How to turn your next house into your dream home and your best investment

When you start looking for a house to purchase, it can be a really exciting yet daunting time. If you get it right you could be very happy and live there for many years – it might even become your forever home. If you get it wrong it can be a very expensive mistake.

When you start looking for a house to purchase, it can be a really exciting yet daunting time. If you get it right you could be very happy and live there for many years – it might even become your forever home. If you get it wrong it can be a very expensive mistake.

Here are a few tips about how to make your next move wisely and find a house that your family will love and represents a good investment.

Start with a list of criteria and be willing to amend it

You should start a house search with a list of criteria, for example, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, three off road parking spaces. But it may not be until you start rejecting houses that you better understand what you want. If you have small children and pets, you may want to live in a cul-de-sac or side road rather than a main road. You may decide that you’d rather live in a period house with smaller rooms but a larger plot than a new large detached house with a smaller garden. You often don’t know what you want until you see it. Think about current and also future requirements as your family grows up.

It is really important not to be put off a house by the things that are relatively easy and cheap to change such as décor, kitchens and bathrooms. However, it is essential that you are happy with the aspects that cannot be changed such as location, proximity of a main road or neighbours, ceiling height and size of plot.

You may want to do some renovation or improvement work but after viewing a charming wreck, realize that the cost of renovations plus the need to rent a property whilst extensive work is undertaken, makes a project like this out of your budget.

The key to a successful house purchase is getting a property you like that can become a home you love for the right price. If you can negotiate a deal to allow you to carry out the improvements the house needs and cover other necessary costs, the eventual rewards could be fantastic. This sort of project is not for the faint hearted. Employing a project manager in many cases negates any profit that could have been made so managing the project yourself is always the best way to maximize profits. Don’t underestimate the stress and work involved but you’ll gain a lot of knowledge along the way.

During times of super low returns on savings, house renovation and improvement, especially of period properties is still one of the best ways of making your money work harder for you.

Ways to ensure the project is affordable and that you will be able to finish it

When you view the property, be realistic about the state that it is in and what is achievable planning permission wise. If the building is listed, it could be tricky to get permission to make large increases in floor area so make sure it’s a sensible purchase even if you don’t get planning permission for everything you have in mind. Speak to a planning officer at the council to assess what is likely to be approved, even before you buy the house.

If it’s a period property, be sure to keep or reinstate period features. Future purchasers will pay a premium for a property with it’s period features intact such as plaster coving, tall skirting boards, timber windows, cast iron guttering and tiled floors. Adding UPVC or aluminium windows devalues period properties despite what window salesmen will tell you.

Speak to several builders to assess what the project might cost you to work out affordability.

Finally, the best way to ensure that a property is right for you is to view lots of them. Your gut feeling and sixth sense are invaluable when it comes to finding “the one”. Trust your instincts, back up any decisions with hard facts (area, budget, sold house prices in the street before and after renovation) and be prepared to spend the time you need to get the result you want. And above all, wear comfortable shoes!

Emma Page, owner, The Victorian Emporium (www.thevictorianemporium.com/)