5 Strategies to Find Your Dream Home
You don't have to leave finding your dream home to your imagination. Make it a reality with these 5 strategies.
When you think of the term “dream home”, images of castles, luxury penthouses, and waterfront views may pop into mind.
But if you’re in the driver’s seat of serious home buyership, you know your own idea of a dream home is so much more than that. To get really clear and home in on the exact dream home for you, there are steps you can take to make it a reality.
How You Can Define — and Find — Your Dream Home
Whether you’re pulling your inspiration from the latest reality TV show you’re streaming or the Pinterest board you’ve curated for years, the home buying process snaps you into really getting clear on what your dream home actually means.
Here are 5 strategies to find the home of your dreams.
#1. Know How Much Home You Can Afford
When it comes to finding your dream home, you absolutely must start from square one: know exactly how much home you can afford. Ideally, you’re already pre-approved for a mortgage and have a good amount in your savings account.
By knowing your buying power and being equipped with real, tangible funds to purchase a home, you can work within the budgeted parameters of your home buying budget. This means you can define a solid price range to dream home-hunt, first and foremost.
#2. Get Clear on What You Really Want in Your Dream Home
What does a dream home mean to you? Consider this exercise:
- Get a pen and sheet of paper and set a timer for 5 minutes. As soon as you start the timer, jot down all of the words that pop into your head when you think of the phrase “dream home”.
As soon as the buzzer goes off, stop.
Now, take a look at what you’ve jotted down. Get another piece of paper — or type it up — and start identifying common themes or qualities. After that, narrow them down into your nice-to-haves, which are aspects in a home that would be a bonus, but aren’t necessary, as well as your must-haves, which are non-negotiable, unshakeable qualities in your dream home.
Consider the finished product your tangible map to the type of dream home you can start to search for.
#3. List Out Your Top Neighborhoods to Live In
Now, it’s time to crack open a literal map of the market, town, city, or area you plan to move to.
Start looking at the neighborhoods in this area, and begin to dig into the characteristics of each neighborhood. Do your research on Google, as well as on Instagram, which will give you a great, boots-on-ground perspective of day-to-day life in those neighborhoods.
Take a close look: What type of people live there? What local businesses serve the area? What activities are available? Is it more outdoorsy, suburban, or focused on nightlife? And, most importantly, what qualities line up with the home of your dreams?
Knowing the neighborhoods to focus on — and cutting out the ones that don’t interest you — can help you get one step closer to finding your perfect home.
#4. Define Your Taste and Your Style
As you continue to distill down your idea of a dream home into a tangible reality, start to think of the type of house you’d like to live in. What architectural styles do you favor? Do the homes in the neighborhoods you’ve identified as your top picks have a specific type of build? Are you better suited for a vintage bungalow, or is a luxury condo more your fit?
Shifting to the aesthetic vision of your dream home can help you know exactly what qualities, or similar qualities, in a home’s physical structure to seek out.
#5. Partner Up with a Trusted, Professional Real Estate Agent in the Area You Plan to Live
To really ensure you find the home of your dreams, you need to work with a professional real estate agent that works in the area where you want to buy your dream home.
Because you’re already equipped with all of the finer details of what makes up your dream home, you're ahead of the game. Pro agents know how to find and seek out the home of your dreams with their expertise in the local market, vast network, and keen eye for the finer details. They can also work with you to find equally dreamy backup properties.
Lastly, but most importantly, a professional agent can ensure your path to finding and securing your dream home is well-managed, organized, and streamlined from start to finish.
Don’t just imagine your dream home, make it a reality by connecting with a top agent in your local area on RealEstateAgents.com.
