By: Zoocasa
For families considering a move, trying to find affordable listings in hot real estate markets, such as condos for sale in Toronto or Toronto townhouses, can seem challenging – not only does the home need to fit within your budget, but it must also meet the needs of each family member! However, chances are, your dream family home is out there – the key is knowing what you’re looking for.
Check out these tips to finding the perfect home for your family.
Don’t Plan to Max Out Your Affordability
Knowing your affordability ceiling is crucial when house hunting; even if you’ve been pre-approved for a large amount, it’s important to consider how an ongoing bigger mortgage repayment could affect your financial plan – would it prevent you from paying off other debt obligations, or saving for your child’s education fund?
Factoring in other financial commitments will give you the clearest idea of what you are able to put into your home from a financial perspective. This will help you to shape your house hunting process ad prevent you from falling in love with a home that is realistically outside of your budget.
Be Strategic with Timing
While it’s always important to consider current market conditions during your home search, that can be easier said than done when also balancing your family’s schedule. If your kids are in school, are you willing to potentially pull them out mid-year for a switch? It’s for this reason that the spring housing market tends to be so busy, as families are looking to close their deals and settle into their new abode over the summer vacation, before the next school year starts.
However, it can also be beneficial to go house hunting during quieter times of the year, such as the holidays or winter months, when there may be less competition from other buyers and prices are less likely to be steep. Check out the monthly National Statistics report from the Canadian Real Estate Association to get insight on home sales trends across the country.
Involve the Whole Family
It is important, when looking at a home for your family, that everyone feels involved in the process. The key is making sure that there is some sort of feature or space that appeals to everyone, whether it be spacious kitchen for the chef of the family or a large backyard for your dog can run around in. The best way to figure this out is by having a conversation about what each member of your family envisions when it comes to your new home as well as balancing needs and wants in order to come up with a reasonable idea of what your ideal space may look like.
Evaluate Your Needs and Wants
When determining what’s right for your family, it’s important to evaluate both your short-term needs, as well as the overall bigger picture – what will your family need to grow? Determining how long you plan to stay in this new home will also help in making important decisions. For example, is it in proximity to good schools for every stage of your kids’ development? Is there a grocery store, community centre, parks, and other family-friendly amenities nearby? It’s important to get a feeling for the neighbourhood, and how it will fit your family long-term.
It’s also important to evaluate your needs and wants when it comes to the interior of your home. If a larger home doesn’t fit your budget, will your children need to share a bedroom? Is there space to host guests, family, or sleepovers? It is worth ensuring that your new space can accommodate that in some capacity.
Finding the right home for your family is highly dependent on your personal circumstances. While looking for your ideal home, you may have to make some compromises in order to make sure that it fits everyone’s needs. Regardless of what property you end up choosing, you will end up with a wonderful new space to make memories in.
Zoocasa is a full-service brokerage that offers advanced online search tools to empower Canadians with the data and expertise they need to make more successful real estate decisions. View real estate listings at zoocasa.com or download our free iOS app.
