I haven’t owned a home yet. I am still waiting for our lives to settle permanently. My husband is in grad school, and then will move on to a post doc before he gets a permenant job. So we have been living in apartments and duplexes.

When we do decide to buy a home, these things will come into consideration.

1. Location: We obviously want to live close to the job, where ever it may be, but also consider doing your research first. Is the neighborhood safe? Whats the crime rate? Is it near schools?  Having children, these are all important factors. I love reading the “Best Places To Raise Kids” lists, I always want to move to the best place. My kids safety is always important.
2. Talk to neighbors, check newspapers, go to city hall, find out everything you can about the property. Previous owners, any crime their etc. You don’t want to move in and then find out that it was a meth house or something.
3. Needs and wants:  When you are looking, you need to consider what you need and want. How many bedrooms do you really need, dishwasher? Washer and dryer hook ups etc. As a mother I know that a dishwasher and laundry hookups are a must.
4. Mortgage: Can you afford to buy a new home, will you qualify for a loan.  Buying a house can be a really big deal and cost a lot.  It’s best to sit down and look at all your options and figure what is best, and more importantly what you can afford. For us, we will receive the Va Home loan, which will be a blessing when we buy our first home.
5. New or fixer: We have always talked about just buying a fixer upper as a new house. It would be cheap and easy to clean up.  With that, you have to consider how much you can afford for remodeling. How much has to be done to the house for it to be really liveable and comfortable etc.

I can’t wait to buy my First home. It’s going to be one of my biggest accomplishments.

Disclosure: I wrote this post with Information sourced from Genworth Financial.