Photo by StevenM_61
First-time buyers often start looking for their homes listening only to their gut feelings. It is certainly possible to find the house of your dreams through a combination of intuition and sheer luck; however, it is much better to be well informed about the best ways to make your investment worth the cost.
Getting over the hurdle
To save as much as possible, home buyers should not be afraid to act like investors, since behaving and thinking like a classical buyer definitely does not lead to maximized profits, advises Don Campbell, a Vancouver real estate expert who analyzes and writes about the Canadian real estate industry.
Of course, it is not always easy to be a hundred per cent rational about your first real estate purchase, but Campbell offers a list of certain criteria that may help you make a good decision within the housing area of your preference.
“You fall in love with a house in a neighbourhood that has a future and not a past,” he says, “Buy in an area where the property values will go up.” For example, it is a good idea to go for properties situated near a train or LRT station, as the price of such property is likely to rise considerably faster compared to other, similar homes that are not so close to public transport lines.
Another vital point is determining your mortgage properly. You should take care to analyze what you can afford and work out your monthly payments very carefully in order to minimize the amount of interest payments to the bank over the years.
The last piece of advice is linked to buyers’ work and lifestyle. You should always consider what neighbourhood fits your needs best and stick to the location that will match your lifestyle requirements as well as the one you fall in love with — it will be your home, after all!
