Making Your Dream Home Come True

With the proliferation of homes and interior magazines and televisions shows it seems like we are more obsessed with our homes than ever before. We see dream homes being built, created or bought on TV programmes and could be forgiven for thinking that would never happen to us, but, clearly, dreams do sometimes come true.

So if you have a particular type of dream home in mind, just how can you achieve it? Well, here is a list of things to consider:

1. Know what you are looking for. It is almost impossible to achieve a dream unless you know what that dream is (unless, of course, you are very lucky) so start out by trying to pin down just what it is that constitutes a dream home for you. It is different for different individuals and you need to know what you don't want as much as what you do. Some people want a quiet country idyll whereas others could think of nothing worse than village life with no smart restaurants and art galleries to pop out to so make sure what you are imagining is actually what you want and not what you think would impress other people; after all you will be living there.

The perfect home is not always the most expensive or most impressive to look at. Large gardens may be beautiful but take a lot of maintenance; are you prepared for that? Similarly a large home takes a lot of upkeep, is expensive to run and can feel too large if there are only one or two people living there.

1. Beprepared to compromise on the small details. If you find a home that is perfect in most respects, then accept that might be as close as you can get. Particularly if the one feature you don't like can be easily changed then that shouldn't be a deal breaker. If the bathroom doesn't have that freestanding bath you always wanted but has the room to install one, or there is no conservatory but space to erect one, then these are relatively minor details providing you allow for them in your budget. But if it doesn't have things that are a major factor, such as a countryside location, or off-street parking in a busy town location then these are factors that will affect your enjoyment of living there so know what is genuinely a compromise and what is something that can easily be changed. A little bit of flexibility and fore-sight can get you something that may not be your dream home now but could easily become it, whereas sticking rigidly to a checklist may mean you never achieve that dream.
2. Don't forget about the serious stuff. Buying a home is an expensive and stressful business so don't lose sight of the financial impact of moving. There's not much point having your dream city pad if you can't go out and enjoy the nightlife because the mortgage is too much of a stretch (although realistically that is far less likely to happen now with the tighter bank lending controls).

It is common to think that if only you had a bit more money then moving house would be easier - you would find your dream home, but buying a home is such a difficult choice for most of us that the choice would be no easier just because we had more money. So accept what your budget is and work within it. Sometimes a lack of choice doesn't mean that there are no homes in your price rage, just none on the market right now; sit tight and hopefully one will come up soon, and if it doesn't then be prepared to put your stuff in self storage bedford and rent for a while until that dream home (or nearly) does become available. It may be worth waiting a year with your possessions in storage than settling for something you will never be happy with.

The author has written and published articles on a wide range of topics including Small Business Advice, Tax and Accounting, Interior Design, House Renovation and Project Management.