Dream Home Plans
How To Make Your Dream Home A Reality
It is always nice, when the weather outside is grey and miserable, to cast your mind into a pleasant daydream. You’ll think about the places you want to travel to, the experiences you want to have, and then ultimately the place that you would love to call home: your dream house, which you can picture oh so clearly in your mind. This will be the place where you raise your family, host parties, and grow old. It’s beautiful, but is it just a daydream? Whatever your circumstances are right now is irrelevant. Everyone can get their dream house: it just might take some people a little longer than others.
♦ Taking Baby Steps
Unless you’re one of those ridiculously fortunate independently wealthy type of people, you’re probably not going to walk straight into your dream house the second your mind has projected it. For starter’s, few people have dream home plans and ideas in line with what they can afford right there and then: that’s why it’s a dream home. Instead, think of your dream home as the end destination of a journey with many steps. The key thing is to get on the property ladder. Things will become much easier if you’re slowly increasing the size of your house rather than trying to buy the biggest and best house straight away.
♦ Finding the Property
There’s also something you should consider when it comes to your dream home: it probably doesn’t exist. The home that is right for you does, but the one that has everything you’re daydreaming about probably doesn’t. For instance, unless you’re a millionaire you’d be hard pressed to find a five bedroom home with good schools nearby that are within short commuting distances. Finding the property to match your dreams is about scaling what’s important to you: is it the neighbourhood, the property size, or something else? You won’t have to sacrifice the other details entirely, but it gives you a solid starting point from which to begin your search.
♦ Crunching the Numbers
You’ve found the house, yay! And now…you need to know whether you can afford it. It’s time to crunch your numbers. How much house deposit do you have? What are you able to spend per month? Use a service like Home Promise for example and get a mortgage quote; you’ll be in a better position to see whether you can afford your home immediately or whether you need to save some money.
Also, remember that your initial number crunching might have been inadequate: there are always ways to cut down your monthly bills. Might you be able to live with just one car? Do you really need cable television? And how about that unused gym membership? Cutting these bills could bring in valuable extra cash. And when you’ve done that, you can transfer the money you’ve saved right over to your house fund.
♦ Be Patient If It’s Not Realistic
It is tempting to push yourself to get your dream house, especially if you’re ready for a change and you’ve already seen a property you love. However, be aware that you’ll be causing your unnecessary stress – and many years of it – if you’re too tempted to buy the house and do so even though it’s out of your budget right now. There’ll always be other opportunities to buy the house that feels right, and it may be wiser to do so in the future because you’ll earn more money as you age. So play it cool: there’s no need to rush these things.
♦ Remember: It’s Not Easy
It’s stressful when you buy any house. It’s doubly stressful when you’re trying to buy your dream home. You and your partner will argue from time to time for the same reason that most other couples fight: money. Expect to tighten your purse strings for a while until you’ve bought the house and have it looking just as you want it to look You’ll most likely have a fair amount of time where you can’t live the glamorous lifestyle you’d like to have. But remember, in the end, it’ll all be worth it!
♦ Adaptable Expectations
In the end, the key to realizing your dream home plans is to be pretty loose about your expectations. There should be a degree of adaptability in your approach. Think of your dream home as an idea rather than something you could sketch out to a ‘T’ on a piece of paper. Keep things open and you might find that the perfect house is nothing like the one you thought it’d be. So long as you’re completely content and happy in your home, that might be the dream home after all!
Good Luck
Thank you so much for your time!
Klaudia