When deciding to buy a new house, what’s the most important consideration or decision? Should you be buying a nice home or a nice neighbourhood?
When you start shopping for a home, you probably have a very specific image in your mind of what you would like that home to look like. You probably also see the perfect neighbourhood surrounding that perfect home. Every buyer sets out with an image of the house they would love to own, but in reality compromises are often necessary in order to stay within your budget.
Compromising On The House
There may be certain things that are non-negotiable when it comes to your new home, such as the number of bedrooms, the type of construction, or a two-car garage. But as you take a look at the homes for sale that are within your budget, you may soon discover that it is unlikely you will get everything on your wish list.
The great thing about owning your own home is that you have the power to renovate, or remodel it at any time. Once you are in your new home, you can renovate or even add on if necessary to create the home you really want. (Within Council requirements of course) And if you have managed to stay under your budget, you should even have the extra funds to make some of those changes.
Compromising On The Neighbourhood
OK, so you’ve found the house of your dreams, but the neighbourhood isn’t precisely what you were hoping for. Perhaps there’s too much traffic, or some of the neighbouring houses are becoming run down, or maybe there are a number of other issues that indicate the location of this ‘dream house’ is in ‘not such a great area’. In most cases, you will have to accept that you cannot change the neighbourhood, or the location, and this means that you either have to decide if the problems are things you can live with or not.
In some cases, buying in a run-down neighbourhood can be a strategic move. If many people are buying up the houses and improving them, then your home might one day be worth a lot more. However, you must realise that this is usually a risky strategy at best as it can often take years for a suburb or neighbourhood to go through a renaissance or an upgrade, and other times, it just might not work out the way you had envisaged.
Another thing to bear in mind is that if you choose to buy the nicest house in the neighbourhood, there is a very real possibility that you could have trouble selling it down the line. If other houses in the area are selling for less, then why would anyone buy your expensive house to get into the area?
So Which Matters More?
In the long run, when it comes down to choosing between the right house and the right neighbourhood, its always your decision, but if you’re looking for the best advice, we would usually always recommend that you should choose the right neighbourhood first. Whilst you can always choose to change your house for the better, improve it, renovate it, or even add on to it, you can’t count on your neighbourhood changing for the better; in fact, it might even get worse. So choosing the best neighbourhood that you can afford to buy into will always be the best strategy when buying a house, even if the house there isn’t your perfect ‘dream home’.