How To Know If You Are Ready To Move

Buying a new house is one of the biggest purchases you will make in your life. It can bring with it a wave of emotions, ranging from excitement, to anxiety, to being completely overwhelmed. To ensure you are ready for this huge step, this blog will go through some of the things to ask yourself to see if you are 100% ready to buy a new house.

1. Type of House

First and foremost, knowing which type of house you want to buy is a great start to the buying process. Yes, this may sound obvious, but many people often do not consider the wide array of options available to them.

Do you want to settle down in a cosy cottage or bungalow? Or do you want to have a hand in the creation of your new home with a custom build? Maybe you would want to live in a detached house with a garden for extra privacy for you and your family? There are several types of houses, so doing initial research into which type will best serve your desires (within your budget) is an important steppingstone to buying a new house.

At Clarendon Homes we strive to cater for our customers’ needs, as shown by our extensive range of house types across our new homes in Kent.

2. Your Career

Once you have decided which type of house you want, you need to evaluate whether your career facilitates the purchase of a new home. As you can imagine, buying a new house can be an expensive ordeal, so you must ask yourself some questions and be as realistic with yourself as possible.

The most important things to consider are job stability and the stage of your career. If you are planning on moving for work, are you assured that your job is secure and you will not be let go next week/month/year? Are there opportunities for pay rises which would help with all the new costs you are incurring? Will you be travelling a lot; in which case do you need to consider being near transport links?

If you are working at your dream job and you are asked to relocate, assessing whether you are ready to pursue the opportunity of a lifelong dream at the expense of leaving your past behind (particularly if you are moving across the country or abroad) is a huge decision, one which I would recommend speaking  to people who are close to you about.

If you are confident that your career facilities and warrants the purchase of a new home, then you are one step closer to being ready to make the final purchase.

3. Finance

Finance is, as you can imagine, often considered the scariest part of becoming a new homeowner. That being said, there are plenty of schemes available to help, as well as articles (some written by yours truly) to give some extra advice about the whole situation. As there is so much to talk about, if you would like to read more about the financial side of proceedings, please follow the links below to some of our other blogs once you have finished reading this one.

• 9 Important Costs To Consider When Moving Houses.
• A Beginner’s Guide To Mortgages.

4. Your Personal Life

Remember how you are always reminded to look after your ‘work-life’ balance? The same applies when buying a new house. As well as evaluating your career, you must take your personal life into account before moving; if you are not in the right personal situation then moving will be an emotional rollercoaster.

The main questions you need to ask yourself are as follows:

• Do you have a family/family on the way? If you are moving, your family (and potential future family) should be your top priority. You must consider their needs as well as your own – can your partner find work in the new location? If you are planning on having more children, will the new house have enough bedrooms to cater for this? Will your children be able to adjust to the new home and location? (To read more about the last point, check out our blog: 4 tips for helping your children when moving to a new home.)
• Are you ready to settle down? Houses are long-term solutions which you cannot easily back out of in the short-term.
• Can you leave family and friends behind? Leaving the nest and spreading your wings is a huge decision, and not one to be taken lightly – not regularly seeing the people you are used to mixing with can be a massive shock to the system. If you are excited for independence and to start a new chapter in your life with new surroundings and people, then the world is your oyster. On the other hand, if your answer to this question is simply ‘No’, it is important to know that there is nothing wrong with that. Wanting to find a new home near loved ones is perfectly normal, so do not feel like you need to be apart from them to start a new chapter.

5. Gut Feeling

At the end of the day, you could know all you need to know about the above points, be completely prepared to move and start that new chapter of your life… but something just doesn’t seem right. You aren’t as excited as you feel you should be, or you can’t shake the feeling of not wanting to move out of your current home. It is important to take these feelings into consideration, but it is equally important to avoid panic.

Moving to a new home will bring a bundle of emotions which can be overwhelming. But just know that you are not the first person to feel this way, and you certainly will not be the last. So, if suddenly one day you become swamped with a mixture of emotions, just remember to take a breath… relax… and remember the exciting bigger picture.

Got any questions or feedback on the blog? Or maybe a topic you would like to be covered in a future blog? Email cameron.hagan@clarendonhomes.co.uk today, I would love to hear from you!