When you’re buying your first home, it can be hard to know where to start. With so many cities, neighborhoods, and properties to choose from, how do you narrow down the options and find the right home for you?
You ask the right questions.
So what are those questions? A recent video from realtor.com outlined the key questions you’ll want to ask yourself when evaluating a home to help you narrow down your search and find the perfect property, including:
- How far is it from work? If you work from home, commuting isn’t an issue. But if your job requires you to go into a physical location, you’ll want to consider how far that location is from potential houses, and whether you’re willing to commute that distance to and from work every day.
- How’s the traffic? When it comes to your commute, it’s not just how far a potential home is from your office; it’s also how much traffic you’ll sit in every day while covering that distance. Before you settle on a home, make sure to do your research on the traffic in the area and how that traffic will impact your commute, both to work and other necessary destinations, like the grocery store.
- What’s close by? Some people want their home to be central to everything, while others prefer to have plenty of distance between their home and city life. As you’re looking at homes, consider what you want (or don’t want) close by, like schools, restaurants, or a shopping area — and then make sure the properties you’re looking at fit the bill.