Connecting with a Home

“Connect with the perfect lifestyle, not just the perfect house” is something I say often so I thought I would explain what it means to me.

Obvious criteria in selecting a home usually include desired number of bedrooms, baths, appointments, size and location. However, often I see clients buy the exact opposite of what they initially said they were looking for. Deciding on the right home is far more than fulfilling a list of criteria, it is equally a lifestyle choice, the beginning of the next chapter of your life and a significant financial decision.

Hundreds of websites provide all of the latest property statistics and details of houses but can’t tell you how you will live in the house, can’t tell you how the community will fit into your daily routine and certainly can’t tell you how the house will make you feel. Buyers can look at 10 houses all with similar floor plans and appointments, but they will connect to one far greater than any other because their connection is about much more than the house, it is about how they see themselves living there.

So, what’s my point? When you start your list of conditions for your next house give equal consideration to how you want to live in it and how you see yourself interacting with the community and the surroundings. Think about how you see you and your loved ones spending time there. Do you need a lot of activity around you to feel connected or do you need space and quiet to disconnect? If you start with the lifestyle piece first your home search will be far more productive and exciting.

Basic features like number of bedrooms and bathrooms, a master suite on the first floor, maybe a home office or playroom, must meet your needs but how we envision living in our new house is what makes it a home.

If you select homes online that are similar in style but completely opposite in lifestyle and plan a day to look at all of them, traveling from one side of town to the other, you may be disappointed at the end of the day and feel more overwhelmed than when you started.   Provide your agent with specifics that you must have in a house but also tell them how you live, and what you enjoy doing in your free time. Show your agent some styles of homes you like and trust them to introduce you to properties that suit you both in function and in life.

Elaine Seabolt, President of Seabolt Real Estate, says “we don’t find a home, it finds us” and I think I am starting to agree with her. So be open and let your next home find you.