And The Next Home Goes To...

The majority of last weekend I spent in the New Jersey suburbs of the Greater Philadelphia region, where I spent most of my childhood years growing up.

During this trip to South Jersey, I had the lovely chance to go house hunting with a family friend, accompanied by an amazing realtor who really showed us some great listings in the area, a baker's dozen in one day to be exact.

When it comes to house hunting, many first-time homebuyers find it to be more of a chore rather than an ultimately fun experience. They also expect everything on their wish list to be included in all of the homes they see, or at least a decent amount. Unfortunately, everything on that list is never usually compiled into one home. But a lot of the items on it can be combined into an almost amazing home. The upside of not finding the perfect home that fulfills all of the wants on your list, is that over time, you can fix those imperfections into something even better than what you had wished for during your initial home search.

If a home has the space and layout that you're looking for, but the cosmetic features that make you dizzy, that's fine. Cosmetics are an easy thing to fix, structural layout, not so much. If you found the perfect home, at a decent price, but it happened to have horribly tacky wallpaper in three of the bedrooms, would you let it go? That's a question I can't answer for a buyer, but honestly, there's no reason to take if off your list. A cosmetic fix is not going to break the bank as much as gutting a kitchen will.

Also, remember to ignore the taste and decor of the current homeowner. Those are things that will be leaving the house, you're not purchasing their stuff, (unless you offer to buy the house furnished) so why should their ugly dining room table matter to you when looking at the place? Make sure to walk into a space and ignore the potentially gaudy furnishings and accessories, and try to envision your own pieces in the space. Think about what you would change to make it your own home, and not the soon-to-be former owner's house.

One of the houses we looked at seemed like quite the contender, besides the small backyard. It had a gorgeous kitchen, with only minor cosmetic adjustments needed, a finished basement, and priced well within their budget. And with my insight on how to make adjustments to the backyard, including replacing the old oversized wooden deck with a smaller patio made up of pavers, (adding more green space to the yard) and by clearing out the awkwardly shaped brush area to put in a nice outdoor fire pit accompanied by a lounge seating area, the current bland backyard could ultimately be the entertaining backyard of their dreams!

House hunting is a process, and can take several weeks, months, or even years, but if you look at the house as a whole, versus the tacky pink carpeting in the living room, finding that almost perfect home could be a much easier, shorter, painless process. And the only way to find that next future home, is by opening another door...hopefully the door to your new H-O-M-E.

Happy Hunting!