{"id":5021,"date":"2013-12-20T10:43:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-20T09:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5021"},"modified":"2021-06-02T17:37:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T16:37:28","slug":"how-to-find-the-home-of-your-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-find-the-home-of-your-dreams\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Find the Home of Your Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many people in the world have the same basic dream when they\u2019re younger. They want to be successful, they want a loving family, and they want to live in a big, safe house with a nice yard, a picket fence, smack dab in the middle of a niche neighborhood. The home of your dreams is something you will undoubtedly try to make a reality at different points throughout your life.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->If you think you\u2019re ready to make that move, then there are a few things you should realize before leaping right in. Planning the process and using some solid tips along the way will increase your odds of finding the home of your dreams for a price you can afford.<\/p>\n<h2>5 Great Tips for Finding Your Dream Home<\/h2>\n<h3>1: Dream Realistically<\/h3>\n<p>Wanting champagne and caviar on a shrimp cocktail budget is what led in big part to the 2008 housing crisis. Yes, lenders were unscrupulous, and bankers, speculators and traders attempting to become rich screwed the prices up drastically. But people shopping above their limit wasn\u2019t smart. Keep this in mind while you\u2019re envisioning your \u201cdream\u201d home. Do you need extra bedrooms, multiple bathroom, acres of land, brand new amenities and fixtures, etc? First things first: You have to dream realistically.<\/p>\n<h3>2: Tidy Up Your Credit<\/h3>\n<p>Because of the shape the market is in today, getting a home mortgage isn\u2019t as easy as it once was. You should look into tidying up your credit. Find a free credit report and look at different ways to shore things up. Find a good co-signer if possible. Present a plan to the lenders. And unless you have no other options available, stay away from an <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adjustable-rate_mortgage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">adjustable-rate mortgage<\/a>. You may be able to get pre-approved for a flat rate, at least for 5 or so years, to give you some predictability.<\/p>\n<h3>3: Make a List of Must-Haves<\/h3>\n<p>What must you have in your dream package? This is a list you need to make. A ground-floor master, a garden, a good school district, a safe neighborhood, etc \u2013 these are typically part of people\u2019s must-have lists. Use the realistic example and create a list of your home must-haves, and then be willing to compromise with yourself to narrow it down. For example, if one of your musts is a large laundry room, understand that budgeting might make it necessary for something like this to be sacrificed. So make sure it\u2019s truly a \u201cmust\u201d on the list.<\/p>\n<h3>4: Learn All About the Home<\/h3>\n<p>When you find a solid contender for your dream home, you want to learn all about the home. There are many things you need to consider, and many of those things might be (conveniently) overlooked by an inspector, especially working for the lender.<\/p>\n<p>You want to know a lot about the home, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Its past owners<\/li>\n<li>The neighborhood\/district<\/li>\n<li>How the pipes\/wiring operate behind the scenes<\/li>\n<li>If the appliances function<\/li>\n<li>If there\u2019s any structural damage<\/li>\n<li>How the roof\/ceiling is holding up<\/li>\n<li>The home\u2019s insulation<\/li>\n<li>The age of the home and its history of maintenance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With this information, you know what you\u2019re getting into.<\/p>\n<h3>5: Be Willing to Build<\/h3>\n<p>If a home has some damage, don\u2019t fret and run away. You should never be afraid to build your dream home. Practically speaking, damage that costs you a few thousand pounds to fix will end up knocking three or four times that off of the price. So you\u2019re not only saving money, but you\u2019re also fixing the home to your more exact image. You can find professionals out there to handle <a href=\"http:\/\/www.polygongroup.com\/uk\/our-services\/water-damage-restoration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">damage restoration<\/a> for a great price and great turnaround time. You can mold your home into your dream home and save money in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Shopping for your dream home is definitely doable on practically any budget, as long as you\u2019re willing to be realistic, and as long as you don\u2019t shy away from fixer-uppers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many people in the world have the same basic dream when they\u2019re younger. They want to be successful, they want a loving family, and they want to live in a big, safe house with a nice yard, a picket fence, smack dab in the middle of a niche neighborhood. The home of your dreams is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[612,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-maintenace","category-housing-market"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5935,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions\/5935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hip-consultant.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}