Buying that ‘perfect’ home is a dream of any individual. After all, it constitutes one of the basic needs of life. If you are reading this it implies that you are already dreaming, mulling over and doing all sorts of mental arithmetic for buying a private corner for yourself on this vast house we call planet earth. Mark Twain once suggested, ‘Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.’ For today’s buyers though, the decision of investing on a property proves to be little more complicated than that. Fragile economy makes us vulnerable and we all need to be doubly sure before parting with our hard earned money. For the home shoppers, doing so for fulfilling personal or business needs, a number of criteria need to be checked meticulously before making a final decision on buying a house could be taken.
For those Willing to Set Up their Own Residence
Your plan of buying a house or a piece of land to erect one should not, under any circumstances, be based on emotional decision making process. This essentially means, a trip to enchanting Provence Alpes Cote D’azur may reveal the place to be irresistibly attractive but a decision of living there permanently may require thorough deliberation in a cool head. If you are buying your first house then carefully consider the following: how far away the place is from your office or place of business, what are the modes of communication available, is the place convenient for staying for your spouse or other family members, do you like the society and the cultural aspects of the place, how secure is it for permanent living, what are the distances between shopping centres and your proposed home, what are utilities and amenities – electricity, broadband internet connectivity, water supply and more – available, what would be the tax rate, are the locality close to healthcare facilities, schools etc, are you getting good value for money, what would be the resale opportunities in case you move your base at a future time. Apart from the cost of the property itself, do take into consideration the amount to be invested for renovation / repairing. This is a recurring cost in the lifetime of a property. The fees for the property agent, legal fees etc should be taken into account as well. Don’t forget that you would also need to decorate your dream house with classy furniture and upholstery. In case you are planning your primary residence away for your home country, which is exhibiting an increasing trend, then first consider if at all your country allows you to buy a house in that destination. What are the laws of the land? Employ good lawyers, translators if the language spoken is different from your mother tongue. Don’t follow the bandwagon and invest your money in buying a property at a place where you would hate living in the long run. After all, you believe you are setting up your dream home in paradise and your house should make you exceedingly comfortable and happy.[/p]
Buying Properties for Investment
Besides seasoned real estate investors, the upwardly mobile young generation also indulges in buying a second home that is to be used during specific times of the year for holiday making. For the rest of the year quite a few of these houses are let out as luxury holiday resorts. If such a thing is on your mind, then do think how it would attract prospective tenants. Is it close to centres of businesses and / or places where large number of tourists tends to gather? What would be the chance of reselling or leasing out the property in case in future you opt to set up a holiday home in a different part of the world.
Nigel Walters is a very experienced blogger who’s interests are property, investments and finance, he has written articles for a lot of online publishers including AltaVista Property Spain, he hopes to one day have his own online magazine.
