The decision to purchase a new home is a personal choice; there is no template that can tell all people whether or not they should move.
But there are signs.
If you are thinking about moving, but aren’t sure about the choice, here are a few signs that it may be time for your next property.
11 Signs it May be Time for a New Home
1. Your Family is Growing…and Growing…and Growing…
For many homeowners, the first sign that you need to purchase a new home is fairly obvious: your family is getting larger. If you are at the point in your life when children are being added to your home seemingly every other year, perhaps it’s time to consider moving to a larger house.
Many also welcome an extended family inside one home, so you may have grandparents, nephews, sister-in-laws, and other extended family members under one roof. Of course, you’re growing “family” may also include dogs, cats, and other pets. If it seems like people (and animals) living inside the home are constantly walking over each other, it may be time for a home with more square footage.
2. Your Children are All Out of the House
Empty nesters rarely need the home where children were raised. While there are many benefits for staying in the large family house, if you have a large home with numerous unused bedrooms, it may be time for a new property, possibly one with a much smaller mortgage payment! You may find that the extra space only makes you long for your adult children, while a new home could help you launch an exciting new chapter in your life!
3. You Can’t Stand Your Commute
Five years ago, your one-hour commute was, while not enjoyable, somehow bearable. But now you find it excruciating. Perhaps, after all this time, you’ve simply grown tired of spending an hour getting to work and another hours getting home; in a full workweek, that’s ten hours of commuting. In a year, you’re staring down roughly 500 hours of to-and-fro driving! It’s also possible that your area has seen rapid population growth, making your commute more crowded, increasing both the time it takes to get to work and the amount of stress you have to deal with every day. Maybe it’s time to move closer to the office!
4. The Garage No Longer Has Room for Your Vehicles
Remember back when you used the garage for parking your car? It doesn’t have to be a long-lost memory. If you are running out of storage space, and all of your extra gear, decorations, and equipment are now dominating the garage, you may want to consider a new home with more storage space.
5. The Neighborhood or School District is Declining
Neighborhoods change. Sometimes they change for the better, sometimes for the worse. If you are seeing signs of a declining neighborhood, or if the school district is trending downward, it may be time to sell your home before the area becomes worse, which can make it more difficult to sell your home at a fair price.
So what should you watch for? Crime rates are obvious, but you should also watch for increases in pollution, declining school-district ratings and ranking, and an increase in noisy, obnoxious activity, especially at night.
6. You No Longer “Fit” With Your Area
As we said above, neighborhoods change. But people do too. If your lifestyle has changed and your neighborhood, city, or region no longer makes you happy, maybe it’s time for a new home. Perhaps you purchased a condo near downtown in your early twenties because you loved the nightlife, restaurants, and entertainment; now you want something a little quieter, with a lighter cost of living. This is just one (rather obvious and typical) example of how people’s changing lifestyles motivate them to seek a new home.
7. Stairs Make Living in Your Home Difficult
Anyone who has mobility issues, caused either by declining health, age, or injury, will have problems living in a home with multiple staircases. You could overhaul the house with ramps and lifts, but purchasing a single-story home could provide a more convenient solution.
8. The House Needs Extensive Repair Work
Every home needs maintenance at some point, but if your home needs extensive repair work, work that you either don’t want to deal with or don’t have the funds to support, you may consider selling and purchasing a new property. Depending on the required work, selling could actually be less of a hassle.
9. Your Current Home Doesn’t Support Your Hobby
Do you have a hobby that simply isn’t supported by your current home? Maybe you enjoy woodworking, automotive tinkering, or knitting, but have no space in the home for this activity. Perhaps you want to take up gardening, but don’t have a yard. (Or an HOA doesn’t allow gardens.)
10. Your Kid’s Friends Never Come to Visit
Do your kids always go to their friend’s house, and not the other way around? If your children are alway’s staying at a friend’s, perhaps you need a larger space to make your home more enjoyable. (And maybe you’ll see your kids more!)
11. For Whatever Reason, You’re Just Not Happy with Your Home
Sometimes, you don’t need a specific, definable reason. You don’t need a pain point, such as a long commute or crowded garage, to tell you it’s time to move. If you’re simply not happy with the home, if you don’t enjoy your house and rarely invite company, that may be motivation enough to buy a new property. Sometimes general, undefinable discontent with a house is all the motivation you need to buy a new home.
Proud to Assist with the Purchase of Your New Home!
If you are seeing multiple signs that you need to buy a new home, contact our friendly, reliable staff today. We can walk you through all the available mortgage products so you can make the right choice for your next purchase!
