Quest Greek Islands

Finding Your Dream Home

Finding a home that is right for you may sound easier than you think but is not always that way. Often you may find that you struggle to compromise on what you want in an ideal property and how much you can afford. The important thing is that you must be able to find a place that you love and can afford and the rest is easy to solve. When looking at property, whether it is houses or apartments, try to have a firm idea of what you want so

that you don't have to settle for second best. Once you have a good idea of what you want, you will be able to make the next steps in searching for properties and finding you ideal new home.

Knowing What You Want
Look for a new home is exciting and stressful at the same time, but can be made easier if you have a firm plan of what you need from the property. Before you start to look at any properties, you should make a list of what you want the property to be like.
This includes: Number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, size of the house, would you like a garden or land (if so, how big?), garage, location ... these are all things to think about. It is better to make a list of what you need rather than jumping straight in to viewing random house's because they may not be suitable for you. To ensure that you will not be unhappy or disappointed with the house once you have moved in, take time to imagine your life in the house and consider whether or not it is really suitable for you. A good idea is to look carefully at your daily/weekly lifestyle at the moment in your own home and try to adapt it to a new home. So, if your daily/weekly routine means that you have guests stopping with you regularly, you work from home in an office or you have a lot of large furniture that you wish to take with you, then naturally you will need to find a place that will be suitable for your lifestyle.

Searching High and Low
When you have got a picture in your head of the kind of property you are looking for, you can begin searching in the area for the kind of property that you're looking for. If you don't live in the area where you wish to move to, then it is better to visit there as well and keep your options open when searching for a property in that area. If you were to search near to where you currently live, you will have a good idea of the area and the streets and will know whether or not you would like to live there, which immediately narrows down your search results. However, when you are looking at a new area, you must keep your options open and don't narrow down your search too much. Often when people are moving to a new area, they limit their chosen properties to just a few and then discover that they don't like that particular street or area of the town and have no other choices to fall back on. This is why it is a good idea to see a good choice of properties in a new area so that you are not disappointed if it wasn't how you imagined.

Making a List
When viewing properties, many people tend to feel uncomfortable about asking questions, making notes or ticking off points on a check list because they feel impolite in front of the estate agent or the owners. This is quite understandable, but if you were to take your own photo's of the property and write down notes that are important to you, then you would benefit from it later. You may notice particular features in a property that you like or don't like and might be particularly important to you. At the end of the day, after you have viewed a few properties, you can use your notes and pictures to narrow down which places you would consider as suitable, not suitable and any that you are not sure of.

Getting What You Want
The process of finding your ideal property can take longer than you might have expected, so don't be annoyed or impatient when you still haven't found what you're looking for. Remember that as long as your 'wish list' and idea of a perfect home for you is realistic, then there shouldn't be any reason why you can't find what you really want. As the buyer, it is important to remember that the customer is always right, so don't be pressured in to anything by the estate agent or any property owner, you call the shots and make the decisions!