1.  Rural, Urban or City?

If you are contemplating country living how large does the lot need to be?  How fat are you willing to commute for work, products and services?

If you decide to live in the city then you must decide what area and what neighborhood would satisfy your needs. 

2.  Picking the right style of home.

What style of home do you want?

The majority of fist time buyers do not have an answer to this question.  The wife may express an interest in a cape cod, while the husband wants a ranch style home.

The key to eliminating most styles of homes from the list depends on one question:  Do you want your home to have stairs?  If the answer is no, then most styles like cape cods, Tudors colonials and most contemporaries are eliminated.   

The decision to buy a home without stairs points you in the direction of ranch-style homes.  However, knowing you want all your space in one floor is one thing; knowing how you want the exterior to look is another.  Ranches can have many looks from the exterior.  Your one level could be styled in a Spanish design, a contemporary look or one of the many other more traditional configurations.  Other issues to consider are the materials of the house,  Should it have vinyl siding, hardy board, stucco, or wood siding?  Do you want the home to have an attached or detached garage?  Answering these questions before seriously seeking a home is very helpful in narrowing the search.

How to decide on style?

One way is to look through books of house plans.  Another is by becoming familiar with roof designs.  Some of the roof designs to choose from are gable, gambrel, mansard, hip and saltbox.  Another way is to visit full-scale model homes offered in new sub-divisions. 

3.  How important are the neighborhood conveniences?

Are you looking for a certain school district?  Biking trails or nearby parks may be a priority in your list.  Also consider the location of shopping facilities or bus lines.  Make a list of any of these types of questions and ask the seller or real estate agent.

4.  Another important consideration are real state taxes.

Taxes can change by neighborhood or city locality.  A few miles could reduce property taxes by as much as 40% in some cases.  This type of savings could mean the difference between getting the house you love or the house you can live with.

5.  Covenants, restrictions and home owner’s fees.

Are you willing to pay an association fee to live in a selected area?  If so, how much are you willing to pay?  Do not let association fees surprise you after you own the property.  Also, consider that with home owner associations come covenants, and restrictions in most cases.  Looking into the covenants and restrictions of a neighborhood may make you aware of the limits you are allowed to do with your property.  Some covenants and restrictions may ruin your plans.  Don’t wait until own the property to find out you can not do this or that. 

6.  Zoning

Zoning can have untold effects on a property’s value.  With the right zoning a home’s value can sky rocket.  Conversely, zoning can cost you tons of headaches and heartaches.  For example zoning can stop you from running a business from home.  There have been cases were an older home is divided into two or three apartments.  A purchaser buys it only to find out several months down the road that the property is not zoned for multi-family use.  Soon after that you are informed by the zoning enforcement officer that you must convert the property to a single-family dwelling in a short period of time.  This new turn of events can put a severe crunch in you cash flow.  Since zoning has many effects on real estate you will do well to establish the zoning requirements before seeking a home in a specific area of town. 

A wise idea is to create a “spec sheet” to help you with important features and to remind you of issues you must address before you commit to the biggest purchase you will make in a life time.