Whether you’re in the market for beach real estate or an East Coast vacation home, making the decision to acquire real estate is not an easy one. Below are a three questions you’ll want to ask yourself before contacting people or frantically making East Coast vacation home investments (can you tell we’re biased?):
1.Who will be living in this home?
Are you one of the 13% of market buyers investing in a multi-generational home to cope with aging parents and a millenial or two taking their time to launch? Or are you investing in rental property and are looking for the perfect East Coast vacation home to sell for rent rather than live in? These two scenarios and the dozens of others that are possible will greatly effect your ideal choice.
2. What will this home be used for?
Is your future investment in the upward-trending housing market one of leisure, business, or livability? The specs on lake front property will obviously greatly differ than those of a high rise in the middle of Tokyo, for example. You’re going to have to take into account your different utility priorities depending on the context. One great way to do this is to write a scenario of an average day spend in the home. You as the scenario writer should narrate from the point of view of whoever will live there. So, if it’s Japanese stock brokers, walk yourself through what that conference might look like. If it’s you, your kids, and your kids’ kids, that’ll be a totally different scenario.
3.Where exactly will this home be located?
The broadness of your search depends on the situation, but this is probably the most important narrowing-down you will do in the housing search. We highly recommend picking a few key neighborhoods and then hiring a real estate agent to do the rest. If you’re leery of the real estate market hustle, get a trusted referral from a friend or family member. Trained realtors know the state of the housing market as a whole as well as all of the listings in your desired area. They will also be able to negotiate with previous owners on your behalf and walk you through the often complex paperwork associated with home ownership.
Essentially, this list asks you to consider the form, location, and function of your future home in a disciplined manner before bringing in the professionals. You would be surprised how few people stop to concretely outline these basics before diving right into the search, but we feel it is well worth the effort.
