What To Include When Making a Home Wish List

For many Hounsfield Heights/Briar Hill home buyers, house hunting is the most fun part of the home buying process. However, buyers should never go to home showings blind. It’s easy to forget the little things that buyers want in a home or get distracted by all the things they didn’t know they wanted. The easiest way to prevent this is by making a home wish list. Every home buyer should have a list of what they want out of their new home. Here is how to put together the best home wish list.

Wants and Needs

When a buyer is making their wish list, it can be helpful to put all the different entries into one of two categories: want and need. This can help the buyer create a priority for the things they need and decide what they’re willing to pass on. 

Examples of things a homeowner may need include:

• First-floor bedroom or laundry
• Three bedrooms
• Accessibility features

Meanwhile, examples of wants include things such as:

• Granite countertops
• Wood floors
• Bay windows

Many wants can be added to a home after it’s been purchased, but oftentimes, needs have to be built into the home. This is why buyers should always prioritize their needs.

The Home’s Location

No one wants a work commute that’s an hour long, so buyers need to take the home’s location into account. Location also affects other things aside from a work commute. Homeowners need to make sure their home is an acceptable distance away from grocery stores, shopping centers, parks, schools, hospitals, fire departments, and so on. Some home buyers may think they’ve found the perfect home until they realize all the places they like to go are a lot farther away than anticipated.

The Home’s Size

The size of the home is extremely important, especially for buyers who have large families. Buyers may only want a home with two rooms, while others may want a home that has a room for every member of the family. Home buyers need to think about how much space they need in their home, the ideal number of bathrooms for the people living in the home, and so on. Of course, the larger the home, the more expensive it will be, so buyers need to decide what will fit within their budget if they want a larger home.

The Home’s Style

When someone is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new home, it’s a given they will have a certain style in mind. Homes come in different architectural styles that can vary by region. Colonials, ranches, Victorian, and modern are just some of the different styles that home buyers can look for. Some home styles can be more costly than others, and some styles can be difficult to find. For instance, ranches can be found throughout the country regardless of region, but a style like southwestern is going to be seen most prominently in the southwestern US and not many places outside it. A style such as Greek revival, however, is a very niche style that is extremely uncommon these days. Buyers need to know if the home styles they love are accessible where they’re looking to buy the home.

Having a home wish list can be extremely helpful when looking for a new home. They can help keep the buyers on track when going to showings, and they can be given to real estate agents to help find the right type of homes. Every buyer should create a home wish list before looking for a new home.