When you close your eyes and picture your perfect home, what do you see?
Are you picturing 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a yard? Or are you picturing a location that’s near your parents? Are you picturing a garage?
Often house hunting can be prolonged because we don’t truly know what we want. The logistics you know; how many bedrooms you need, what school district(s) you like, how far from work you want to be. But somehow, every house you see isn’t right. How is that possible?
Well, we forget decisions are based on both facts (logistics) and feelings. If you haven’t taken stalk in what feelings you want your new home to evoke for you, you may not have a full list of what’s important. That’s the thing that’s missing; it’s the personal stuff, not the square footage! The things that ultimately get rated highest are the ones that create ‘feeling’ for you.
My sister struggled to find the right home because she hadn’t figured out what feeling the home needed to provide until late into the process. When she finally sat down and listed how she wanted to feel (like the home our family would associate with Christmas and Thanksgiving, etc.) she knew she was looking for a home with a warm and inviting kitchen that could hold several people at once, and a dining room/living room large enough to host 25+ people for Thanksgiving. Once she knew that, her house hunting criteria changed and she found her home shortly after.
When I bought my home, I knew ahead of time what I wanted to feel, so I rated the things that were most important to me on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being must have. (I do have an advantage…I’ve been showing homes for 13+ years so I knew what I wanted). One of my must haves was to be near water (river, pool, creek, etc.) which is probably not anyone else’s preference, but it was one of my Aries fire “for balance” must haves. I also was looking for a view from my home office; it didn’t matter if it was skyline or landscape or cityscape or parkland, it just had to be pretty, so when I glanced up from my computer, I would see something real and appealing that made me ‘feel’.
Sure, you may need to change a few things around the home once it’s yours (landscaping, update a bathroom, etc.) but the coolest part is when you feel it, you are ready to win! You know what you need to do to win and you’re ok with taking risks to make it happen. (Calculated risks with help from a great agent and a preferred lender, of course).
Have you rated what’s most important to you in a home based on how you hope to feel in it? Have you taken time to get clarity (I’ve written about it here)? If not, I recommend you do so. Respond to this email or call me for a copy of my clarity worksheet and rating worksheet to help you get the most out of your house hunting.
Warmly,
Arynne
PS: Not sure if you’re quite ready to buy your next home just yet? No problem. The sooner you start learning the ins and outs of this process, the better. Click here to book a real estate possibility call with me today.
