids is a darn near necessity.
5. Which way does the house face?
I'm not mentioning the way the home faces because of some feng shui theory, though I'm sure there are some people who will pay attention to that. I'm mentioning it because when we purchased our first home, nearly all of the windows on the home were Southern facing. This was a great way to keep the home warm in the winter but man during the summer the house would heat up! We live in an area that doesn't generally get too hot, therefore, we didn't have air conditioning, so this is something we most certainly kept in mind when we were looking for our next home.
6. Close to family
According to Bank of America’s Homebuyer Insights Report (HBIR), nearly half of first-time homebuyers want to live close to family. After a lonely Christmas Eve holiday as a young couple with a one-year-old, we realized then that we wanted to live close to family. While we didn't select a home next door, we are within a half an hour of my husband’s side of the family. This makes it easy for them to come and watch school programs and sports events and for us to drop the kids off if we need a night out.
Purchasing a home is a big decision, with a lot of little decisions along the way. It's important to have as much information as possible to make the best decision. Bank of America makes it easy with tools and resources about the homebuying process.
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